Bone Black Memories of Girlhood

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Bone Black Memories of Girlhood
In the book” Bone Black: Memories of Childhood,” the author Bell Hooks outlines of strong spirited childhood journey of becoming a writer. In her life, she can learn the role that is played by women and men in the community, as well as the significance of black female children. In her narration, she describes the current society as that beholds the happiness of marriage and champion for the silence of women. The type of education that is offered in the schools is only meant to help young people to forget their past and also both social and economic injustices done to them. There are various social injustices today namely racism and gender discrimination. All these social injustices according to Hook are as a result of people not appreciating cultural diversity and individual differences.
In her book Hooks, she emphasizes on the experience of the young black child in her struggle to fit social locations of race, class, gender and age. Above all, she centralizes on experiences that a young girl goes through before making a political statement. Hooks explores the responsibilities of a girl child by looking at a fight between a small girl mother and the father. A constant argument between the father and the mother confuses the girl hence she is not able to understand anything about the beauty of marriage. By putting the young child in the controversy of marriage, the Bells Hook can create a neutral party that observes the fight of the powerless on what to do.

The situation the girl is creating far-reaching ramification of the social construction of marriage.
The above societal experience to the girl always forces the girl to side with the mother when she realizes that the indigenous roles and social institutions of marriage to some degree are harmful to women. In the society, the woman is left powerless and giving all authority to the men, the power given to the man is the one that puts a black woman as a second class citizen. The authority also gives man ability to take out frustration and anger of day to day activities of the family and in particular women. Hooks shows a lot of love for her mother after she had been beaten by her husband. She finds that her mother falls on religious hooks of domestic violence championed by the religion (Hooks, 150). According to the faith, the woman is supposed to obey the husband, husband to obey God while children should respect their father and mother. Hence the society is grouped in social stratification whereby the men are highly valued while the women are treated as second-class people Hook suggests the society should empower the girl child by offering equal chances and encouragement. By doing so, the community can grow at increased levels of levels of political, social and economic structures.
Hooks childhood life experiences are so much grounded on these beliefs of human beings; only mature grownups can analyze experiences so as to be in a position to finalize intellectual, social and emotional consequences. Hooks symbols of social development much include gender, class, and sexuality family. To explain this, she gives an example of how a young girl and her brother were given a wagon so as they can share. Both of them struggled on the criterion that they will use to share it. Wagon, in this case, represents traditional roles given to people of different sexes. Hence neither of the children was willing to share the wagon to the other. The boy wants to use the wagon solely. In this case, it only means that in the society today the woman is supposed to play a passive role while men should be actively involved in the day to day activities of the public. Although the girl had a significant capability of pulling the wagon, her grandfather criticizes her hence discouraging her from doing so (Hooks, 19).
The grandfather action of discouraging the young girl represents the discriminative nature of our society. Adults hence play a big role in promoting prejudices against the girl child. The discrimination also creates suffering whereby the boy can the girl are not given equal chances to take turns and enjoy equal partnership in the ownership of the toy. Adult’s action kills self-esteem of the girl child and prevents self-discovery in many other aspects of life.
Additionally, Hook continues by explaining the symbol of race and ethnicity. According to her, it not possible to know the value and the difference between colors of different skins. In her argument, she uses the symbol of Flesh Clayton which represents the widespread information of white superiority and black inferiority. Racial discrimination, especially in educational institutions, creates anti-social emotions and the inability of various groups to relate to each other. Racism is just meant to dehumanize African Americans and to promote the spirit of self-denial (Hooks7). She does not understand the reason as to why her mother could not allow her to wear black clothes yet they are part of her identity. Above all, she is unable to comprehend why she has to be forced to play with a white doll.
Work Cited
Hooks, Bell. Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood. New York: Henry Holt, 1996. Print.
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