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ASND and TCP: Sexuality - Coggle Diagram
ASND and TCP: Sexuality
The Colour Purple
Celie struggles with her sexuality in the beginning of the novel - lack of independence and sexual abuse
Sexuality is displayed as a taboo topic which is unusual for a female to talk about
Her lack of independence mirrors the patriarchal control over black women
'He beat me today because he say I winked a boy in church' - physical punishment as a result of expressing sexuality
'First he puts the thing up against my hip and sort of wiggle it around' - euphemistic, detached language shows emotional dissociation
Epistolary form - confessional yet isolated tone
Childlike syntax reflects limited education and powerlessness
Black women were vulnerable to sexual violence
Patriarchy and racism normalised abuse
Church was a controlling moral force rather than a safe space
Female sexuality is treated as sinful, especially outside marriage
Cellie internalises shame and believes her body exists only for male use
'I don't even look at men's' - rejection of sexuality as self-protection
By the end of the novel with the help of Shug Avery, Celie gains the confidence to explore her own sexuality and it is revealed she is sexually attracted to Shug
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Shug represents sexual freedom, confidence, and resistance to norms
Through Shug, Celie learns sexuality can be pleasurable and loving
'She say Celie, you got to git man off your eyeball' - rejection of male gaze
Walker is challenging heteronormativity and religious condemnation of homosexuality
A Streetcar named Desire
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Williams exposes a gendered double standard where male sexual aggression is normalised while female sexuality is condemned
Double standards of 1940s America - men being praised while women were punished for sexual behaviour
Female sexuality was judged harshly
Stanley is openly sexual without consequence and Blanche's past becomes a weapon used to discredit and silence her
'He acts like an animal, has an animal's habits' - Animalistic imagery emphasises brute masculinity
'I've been on to you from the start' - Stanley assumes authority as moral judge
Post-war masculinity - men reclaim authority after WWII - women pushed back into domestic submission
Blanche uses sexual fantasy and flirtation to escape and maintain her Southern Belle identity
She avoids bright light to hide ageing - a symbol of lost sexual value
Sexual allure becomes a performance not authenticity
'Soft people have got to court the favour of hard ones' - Acknowledges dependency on male power
Lighting motif - sexuality tied to illusion
Southern Belle ideal - women valued for youth, purity and beauty
Thesis: Both Alice Walker's Bildungsroman novel, The Colour Purple and Williams' southern gothic tragedy explore female sexuality as oppressed with patriarchal societies. Celie's sexuality is initially silenced through male abuse but is reclaimed through female solidarity allowing her to gain autonomy and identity. However, Blanche's sexuality is used to discredit and punish her, while Stanley's aggressive sexual dominance is normalised by society exposing how patriarchal power determines whose desires are accepted or destroyed.