Interpreting the "New Negro" Without Breaking a "Sweat"
The term "New Negro" can have many different meanings to it, as exampled by Alain Locke's "The New Negro" or Chandler Owens and A. Philip Randolph's "The New Negro - What Is He?" If you weren't there for my presentation about the New Negro movement, here is a short summary of their idea of the "New Negro." Locke had a degree in philosophy and writing and so when he focused on what the "New Negro" meant to him, he believed that African Americans should be more confident and divert from the white people's ideology of the "Old Negro." The "Old Negro" was a term created by white people that described African Americans as dependent and subservient. This meant making music such as blues or jazz that differ from white culture and it would later become their own. Owens and Randolph on the other hand were socialists who believed that the only way for African Americans to get away from the idea of the "Old Negro" would be to advocate for themselves and take action when necessary. Their goal was to give African Americans social, economic and political equality through fighting back against the white supremacy.
We have seen many short stories and poems that advocate for both of these ideas, however, one short story that particularly caught my eye was Sweat by Zora Neale Hurston. Sweat was written and released in 1926, This story gives an understanding of both views of the "New Negro" and for those of you juniors who never got the chance to read Sweat during sophomore English, here is a brief summary of it.
A Kindle e-book cover from Amazon
Sweat features the wife, Delia and the husband, Sykes living in a rural house in Florida. Delia is a hard-working woman, being the breadwinner through working as a washerwoman for over 15 years. Sykes on the other hand is very abusive and disloyal, who happened to get caught by Delia with another woman. Instead of apologizing, Sykes attempts to threaten Delia and tries to get her to move out of the house. Delia doesn't get threatened by his intimidating nature and stands her ground. Sykes tries to forcefully get her to move out by putting a snake in one of her laundry baskets. When Delia comes back, she has to light one of the last matches as a light source where she discovers the snake slithering through the clothes. Immediately, Delia runs outside and sleeps until the next morning. During the night she thinks about their marriage and realizes that it was never her fault that it went downhill. When she wakes up, she notices Sykes coming back into the house. From there, Sykes is unable to see and cannot protect himself from the flurry of snake bites where Delia listens to his agonizing screams. As he is on the ground, swollen from all the venom in his body, Delia stays hidden but just enough of a glance for Sykes to realize that she was watching the whole time.
You might be thinking that this story features mainly on woman's rights and you would be right about that. However, the author combines the idea of the "New Negro" to be used in the argument of the woman's rights movement. We can see many themes that appear within Delia, one notably being her confidence against Sykes. Instead of following the "Old Negro" identity, Delia chooses to stand up for herself despite knowing what Sykes can do. This demonstrates Locke's idea since Delia makes her own decision instead of letting someone with higher power make it for her, and it is even more evident when she chooses to let Sykes' suffer by himself, symbolizing her identity as her own instead of being tied to another person. Another theme we see is her independence, with the first example being the only one that has a job to support their marriage. We can already see that Delia never needed Sykes in the first place as the only thing he ever did was tease her and spend her money on another woman. When Delia noticed that, she never blamed the marriage on herself, only towards Sykes.
We can see the confidence that Locke mentions and the independent actions motivated by Owens and Randolph represented throughout Delia. This all ties into the "New Negro," whether it follows Locke, Owens & Randolph or both, there is no "right" definition but rather the way it is demonstrated.
Hi Adrian,
ReplyDeleteYou made a nice connection between the ideas of independence and confidence from the New Negro movement and how they play out in Sweat, even though Sweat focuses more on women's rights. I think Hurston took inspiration from other works in African American literature and applied their ideas to feminist struggles as well, showing how the messages apply to all marginalized groups.
Hello Adrian, thank you for introducing me to a new work! Sweat sounds very interesting and I hope to check it out sometime in the near future. It was interesting to learn about how Sweat embodies the New Negro movement by blending Locke’s vision of psychological confidence with the idea of radical independence. I also found it interesting how women's rights were entwined; we are learning about these movements in US History at the moment. Great blog! -James
ReplyDeleteHi Adrian,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you you distinguished between Locke’s focus on cultural confidence and Owens and Randolph’s emphasis on action and resistance in the New Negro Movement. I also liked how you connected Delia’s behavior to both interpretations. I thought your point about her independence and refusal to accept the “Old Negro” identity showed how these abstract ideas play out in everyday life. It also made me think about how Hurston blends racial progress with gender dynamics, not just focusing on one or the other.
-Sasha
What's up Adrian, I enjoyed your interpretation of "Sweat" and how it combines black feminism with the "New Negro" movement. I think in general it's fascinating the so their interplay as women of color were often neglected in place of striving for racial rights. Delia taking a stand and being an independent woman really drives home black feminism in combination with the "New Negro."
ReplyDeleteAdrian, I liked how you summarized "Sweat" and the concept of the "New Negro" for those of us who weren't aware of it before! I also liked how you were able to compare the themes of feminism in "Sweat" to how Delia standing up for herself connects to the black activists in the "New Negro" movement stood up to their oppressors. I wonder if this early example of feminism in "Sweat" can also be seen in the way that black women organized the more modern BLM movements. I also wonder if this example of more passive violence in "Sweat" (letting the snake attack Sykes instead of attacking Sykes herself) could be related to the encouragement of passive/peaceful protests taking place during the later Civil Rights Movement.
ReplyDelete