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The Invention of Wings
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Part One-November 1803-February 1805-about 90 pages
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message 51:
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Irene
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May 26, 2015 07:55AM
And, this comes together toward the end of the novel with the abolitionist and women's rights efforts. Can they be mutually empowering or does one have to be put on the back burner until the other group is addressed. I think Kidd is arguing that these don't have to be competing issues, that we can pull each other into freedom and full personhood.
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Irene wrote: "And, this comes together toward the end of the novel with the abolitionist and women's rights efforts. Can they be mutually empowering or does one have to be put on the back burner until the other..."I think (and I believe Kidd thinks) they are mutually empowering. They are both about HUMAN rights. Unfortunately, our history proves otherwise. This is actually what happened in our history; The abolitionists saw the "women's cause" as separate and needing to be quashed until a more proper time.
Yes, Unfortunately, we can't run history back and try a different road. We will never know if the white women and men would have hijacked the energy for the abolition of slavery had women's rights been given the room to grow fully at that time. Kidd and I would like to think that white women would not have lost sight of and passion for the cause of their black sisters and brothers, but I can be an unrealistic optimist when it comes to issues of justice.
Irene wrote: "Yes, Unfortunately, we can't run history back and try a different road. We will never know if the white women and men would have hijacked the energy for the abolition of slavery had women's rights..."Amen, Sister.
The sad thing is that, nearly 200 years after the setting of this novel, neither women nor African Americans have full equality, although the injustices against white women are not nearly as aggregious as those against black Americans.
Right. And it's all so covert now: racism and sexism.
Slavery left a strong mark on American life.
I have seen it referred to as America's "original sin", destine to mark future generations for who knows how long. Created with high ideals, slavery is the legacy by which we know ourselves to be a fallen people.
