by Chanin Desiree

Created on: April 15, 2010

Welty and Shange: Feminist Criticism

The concept of feminist psychology is fairly new to the field of psychology itself.  The fact is that women’s physical and psychological aspects were not considered prior to the mid-1900s.  In the less than 100 years of research, science has made great strides, yet still has only touched the surface of the field.  Why is the feminine psyche important?  Because it has gone through many changes in general, and even more changes for the minority women over the last century.  This new interest has led to a genre within women’s literature that describes the feeling and psychology of women and gives confirmation on their feelings. 

One of the best stories to use when discussing female psychological affects of the early 1900s is Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.” Many of the oppressive beliefs about the feminine are used to tell this story (1003).  The characters are Mama, Uncle Rondo, Stella-Rondo, Papa-Daddy and Sister. Each has their own way in which they employ the denial of feminine experience; the denial of the pregnancy and birth of Stella-Rondo’s child, the belief of lies against Sister, and the fact that Sister has no name.   The fact that Sister has no name become understood when Mama states:

“But you must remember, Sister, that you were never married to Mr. Whitaker in the first place and didn’t go to Illinois to live…If you had I would have been just as overjoyed to see you and your little adopted girl as I was to see Stella-Rondo, when you wound up with your separation an came on back home” (1006).

With this little speech, the reader can see how the people in the story decide who and what is important.  Sister did not hold a place of importance because she had never done anything of importance.

A different story that also highlights the psychology of the female is Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” (1997).   This choreopoem does not talk about one woman, but about seven women all in different hubs across the United States.  The fact that they are all in different cities one would think their experiences would be different, but in fact it becomes apparent that no matter where one is located the experiences are very similar. The themes of oppression and disrespect of others in the community run through out all the different stories.  The lady in brown is denied an award for reading because she read an adult book rather than a child’s book (27).  The lady in red was abused by her husband and when she tried to leave him, he refused to let her go and the end result was the death of her 2 children (60).  These are only two of the themes, but most women can identify with at least one of the themes in the book thereby validating the experiences of women that others have tried to ignore and push down throughout the past.

Works Cited

Shange, Ntozake. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. New York: Scribner Poetry, 1997.

Welty, Eudora. “Why I Live at the P.O.” The Longman Anthology of Women’s Literature. Ed. Mary DeShazer. New York:Longman, 1997. 568 – 572

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