African American Female Subjectivity, Class and Colorism in the Works of Jessie R. Fauset

Abstract

Centered around the notions of double consciousness, passing, colorism and social class, this thesis examines Jessie R. Fauset’s There Is Confusion (1924), Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral (1929), The Chinaberry Tree: A Novel of American Life (1931) and Comedy: American Style (1933), as works shedding light on distinctive African American women figures of the Harlem Renaissance. Theorized by W.E.B. Du Bois, double consciousness is considered as an experience of “twoness,” which refers to the internal conflict of African Americans between the identities of “African” and “American.” As an oppressed people, African Americans are conditioned to see themselves from the eyes of the white society. In the case of African American women, the damaged sense of self becomes even more problematic because of racial and sexual discrimination. Some of the experiences peculiar to the mixed-heritage middle class women were passing, colorism and social inequality. Harlem Renaissance provided women artists with a chance to express themselves and explore their subjectivity. Fauset has long been dismissed as being imitative of white, upper-middle class values in her works. Going against this negative reception of her fiction, this thesis studies the nuanced subjectivities of her female characters, focusing on their self-realization as fully-developed individuals, artists and activists, who are able to transcend the colorism and the upper-class emulation of the period. Much as the process is agonizing, the experiences of double consciousness and passing prove themselves as supporting elements in the formation of one’s self in the end. Therefore, the use of these concepts enriches the creation of Black female subjectivity in the Harlem Renaissance. Their experiences lend color to the constitution or denial of the intersectionality of race, social status and gender convictions.