{"id":146,"date":"2022-10-07T15:17:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T19:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/?p=146"},"modified":"2022-10-07T15:17:39","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T19:17:39","slug":"a-white-womans-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/2022\/10\/07\/a-white-womans-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"A White Woman’s Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Because The Expendable Man<\/em> was the first book we read by a female author, I took an immediate interest in how Hughes’ writing might differ from that of the previous male authors. Early on, the book confronts the topics of pregnancy and abortion. Although still presented somewhat discreetly, these themes have not been previously mentioned. Not only are they considered taboo subjects, but especially taboo subjects for men to be discussing. However, as a woman, especially a white woman, Hughes is less hesitant in writing about these topics. By including them in her book, Hughes forces all readers, regardless of gender, to contemplate these topics and the issues surrounding them. In a time period before the overturn of Roe v. Wade, illegal abortions were very much a terrifying reality. A reality that many men never had to think about the dangers of. Yet, Hughes gives these hidden real world issues a public place to exist so that they become less avoidable. This is why it was especially important to give women a platform such as books to speak or else these concerns would stay lingering in the back of all women’s minds. In the other books we have read written by men, all the women featured seemed more simple-minded. However, Hughes begins to dive into the complexity of a woman’s mind and the many anxieties that often plague her mind; especially ones that men do not care to think about much less write about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Dorothy Hughes is a woman, she is still a white woman, giving her a level of privilege. We briefly questioned whether Hughes wrote her own personality into the book at all. While we determined that as a professional writer, she most likely did not, I believe that she wrote in some of her own privileges that she is entitled to as a white woman. Iris Croom is a young white girl who is seemingly from a lower class family. However, she is still able to exert a power of Hugh who is a black man from a higher class family. For example, at the state inspection, Hugh is under an extremely watchful eye and has no choice but to act friendly and candidly towards Iris. She fully took advantage of the power dynamic that existed between Hugh, herself, and the inspection officers. Whether it be subconsciously or not, Hughes includes a privilege she can take advantage of as a white woman in her writing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorothy Hughes’ perspective, as a white female writer, offers benefits such as shining a spotlight on topics that many men would avoid but also limitations, for she can claim privileged blindness to many issues that white women are not subject to. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because The Expendable Man was the first book we read by a female author, I took an immediate interest in how Hughes’ writing might differ from that of the previous male authors. Early on, the book confronts the topics of pregnancy and abortion. Although still presented somewhat discreetly, these themes have not been previously mentioned. … Continue reading “A White Woman’s Perspective”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/blacknoir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}