English Literature

Racial and Sexuality Norms in Cora Unashamed

Langston Hughes As Viewed from the Gender Lens

One of the most prolific African-American of his time , Langston Hughes ' literary works often dealt with the impact of racism on African-American life . A deeper inquiry into some of his writings however , reveals a strain of feminism in Hughes ' literature particularly in the short story Cora Unashamed ' which manages to double the potency of Hughes ' criticism against oppressive social structures . Undoubtedly , Hughes ' concept of femininity challenges the prevailing American gender norms reflected and reinforced through

cultural and social proscription and violence . However , Hughes subversion of racial and sexuality norms were more profound because they were based not on liberal ethics but on the more radical ideology of socialist internationalism brought about by his exposure to the socialist construction of the Soviet Union (Baldwin 796

Hughes ' defiance of the social and cultural restrictions imposed upon sexuality is evident in his short story Cora Unashamed ' which depicts the life , love , and heartbreak of a black woman in a racially segregated society . Cora Unashamed ' which was published in the book The Ways of the White Folks ' narrates of Cora 's struggle in claiming an identity for her own in a highly color-conscious town and era . Through Cora 's character , Hughes gives his reader a glimpse of what it was like being poor and one of the least of the citizens of Melton (Hughes long after slavery had been abolished , and how the combination of racial , gender , and socio-economic inequality effectively kept black people at the margins of society , in conditions that were decidedly not better off than before when slavery was legal . More importantly , Cora 's story depicts the way that racial identity and status interacts , and in many ways , shapes normative expectations in terms of sexuality and desire as the performative aspects of gender identity and norm Ultimately , Cora 's story becomes a telling evidence of the repressive social and cultural standards which oppressed not only black women but more so the white women , who were more pressured into conformity than black women . This pressure to conform to social expectations leads Cora 's mistress , Mrs . Art Studevant , to subject her pregnant daughter to the physical and emotional trauma of aborting her baby against her will in to preserve the family name from ill-repute (Hughes

There is no doubt that the realities depicted in Hughes ' story suggests the similarity between racial and gender discrimination wherein racism is necessarily masculine in nature : it operates in the same manner that gender inequality oppresses and subjugates femininity in favor of the masculine role and status . Race as a label and contruct is as much an instrument of regulation as constructs are . Hence , race and gender proscripts often pose the limits of an individual 's ability to develop a notion of selfhood . What is least known and discussed among scholars however , is the influence of Hughes ' encounter with socialist concepts in the USSR in provoking the impetus that led Hughes...