Abstract:
Blackness has continued to grow in meaning such that its meaning can be described as ambiguous. Blackness in a racist environment dominated by whites assumes meanings that are negative. In a racist environment, blackness is seen as an anathema. To clarify the concept of blackness, the researcher emphasizes that blackness transcends just the physical colour of the skin. There are many that cannot be physically described as black but are considered black because of their ancestry, genetic history, geographical location etc. A black person can be equated with the “Other” in Simone de Beauvoir’s term. The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders in America opines that “our nation is moving towards two societies, one white, one black- separate and unequal… the most fundamental is the racial attitude and behaviour of whites towards the blacks…” (Bradford Chronicles 238). A black person in Britain and other white dominated societies is a subalternized person whose identity is defined by another; a person denied of self. This imposed or constructed definition of blackness leads to stereotyping and role assignment. In literary criticism, role assignment on the basis of blackness is manifested in several forms in literary texts. This study examines what blackness means to the characters and the consequent role assignment as contained in Andrea Levy’s two novels: Fruit of the Lemon and Small Island using the critical race theory. At the end of this research, it was discovered that coloured people are seen as second class citizens in white dominated societies.
