Intersectionality of Race, Class, and Politics in Tayari Jones's Leaving Atlanta

Abstract

Tayari Jones's first novel Leaving Atlanta (2002) portrays the focus the African-American encounters in the Southern United States, particularly the ways in which their lives are affected by the inequitable structures in which they reside. Jones’s writing is a performance of her desire to bring the marginalized history of Blacks to the center and others to the margin. Leaving Atlanta is a narrative with three distinct voices that explores the process of maturing and highlights the government's failure to protect the black population in Atlanta during the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-81. Jones brings in all the historical past within the framework of ‘intersectionality’ to express the tragic incidents in a wider view. The objective of the paper is to delve into the interconnectedness between age, race, class, gender, and politics in the backdrop of the Atlanta Child Murders to provide justice for the traumatizing events that happened to innocent children. Jones opted to employ the viewpoints of youngsters in her novel in order to document the experiences of those young individuals who lacked the cognitive capacity to comprehend the intricate social and political milieu of Atlanta.