An Analysis of the Character of Bride in God Help the Child from Perspective of Intersectional Feminism

溫婧

God Help the Child tells a story of a black female named Bride who suffers a lot due to her race and gender. Coined by American professor Kimberle Crenshaw， intersectionality is the view that women experience oppression in varying configurations and in varying degrees of intensity （Vidal， 2014： 1）. In fact， the feminism which is overly white， middle class， cis-gendered and able-bodied represents just one type of view and it cant reflect the multi-layered facets in the life of certain groups of women. As a result， in order to promote the mainstream feminist movement， the experiences of various groups of women must be taken into consideration.

This thesis studies the Brides from the perspective of intersectional feminism. As a typical representative of women who face the multi-layered facets， Bride suffers both gender oppression and racial oppression in her life. In God Help the Child， Bride faces various discriminations in her life， which can be reflected in her childhood， job seeking and her status in the society.

Bride struggles a lot in childhood. She is brought up by her mother who blames and punishes her a lot for her dark skin. Instead of “Mother or Mama”， Bride can only be allowed to call her mother“Sweetness”. Just like what Bride has said： “she had ways to punish me without touching the skin she hated.” （Morrison， 2015： 31）， Sweetness refuses to touch her in any case， and even the punishment can be taken without touching the black skin， which is more painful than the body pain. When Bride is saved in the town named Whiskey， she admires a lot the love between Evelyn and Rain—“How nice it would have been if mother and daughter could have sung together. ” （Morrison， 2015： 87） Because of her dark skin， Bride cannot receive common motherly love just like other white girls.

Besides， Bride gets into lots of troubles in process of seeking job. “After I dont know how many refusals， I finally got a job working stock—never sales where customers would see me.” （Morrison， 2015： 36） Bride does not have a chance to show personal capabilities and usually be refused by others immediately just because of the color of her skin. Compared with white females， she does not have any competitive advantages. If it can be chosen， employers will prefer an incapable white person than a capable black one.

Furthermore， Bride suffers others differential treatments in society. After Bride is beat by Sofia， her white friend Brooklyn holds her up to help her walk. A couple of a white and a black is a strange scene for a nurse who sees them—“one white girl with blond dreads， one very black one with silky curls.” （Morrison， 2015： 22） The nurses astonishing performance， no matter consciously or unconsciously， is a kind of racial discrimination. Similarly， when Bride has her dinner in a restaurant on the way of Whiskey， the waitress is shocked at her black skin though nothing wrong has done on Bride—“The counter waitresss eyes were wide and roving. ” However， this situation is not happened once， “Bride was used to that look， as well as the open mouth that accompanied it.” “Shock， as though she has three eyes.” （Morrison， 2015： 81） Bride has to face the differential treatments from others even though she has done nothing wrong； maybe the only mistake is that she has a black skin.

Due to her dark skin， Bride experiences a childhood without motherly love； faces lots of difficulties before getting a job； and receives the strange eyes and treatments from white people. Even though she suffers a lot in her daily life， she fights against the unequal society bravely in her own ways. In order to get the attention from her mother， young Bride points to the “criminal”calmly and bravely in court， and finally gets what she wants—“She was smiling like I ‘ve never seen her smile before-with mouth and eyes” （Morrison， 2015： 31）. In term of her job， although she meets lots of troubles before she gets it， she is finally succeeded in her career. She works in a company named Sylvia， Inc. and finally has her own product named YOU， GIRL， which is even envied by her white friend. In order to show her proud as a successful black female， she pays lots of attentions to her physical appearance. She consults the advices from Jeri and chooses to wear white， and people cannot help to praise her beauty as long as seeing her.

In conclusion， as a typical representative of women who experience multi-layered facets in the life， Bride reveals the efforts one has to take to survive in the society in which people are treated differently because of their race and gender， which are more complex and suffering experiences than that of white females. As a result， in the process of mainstream womens fighting for their rights in the society， the black women groups struggles represented by Bride cannot be ignored. Only special groups of womens rights being taking into consideration， the mainstream feminism movement can last for a long time and be successful in the future.

References

[1]Morrison， Toni. 2015. God Help the Child： Penguin Random House UK.

[2]Vidal， Ava. 2014. “Interesctional feminism”. What the Hell Is It？ （And Why You Should Care）： Telegraph.