5. The
Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common
forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite
crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black
lack of power. The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges
a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and
even belligerence.
This passage in Chapter 34 addresses
why black women have strength of character. Maya says that most
of the strong black women in her novel are “survivors.” They have
strong characters quite simply because they have survived against
impossible odds. Therefore, they obviously show heroism, courage,
and strength. Moreover, Maya states that the odds pitted against
black women include not only the triple threat of sexism, racism,
and black powerlessness, but also the simultaneous presence of “common
forces of nature” that assault and confuse all children. Maya has
had to grow up more quickly than the children around her. Her experiences—driving
the car in Mexico, living in the junkyard, returning to witness
Bailey move out of the house, and then successfully fighting to get
a job as the first black conductor on the San Francisco streetcars, rather
than go back to a school where she would not belong—have made her
feel displaced and older than her years. Maya is already on her
way toward becoming “a formidable character” as a result of the
many assaults she deals with in “her tender years,” but this does not
mean that Maya is an adult. Maya’s discussion of the “common forces
of nature” foreshadows how her journey of survival has yet to meet
the obstacles of adolescence, sexuality, and teenage pregnancy.
These obstacles face all children, but for black females, they exacerbate
an already difficult situation.
