In Search of our Mothers' Gardens

In this essay written by Alice Walker she describes trying to find her voice in a society attempting to keep her as a woman, and as a black woman held down. Language was constantly involved in this journey because she was not allowed to be literate. She and her mother, and grandparents were all held down by not being allowed to learn how to read or write. Their language was what they picked up and what they learned through being a servant to the white masters. I think the idea of the repression of black women, or the repression of women in general still exist, but it is not prevalent in our society. Men do not face linguistic repression because throughout society they have always been the dominant people. The gender and racial expectations built into language are not specific to men as they are to women. Women have more expectations to live by than men do, and when women do not follow those expectations they are talked about more than men are.