The Racial/Sexual Issue In Sonia Sanchez's Poetry

The twentieth century witnessed the development and revolution of Black American poetry.From the blending of black elements with the poetic tradition to the Harlem Renaissance which promoted the black characteristics,the black American literature developed with rapid pace.Especially after WWâ…¡,with the prosperity of vigorous social movements,such as Civil Rights Movement,Anti-war Movement and Feminism Movement,an abundance of black poets grows into the front line of fighting for the rights of black Americans,which reaches the summit by the Black Arts Movement during the late 1960s to the early 1970s.It is noticeable that black female writers and feminists,including Sonia Sanchez,were extraordinarily active during the approximate decade,and they held their different views about how blacks, especially black women,should do for change.Despite of the different ideas of how to deal with the problems in the works of these writers,they all take black women as the constant focus in their writings,which shows that the racial/sexual issue is the core issue the black female writers have to face and show their attitude towards through their works.Sbnia Sanchez is unexceptionally focusing on this issue through her poetry during her life of writing.Regarding the importance of the racial/sexual issue in the African American literature and the deficiency of the relevant studies at home and abroad,it is significant to study the racial/sexual issue of Sonia Sanchez's poetry for discovering the spiritual core of the poet and interpreting the implicit connotations in her poetry.This thesis on the basis of textual study tends to explore the racial/sexual issue in Sonia Sanchez's poetry,taking African American women as the center to observe the phenomena resulting from racial discrimination,sexual discrimination and conflicts between and within the white and black ethnic groups,so as to represent the reaction of black women facing the unfair and more importantly,to dig out the roots under the phenomena,to interpret the poet's intention of eradicating the ridiculousness of all the seemingly reasonable institution and ideology,and to point out that Sanchez's poetic intention is to reach the ideal of harmony,which consummates the essence of Nature.The thesis is divided into five chapters:The first chapter is the introduction of the poet who grows up from the Black Arts Movement,the literature review about the poet and the racial/sexual issue as well as the research method and structure of the thesis.The following three chapters are the main parts of the thesis,which discuss the racial/sexual issue that the black women in Sanchez's poetry have to face from the perspective of race,sex and Nature.The second chapter views the black women in Sanchez's poetry as part of black race,and like black men,they are discriminated by the white in economy and politics.This racial discrimination is rooted in the racial discriminating orientation in the institution of the United States and the ideology of the white people.While facing the racial discrimination,black women are tolerant as well as still proud of their own ethnic group.Chapter Three interprets Sonia Sanchez's description of the life and mind of the African American women as a sex and also a focus of her poetry.As the female member of the American society,black women bear the double oppression from the white men and the black men.Despite of living in the margin of the margin as the victims of the victims,black women carrying the traditional characteristic of tolerance never give up love for their own ethnic group and they fight steadily against the sexual discrimination.The fourth chapter probes the total combination of black women in Sanchez's poetry and Nature in physics and spirit,which conveys the message of cherishing black women's life and pursuing the ideal of a natural and harmonious society.The last part reaches the conclusion of the thesis that black American women are the perspective as well as the focus of Sonia Sanchez's poetry.The poet presents the black American women's living states and their spirit of defending the dignity of life,and conveys the ideal of pursuing for the natural harmonious society,which is exactly the uniqueness of Sonia Sanchez compared with other radical BAM poets.