Victimization of Women in the Select Novels of Alex Haley

Abstract

Alex Haley brings out his issues related to race and gender in his novels. He highlights the suppression of women by men, struggle for equality for women, discrimination taking place in all levels such as physical, mental and economic in his novels. Women have been made as victims at the high-handedness of men. They face physical abuse and mental torture. During the slave trade, men and women had brought from Africa to serve in the fields of America. Alex Haley throws light on the status of Black women in her novels who have been made victims of physical and mental abuse. The main purpose of slave trade is to bring human resource from other countries especially from Africa and sell them in the open markets just as cattle. When the slaves are sold, rich plantation owners buy them and the slaves become their property. If it is a man, he must do all the farm works. In the case of a girl, she will be raised till she attains her puberty and she must do all the household works. It is the duty of the slave girl to take care and raise the owner’s children. The slave girl will have to face sexual abuses from their white masters. They get pregnant because of their masters. Sometimes, slave girls will be sold to another White master for money. The Black slave girls undergo cruel treatment from their owners. They have experienced severe sexual harassments because of their gender and race. This paper focuses on how woman becomes a victim of racial violence and sexual harassment during the slavery period in Alex Haley’s novels Roots: The Saga of an American Family and Queen: The Story of an American Family.