The assertion that African American women maintain their togetherness, humanity, and specialness through daily talk, humor, and serious discussions are only true in some instances in the film entitled I Like It Like That, the novel Red Sky, and the novel entitled Their Eyes Were Watching God. This is because there are instances that the African American women in these works of art turn against each other by sabotaging each other’s attempts to lead organized and successful lives. Through the use of specific examples from these works, this essay will show instances of friendly treatment as well as unfriendly treatment of one another among the African American female characters.
To begin with, Janie Crawford as a lead character in Their Eyes Were Watching God serves to show the close support African American women give to each other as a way of affirming not only their specialness and humanity but also their right to exist. The close support and company Janie receive from her female friend Phoebe Watson is very important in that it helps in giving her the much-needed support given the numerous problems she is experiencing in her life. This is true to the assertion made by Patricia Collins.
Leaving the above aside, Nanny Crawford, the grandmother to Janie is very supportive of Janie. She demonstrates the ideals mentioned by Patricia as far as sisterhood among African American women is concerned. Even though she is Janie’s grandmother and therefore advanced in age, she is determined to give her all the support she needs so that she can be successful in life. The life she shares with her granddaughter is a mixture of a few elements of humor with serious talk about Janie’s future life. Her concern for Janie’s future drives her into working out the relationship between her and Logan. This marriage never works due to Logan’s rigid lifestyle which Janie finds dissatisfying. She eventually runs away with Joe Starks. The love, appreciation, and care extended by Nanny to Janie are duly captured by Patricia’s statement of deep love among African American women.
Also, Leafy Crawford is close to Nanny Crawford, her mother. This closeness can be attributed to family ties in that Nanny is Leafy’s mother, but the fact that they are women and African American shows the spirit of affirming their specialness as well as the right to exist. It is possible to argue that the family ties only serve to intensify the closeness that is bound to be there. To put it in another way, there is a possibility that even without a blood relationship between Nanny and Leafy; chances are that they still would have been friends by the mere fact that they are African American.
Moving from Their Eyes Were Watching God, the film entitled I Like It Like That directed by Darnell Martin also has its share of unique relationships among African American women. The lead character in the film is Lisette Linares, a sassy young woman who is a fast thinker and a go-getter. She is in a relationship with Chino, a man of Castilian descent who cheats on her and is not keen on providing for the family. The most striking female-to-female relationship among African Americans is the one that exists between Lisette Linares and Magdalena. In this case, there is no love lost between the two. There is acrimony and enmity with each working towards the downfall of the other. Magdalena in particular is not ready to stop at anything in his desire to have Chino, Lisette’s man. This is sabotage. Thus the affirmation of specialness, the sisterly affection, the humanity as well as the right to exist is not well pronounced. What we are seeing is the complete opposite of that situation. Lisette gets little support from the rest of the women in the film including Rita Moreno, the mother to her husband. She seems to be happy about her lineage or descent and makes sit have racial overtones as she seems to show slightly little regard for the black lineage. In this case, there is no sisterly love or the understanding that is expected to exist among women.
In Red Sky by Renee Alexis, much of the attention is on the attraction that exists between Darrius and Justine Roberts-Paretti. Given that Justine is in a territory that is full of Native Americans instead of her fellow African Americans, much of the support she gets is from the people in this locality. We are therefore presented with little opportunity to see the interaction among women of African American lineage to be able to weigh their character concerning Patricia’s assertion.
In conclusion, Their Eyes Were Watching God, I Like It Like That, and Red Sky contains instances of tender sisterly love characterized by care and encouragement. These same works also contain moments of mutual dislike and extreme acrimony among the female African American characters.