Redefining Black Female Identity: A Study of Gloria Naylor's Bailey's Cafe

The hegemonic value system continues to generate destructive images of Black women even in the modern times only to prevent them from forming an independent identity. The African-American women have suffered a lot due to these stereotyped negative and controlling images constructed by the white racist society. These images hide the complexities and ambiguities, the challenges and the joys experienced by black women in their real lives. With the experiences of strained familial relationships, poor educational histories and bleak employment records, they face the problem of defending their self-regulating Black identity. Rejection of these images can liberate them from the confinement of double oppression of racism and sexism. In their journey towards self-definition, African-American women get help from different sources, but the chief origin of undergoing alteration remains within their own consciousness. The paper focuses on the struggle of six black female personages who despite all the soul-scorching experiences in their lives, strive hard to discard the derogatory labels and to redefine themselves in their own way.