The Role of the Woman in America, Essay Example

Women of color should be given an opportunity to have their works used as classroom material. Audre Lorde clams that the black woman has been marginalized in terms of their works of literature (Lorde 855). In a society that has enshrined at the edge of their consciousness a ‘mythical norm’ as she puts it, where the ideal American is white, young, Christian, thin, heterosexual and financially secure, it is amazing that women have been able to achieve anything in America let alone a black woman. As much as the norm is wrong and for the most part untrue, it still holds some power and women have been looked down upon b society. Being black therefore poses even more challenges.

The role of the woman in America has always been undermined. The American women have come together to rise up from the ashes and destroy the mindset working against the women in American society. However, the fight is set out in a manner to suggest that all sisters are fighting from equal ground. The term sisterhood she says is an umbrella that is all inclusive and forgets that the black woman is more oppressed and faces more challenges than th average white woman. Women are their own worst enemies. Audre Lorde cites a situation where a woman’s magazine ha suggested that said that they were only going to receive entries written in prose form (Lorde 855).

This pieces should be able to help peer educators; more so in the examples stipulated by Audre Lorde. For peer mentors to work effectively among the fellow age mates there is important information that is required. The peer mentors should know what is required of them. They should know that their roles in the classroom are not to take over the duties and obligations of the teacher; their main role is clearly defined in that they help in the process of learning in school. There have been cases whereby the roles of the teacher and the peer mentors have been seen to conflict. The workforce modeling process very crucial if handle the right way. It should not be a source of struggles within the system of education. It is required that mentors get to know their roles and execute them without interfering with the core functions of the learning system. Efforts applied in the education process should pull in the same direction.

The peer mentors should know that they are required to carry out the process of modeling.  They should know the several policies all together put in application instead of just taking the initiative of one process application. They are entirely placed there to make sure that all that they do should configure and concur with the foundation that the teacher has lain. It is therefore imperative that the peer mentors work to build on this foundation. Christine et al (2004) agrees that they are not required to build another foundation other than that which has been lain by the teachers otherwise it will defeat the purpose of their incorporation in the education process.

This will help promote the work of the teacher and efforts hence bring effectiveness through well divided tasks and roles in the process of implementation of the process of education. The work therefore is to reduce or mitigate the work done by the teachers and not increasing it. The absorption of the peer mentors therefore aims at improving the work of teaching through making easier the work of the teacher and fastens the process of learning through well established modalities of affirming what the teacher taught to be understood in a deeper sense.

This she says excludes the black woman from participating from the get go. She suggests that the black woman is more inclined to writing poetry than a prose work of art. It is simpler and in essence more economical. The costs that go into writing a prose work of art is too much for the average black woman, who has to work to provide for the family most which the work is usually of low pa and will have to come step up and probably take another job. So where is the time to write a prose work of art, and where are the finances to back up this kind of undertaking? The magazine, even though it may have not been intentional had in one fail swoop mummed the voice of the black woman. The plight of the black woman cannot be understood if their literature has no chance of being put out for public viewing. It is therefore clear that if a mere magazine does not recognize the efforts of the black woman in art, how then does it get to the point where it is put forth in a classroom setting for discussion.

Audre Lorde contends that is has always been true for American society to wait for the oppressed to reach out to the rest of the society and show them what they are about. Being a feminist and a black one for that matter in the minds of white peoples is just plain wrong. So as much as the black woman’s literature is out there for the public, it is still not recognized as fully American. Because even then, it has to labeled as being African American literature. There is no need to point out the fact that poetry is of African American decent without having he chance to read it for yourself and deduce that it is African American and that it is written by a woman.

Audre Lorde also says that it has been the norm for the oppressors to watch, learn and eventually become familiar with the ways of the oppressors. This begs the question s to whether we really have black women literature out there for the masses to devour. The plight of the black woman can be sufficiently explored from the oppressed view point. That is when the literature can be considered legitimately as works that have been written a woman of color. But instead, the literature by black women that gets to be read is literature written by fortunate women from well off African American families and whose view point of life in America has bee polluted by the society they are in that is dominantly white. So in essence, what is black is actually a replication of the white life it just that a different face has had the chance to present it. We cannot say that the black literature by women presented in classrooms is actually a replication of the real housewives and daughters of black society. It is not logical to say that the white picket fence life is the African American perspective of life. As much as it is possible to have this kind of life by an African American, it should not be the only thing that is expected from these writers. The other side of the coin must be embraced and given as much attention st would have been given to the former.

Audre Lorde also points out that more often than not, it is the duty of the oppressed to show the oppressor their mistakes. Race is still an issue in American society. She says that she is responsible for teaching the teachers her children to learn to ignore their culture. It should not be the case; the children are simply children who have gone to learn just like other children who happen to be white just as they happen to be black. It is therefore imaginable as to how feminine black writers can be viewed as in a literature class. Literature by women deserves applause and equal reading chances just like any other book written by an American, without the racial biases (Lorde 855). Black literature should be viewed as just another American story in a different setting and facing a different way of life than what America is used to.

Audre notes that the world is a place that is different in may ways. People are not the same and the same is for their situations. The problem in the world is not that it is different, it is the fact that people have refused to accept that we are different. Once the world accepts the fact that we are all different and that we are going to have to live with thee differences that is when we are really going to see value in the works our colored sister have to offer. That is the only time black literature by colored women will be used in the classroom not because they are written by black women but because they are quality work and that they portray life as it is for the black community.

Works Cited

Lorde, Audre. Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference. New York: Springer, 2008 Print.