Essay about Writing and Black Women

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Tana Heidrich
Professor Judith Hurlburt
Writing 121
21-May-15
Talking Back (Hooks 3)

“The craving to have a voice and to be heard,” Powerful words from Bell Hooks, author of Talking Back who as a child felt like she wasn’t allowed to have a voice based on her race and gender at the time growing up in the south. In a time where she was surrounded by what she says are “strong black women” who helped shaped who she is, but still felt held down by what was expected of her. She challenged power and challenged the way other people thought by questioning attitudes and beliefs. Growing up in a time where grandparents were from the “old school” era, you know where children are seen and not heard, gave Hooks a determination to be heard, she wanted authority figures to hear her. Writing became her voice and her way of not remaining silent.

To speak when not spoken to was an act of risk and daring, Hook was taught this her whole life, being a women and especially a black women living in the south at a time where men could say what they wanted. In fact it was encouraged for them to do so, believing that someday it would become useful for them. Black men at the time were preaching in male dominated churches and as she states “Poetic preaching” it was expected of them. At the same time when it came to her home life, it’s the women who were in charge and were the poetic preachers. The men were often silent and not involved in the home aspect of day to day dealings. Hook felt a need to be involved in the conversations, the craving to talk and to have a voice. And talk she did, she would insert herself in to conversations by answering questions that maybe she shouldn’t have answered, asking questions and at the time was not thinking of the consequences of what she was doing.
When Hook talks about the punishments, the way she felt suppressed, being held down, not getting to be heard, seems to be worse than being physically punished. And yet all that punishment made her want to have a bigger voice. She began to write, it was a way to capture speech and her way to hold on to it. She started to write in diaries, bits and pieces of conversations and in return she was able to express all her sorrows, she got to say the wrong thing and ask the wrong questions. She would leave these laying around as she says “under her bed, in her pillow stuffing, among faded underwear.” She felt ashamed, violated, the secret parts of Hooks had been exposed when her sisters found them and ridiculed her, made fun of her and despite her violation of exposer she continued to write and speak, and she just had to find better hiding places for all her thoughts. But it did teach her that she shouldn’t be ashamed of what she wrote, so many girls at the time and can even be said of today, the keep the thoughts and voices hidden with that diary or journal. Hook realized that was a barrier that needed to be broke, so women no longer need to be silent or secretive.

Hook states that she was never taught absolute silence, she was taught was appropriate to talk about, too talk in silent, too much talk would be considered a betrayal. Her questioning authority, raising issues, were not appropriate at the time. Madness and not just physical abuse was the punishment if you spoke too much or had too many ideas. I mean they would think you were mad, and by that I mean crazy. Women at that time were supposed to defer to men (as Hook puts it) and keep their ideas and thought to themselves. If they didn’t cower down and they continued to voice their ideas, society would think they suffered from a mental disorder. Even with all of that, she still had to write and speak, she feared not
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