Issues in Contemporary Literature: Black English as Identity
About Sapphari's novel "Push"
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Literature Review from the year 1999 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1, State University of New York at Stony Brook, course: Contemporary Issues in Literature, language: English, abstract: Language is one very special way we have to communicate with otherhuman beings. It unites members of similar cultures who learn to share throughthe same experiences and to see the world through the same vocabulary. Thereare at least as many cultures as languages in the world. As Wilhelm von Humboldtmentioned "The variety of languages is not merely a variety of sounds and signs,but in fac...
Literature Review from the year 1999 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 1, State University of New York at Stony Brook, course: Contemporary Issues in Literature, language: English, abstract: Language is one very special way we have to communicate with otherhuman beings. It unites members of similar cultures who learn to share throughthe same experiences and to see the world through the same vocabulary. Thereare at least as many cultures as languages in the world. As Wilhelm von Humboldtmentioned "The variety of languages is not merely a variety of sounds and signs,but in fact a variety of world views." Undoubtedly, languages are a unifyingelement that brings identity and uniqueness to every human being because theytell the rest of the world, where we come from, where we have lived and who weare.This paper deals with Black English, also called African American English orEbonics, as an African American linguistic variety of American English and theway it is reflected in the novel Push (1997) by Sapphire. It discusses Black Englishas a way to express and define black identity and their unique culture. There is aparallelism in the oppression of a language and the culture it represents, as wecan clearly appreciate in the case of Black English. While Ebonics has beenoppressed by the predominant Standard English, blacks were violently silenced by"standard" North Americans. It was not until recently that Ebonics´ uniquenesshas been interpreted neither as a mispronunciation of English, nor as a series ofgrammatical mistakes due to ignorance or lack of education. Unfortunately, bothblacks´ language and their culture have suffered from manipulation and havebeen bent to fit the needs of the dominant class.Sapphari´s Push (1997) is a novel that combines pure poetry and brutalhonesty and was also the first novel completely written in Ebonics. As such, itarose an important controversy due to its novelty and harsh themes. It tells thestory of a black American adolescent who fights to survive a vicious cycle ofincest and abuse. Being obese, illiterate and lacking self-esteem, her father rapesher repeatedly and she becomes pregnant for the second time, her first babyhaving Down´s syndrome, and is, as a result, expelled from school.
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