Audre Lourde: “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”

603 Words3 Pages
In this article, Lourde addresses a topic that is many times prevalent in themes of literature. This theme is societal hierarchy. The factors determining this hierarchy include wealth, social class, and race/gender. How you fit into and are seen and treated in society is affected by all these external factors, and because of this, a vast amount of people are considered “inferior” and left oppressed. Last year, in my senior A.P. Composition and Literature class, we focused on a lot of fictional literature dealing with the same kind of societal issues. The Awakening by Kate Chopin as well as Daisy Miller by Henry James were both novels that showcase the oppression of women and evils of social hierarchy. These novels display the limitations and expectations that society pins onto women. Other novels I read include The Dead by James Joyce and Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, both of which addressed the theme of materialism and wealth as factors to being regarded highly in society, and how this way of functioning in society leads people away from living a true and happy life. These novels were written decades ago. One would think that with these societal problems being recognized for so long, we would have made more progress than we have by now. Instead, activists such as Audre Lourde stand decades later, addressing the same issues. Lourde, what with being a middle-aged, black, lesbian feminist with children, faces much of this oppression, and finds herself frowned upon by society. Instead of the people discriminating against her being to blame for this, Lourde herself is the one who must take responsibility. She must be the one who inform her oppressors of their oppression. This strikes a lot of thought. Our first instinct, of course, is to blame these said oppressors for their ignorance and dominance. But, we are all born into a society that exists and
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