A Feminist study of Female Bildungsroman in Toni Cade Bambara’s “The lesson”

Abstract

Every literary text can be considered as effective cultural and historical evidence to show human experiences in different ages. Likewise, African American Literature becomes a major tool to portray racial segregation and marginalizing women of colour. African American novelists have allowed women of colour to have their voices heard and their identities found.

Toni Cade Bambara is among the best Afro-American authors who has displayed the difficulties that women of colour such as racism, sexism, racial discrimination, ethnic segregation, gender inequality and loss of identity. This study principally analyzes Bambara’s “The Lesson” by considering a Feminist Bildungsroman approach to deal with gender roles and gender inequality of the female characters.

This paper investigates some questions such as: how does “The Lesson” ascribe to the beliefs of the Black Power Movement? What types of dialects have been used in the text to picture the life and culture of African American women? How is Female Bildungsroman employed by Bambara to build and reconstruct a new image for the characters to enable them to fulfil their dreams? The current study delineates the oppression and segregation of African American people under a white-dominated society. However, the author attempts to deconstruct the life of the characters again so that they can have a better and healthy life.