Analysis of Sara from Dark Princess by W. E. B. Du Bois

Sara (Deconstruction of a Strong Woman)

Or

Dubois’ Other Womanly Composite

      There are two composites of woman in Dark Princess by W. E. B. Du Bois, Princess Kautilya of Bwodpur, India, and Sara Andrews.  The Princess and Sara have two common traits that are evident on the surface (they are both so light in complexion that they require a second glance to see they are “colored” and they are women.)  Otherwise, they are from two very extreme spectrums, starting with socialization, economics, personality, philosophy, and beliefs.  Although there will be some  comparison of Du Bois’s treatment of these two personalities, this paper will primarily deal with Sara because she is one the most complex and other womanly creature in literature.  What is so different about Sara and why?  Is there resilience in Sara’s character and how is this shown?

     From Matthew’s point of view, Kautilya “was ‘colored’ and yet not at all colored in his intimate sense,” for he saw “much more than the sum of all” “luminous radiance of her complete beauty, her glow of youth and strength, he saw that her beauty as “striking” with “those thin, smooth fingers moving about the silver had known no work.”  He saw her as “gracious” with the “air and carriage of one used to homage.”  Matthew is so enamored with the Princess but he knows that she is not his for the taking and so he treats her with due respect from his American point of view. (pg. 14)

      On the other hand, Sara Andrews was “thin, small, well tailored” but “only at second glance would you notice that she was ‘colored.’  She was not beautiful, but she gave an impression of cleanliness, order, cold, clean hardness, and unusual efficiency.” (pg. 109)  Sara was lowly born from the “union of a colored chambermaid” “and a white German cook,” but did not allow closeness, especially with men, whom she “fought off” “with a fierceness and determination that scared them.”   Du Bois essentially composed two very educated women; one approachable, lovable, and touchable, while the other is the complete opposite in every way.  The princess has been covered in many romantic and intellectual books, prose and poetry but there have been few if any women with Sara’s mannish or non-hegemonic mannerisms and characteristics. 

     Elizabeth Schlabach stated that in Du Bois’ Dark Princess in reference to Sara that “in his attempt to create a Beauty anyone who looks white must be made to appear ugly; the emphasis here lies on “made to appear” without actually becoming “ugly.” Not ugly, but “disconcerting to look at,” whether it be physically or internally.”[1]  One of her non-hegemonic (mannerisms not accepted for a woman at that time) was discovered by Sammy, when he said “Sara Andrews had no particular scruples or conscience.  Lying, stealing, bribery, gambling, prostitution, were facts that she accepted casually.” (pg. 112)  All of these are qualities that had been ascribed to men in this atmosphere, born from and modelled after colonial imperialistic ideas.  She was shrewd and calculating like a man when maneuvering Sammy, Matthew, and other men to her way of thinking without using feminine wiles, especially when she entered “the office of the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Washington.” (pg. 119)

    The other non-feminine qualities are displayed many times.  At their wedding, Sara talked to Matthew in a “metallic voice” (pg. 143), “recognized politics as a means of private income, and displayed greed when she said “ retail merchants, public service corporations and financial exploiters, all wanted either to break the law or to secure more pliable laws.” (pg. 113)   Matthew even sees the manly side of Sara when he lumps her with Sammy, when he said, “He knew Sara and Sammy.  They wanted to use him.”  “They had bought him and paid for him.” (pg. 126)  And at the end of the passage on this page, he admits he can succeed with his goals “under the command of Sara and Sammy.”   Putting the two of them in the same level with Sara mentioned before Sammy each time actually makes Sara equivalent with a male in his eyes and less desirable, when compared to the Princess. 

     When Kautilya reappeared in Matthew’s life, it resurrects his masculinity and power as a man with the ability to love someone again.  However, this has done the opposite for Sara when she leaves town and goes shopping, losing herself in the crowds of New York until she has regained her former stoicism and lose the emotionalism that she had been wallowing in. 

     Finally, when she returns for the divorce, Sara admits in front of the judge and everyone that “This is intolerable,” “an insult, a low insult.”  She concludes with “I never want to see this, this---scoundrel, again.” (pg. 294)  Sammy helps Sara realize she can rebound when he offers to marry her and realizes she is finally a new woman and can overcome anything, so she “obeyed an impulse, a thing she had not done for ten years,” (pg. 277) and kissed Sammy and agreed to marry him.  Of course, Sara is not going to be what Sammy really wants, which is “sort-a wanted you to melt a little first and be human.”  With Sammy, Sara knows what she is getting and knows she can control him, so her reconstruction is complete because with him she can simulate a real woman.  Sammy will never know she is just playing a different part.

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[1] Schlabach, Elizabeth. “Du Bois’ Theory Of Beauty: Battles of Feminity in Darkwater and Dark Princess.”Journal of African American Studies 16.3 (2012):498-510. Academic Search Premier. Web 3 June 2014..

The Faces of Prejudice By Elnora Palmtag

     You could say prejudice is dead and you would be wrong.  While the mayor of New York is making sure the laws are changed in that state so that young black men are not stopped on the streets without probable cause, there are people who still participate in or demonstrate subtle acts of prejudice.  When asked if they are racist, they would be the first to shout that they are not and have never been prejudiced.

     If you are walking with a friend who is of another ethnicity, don’t shut out the world while communicating.  Pay attention to the people around you and notice their reactions to your association.  Sometimes it is so elusive that just might miss their reaction to your being with and enjoying the company of someone, not of your race. 

     Having survived in this country for 64 years, as a black woman, and having experienced blatant/ overt and hidden/ covert racism, I can say that I prefer the latter as I know what to expect of this person and I know what they expect of me.  Consider the bogeyman, he scared you as a child because it is the unknown/uncanny, but as an adult you realize there is no bogeyman but there are scary people.  Would you not prefer the scary people that you can see and know and not the unknown?

     I am writing this text and putting words to it but continue to see this as text and draw your own conclusions.  This discourse should be a platform for thought and consideration to be consumed by you for your edification and critical thinking.  Just modify your field of view.

     One way to experience this phenomenon is to do an experiment with a friend.  Go to a makeup shop (especially a Halloween shop and not in October) and get some makeup that would make your face and hands appear to have hideous warts or pimples.  Take turns wearing this makeup for only 2 days and please pay attention to the people around you.  If this is done, for instance, on a college campus, you will instantaneously see the reactions of the people around both of you.  This is not the same as being black, but this is a way for the ordinary people to experience what it means to be different or not the normative of society.  This is only a temporary view of your world but think if you have to be like this the rest of your life and face society each day with your stigma in place to distinguish you from everyone else.

   Now you can appreciate your fellow man in all their glorious differences, which make up our cosmopolitan society (which is purported to be without prejudice).

2/17/2014

My New Hero-Rachel Carson

COLLAPSE

Rachel Carson challenged all the social paradigms (cultural, scientific, political, and social) to help, after Olga's birds were killed in her sanctuary. At the time she was writing her book, the use of DDT/Pestroy was prevalent and widespread. 

Because government experts,like Dr. Stevens and Dr. Nichols, were endorsing the usage,saying that it was safe, and, as in the video, social drama was used, along with two elderly white men, who could be a grandfather. There were at least three (mothers) spraying and laying down Pestroy to stop the insects. 

The country was being bombarded with pictures of children and waterways being sprayed to help show its benign status.

Carson affected the distribution of DDT, even though the government from President Kennedy to scientists and politicians were investigating whether she was correct in her assertion that DDT is dangerous to all animals, including humans. She stated that "progress has a price."  

Consider what would have happened if Carson had not been effective in her campaign to stop the spraying of DDT and other destructive pesticides.  Would we now have more birth defects, health issues, and other problems in our lives than what we have now?  

So, yes, she is one of my heroes for her stand and how she used the system's rules to prove her point in a male-dominated society.

Natural Disasters' effect on different stratus of people

In Environmental Sociology 480 at OSU, these are questions we were asked to answer and I hope it will make others think about the inconsistency in the way the social stratus of a society determine how disasters will affect their community.

When we think of natural disasters, we often assume that because it is 'natural' everyone is affected equally. 

 Can you think of examples other than Hurricane Katrina where a natural disaster did not affect everyone equally?

People are affected differently in natural disasters. The very poor will be continually affected negatively in natural disasters as they live in the areas where these disasters are more likely to occur, have the least amount of resources to get out of the way or survive aftereffects. Vulnerability is defined in two categories of social and physical by Youngman. I lived in tornado alley and, when I was in Mississippi, we could do nothing but watch and pray that we survived, because we did not have anywhere else to go. We had no underground shelters, strong buildings, or community center, etc. to go to.

When I moved to Illinois to go to college, I was again in tornado alley. The difference this time is I was at an expensive college, which had been built by some of the best architects. So, no, we were not affected and stood in our dorms and watched the tornadoes come and go or combine but were not afraid, as I had been in Mississippi. For me this emphasized the social and physical environment do matter. What level on the ladder of capitalism is your family on? How would a natural disaster affect you and yours? What about relatives living in poorer neighborhoods where you live?

Kate Chopin's Desiree's Baby Comments

Chopin's Twist

COLLAPSE

Having grown up in the South for the first 17 years of my life, I am aware of the diverse people we are studying this week, but I had not read Chopin's story. This is a subject, which has affected many blacks, being part white in a black and white society. 

When I was little, a new family moved into my neighborhood. They looked very white but one of the children was darker than the others. We knew they were black but when they first moved to town, they moved into the white community and went to the white school, I later attended. They were immediately expelled when one of the staff told the principal that the school they came from up north was black. When questioned, the family did not deny this claim and had to move and relocate schools.

The plot in Desiree's Baby was unexpected as few writers had the audacity to attack a man, let alone one who was passing. It was usually the woman who were at fault. I liked this twist but it sure put a roadblock in any future plans for Armand, the main character. He actually put Desiree in his shoes, which he was ashamed of. 

In the past, Thomas Jefferson actually sent his sons up north so that they could pass as did some other slave owners. This practice is perpetuated throughout history, so that few families in America are entirely of one race. 

My immediate family is black and are very proud, almost to the extreme.

Yet, I married my husband, who is white and his family has branches that are Spanish, Vietnamese, Indian, black and white.

So yes, I know the joys, pride and understanding of diversity, prejudice, freedom, and love.

Walt Whitman," Song of Myself" comments

After reading Whitman, I almost believe that aliens have been here and influenced our history. Consider Galileo, Aristotle, Michelangelo, and now Whitman. The futuristic view of the heavens, the learned opinion of the past and the refusal to accept just the present are all evidenced in his writing. This writing should be studied during all years of education. It can be fed to the young in snippets and later expanded on for the older ones. How many lives would be saved, how many souls would find comfort, and how many people would rejoice after reading his "SONG OF MYSELF"?
While reading this, I realized that Whitman is basically saying that Everything is Everything, Everybody is Everybody and, conversely, Everything is Everybody, and Everybody is Everything. There is no difference as we are all part of a smaller object. He considers the cosmos more than once. One instance (pg. 3266, line 789) "Speeding through space....speeding through heaven and the stars, Speeding amid the seven satellites and the broad ring and the diameter of eighty thousand miles, speeding with tailed meteors..."

When reading Whitman, could you find yourself, your family, friends, ancestors, and your neighbors in this poem? I certainly could.

What are some of the implications of applying his philosophy to your life?

Would you consider doing it?

HE is such a twentieth century man. I could see him in the smoke shops of the 60s and 70s, in the halls of great auditoriums, on the TED talks, etc. HE would so fit in in our environment (environmentalist, socialist, forward thinking man) CONSIDER!!

Frederick Douglass at his first abolitionist meetingin Nantucket!!!

For approximately two years I was required to sit in an all white auditorium and not being able to talk or participate in any way. My only form of protest was not standing when "Johnny Reb" was being sung to the Union Jack flag. You know the one, "When Johnny comes marching home again."   Because this is the direct opposite of what happened to me, I will try to be Mr.Douglass, sitting in his audience.

At a meeting of the Bristol Anti-Slavery Society in 1841 Douglass first heard William Lloyd Garrison speak and not long after that Douglass himself was asked to speak for the abolition of slavery.

And this is my interpretation of what Mr. Douglass was thinking when asked to speak before this audience after escaping slavery:

I had heard of these abolitionists and their followers and because of Mr. Coffin,  I am here to see what they have to say. Many say they do not approve of or want slavery to exist.  I have never met nor entertained the prospect of meeting anyone, especially white men, who want a black man to be free.  My heart is in my stomach and I fear this will end badly for me.  Is there someone waiting to take me back to that awful world of cruelty and debasement?  I have seen things that defy description. 

Now they want me to speak and I don't know what I can say or if I should.  Will they be so reviled that they will want to return me to that hellhole called slavery?  I have never seen so many smiles when looking upon a black face, unless it is in laughter at an indignity which has been performed on that person.

I am so ignorant in the speech and ways of these men, yet, they want to hear what I have to say.  After telling them about the atrocities and hardships faced by the black race and telling of my own personal history, I listened as Mr. Redmond, a free black man, talked about the abolition of slavery. 

I will be vigil and try to trust these people. They want me to continue talking and I will do this as I have nothing to lose because I have tasted freedom and that cannot be taken from me.