Long Black Song Analysis

The story titled the Long Black Song has a controversial balance of power that is shown throughout the narrative. As time progresses, the struggle between men and women is heightened and there seems to be a passive partner paired with a mastery one. Sarah, a married housewife, was portrayed as being powerless within her own race, but when compared to the white man, Sarah gained physical and mental strength because she was curious about how being with the opposite race would feel, as well as the fact that black men were exceedingly domineering. Sarah was portrayed as a very frail character when equated to her husband, Silas, because the black men are the most dominant partner within an ethnically similar relationship. For example, when Silas found the white man’s possessions within his home, he became extremely angry with Sarah, threatening to beat her in multiple ways; one occurrence includes Silas screaming, “Yuh ain comin back in mah house till Ah beat yuh” (Wright, 145) because Sarah had left in order to protect her and the baby. This is a perfect representation on how the black man was very controlling of the black female because he had the power to beat his wife and determined whether or not she would enter back in the house. Silas made Sarah so fearful, she ran away from their home and did not

As stated within the book, when Sarah was home alone, she was reminiscing over her ex-lover who had gone off to war; this was the point when the white man had knocked on her door. In other words, when the young man pulled up, she was already thinking about her past pleasures; the only reason she held back at first was because he was a white man. In the end, curiosity got the best of her and she managed to get a taste of the unknown. Once she was done fighting against the man, the scene was described as