Critical Race Theory in Literature: In The Blood By Suzan-Lori Parks

This study seeks to explore the fundamental principles of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and to use it as an analytical tool in order to discuss Suzan-Lori Parks’s play, In The Blood. Through the key tenets of CRT such as the systematic racism, race as a social construct, intersectionality and power structures, it is framed a comprehensive theoretical background for a literary analysis. Relatedly, the primary focus of this study is to deeply analyze race, gender, power relations and socio-economic conditions with CRT through the playwright’s innovative representation of blackness. CRT clearly shows that racism is constructed through discriminative practices and sustained by law and institutions resulting in justification and accordingly normalization of oppression. In line with CRT’s main concerns, In The Blood embodies societal and ideological barriers and the dehumanization of black female bodies through social judgment, racial and gender discrimination, and motherhood. CRT essentially deals with how Parks reconstructs traditional narratives of guilt, shame, and femininity and claims that Hester is portrayed both as a victim of intersectional oppression and an individual struggling with the harsh conditions of life.