The uncanny, triad consciousness, and intersectionality in Ann Petry’s the street
Presentation Type
Abstract
Faculty Advisor
Melinda Knight
Access Type
Event
Start Date
25-4-2025 12:00 PM
End Date
25-4-2025 1:00 PM
Description
My research analyzes Ann Petry’s The Street, set in Harlem in the late 1940s, by examining the socioeconomic barriers shaping Black women’s lives. I first establish the limited economic and housing opportunities for women of color in the mid-1940s, reflected in Petry’s portrayal of Lutie, Mrs. Hedges, Min, and Mary. Through these characters, Petry reveals how race, gender, and class intersect to confine Black women in cycles of oppression. Additionally, the restricted job market for Black men forced Black women into low-wage labor, perpetuating poverty. The housing crisis in Harlem, shaped by redlining and urban decay, further constrained their opportunities. Moreover, I explore how Petry critiques the dehumanization of Black women, particularly through Mrs. Hedges, whose survival depends on complicity with the white patriarchy. Using Freud’s concept of the uncanny, I examine how her physicality both enables and limits her social and economic mobility, reinforcing cycles of Black female suppression. Finally, the novel expands on W.E.B. Du Bois’s double consciousness theory, anticipating Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality. Building on these frameworks, I introduce the concept of a “triad consciousness,” which encompasses the compounding identities of race, womanhood, and motherhood that shape the female consciousness. Ultimately, The Street dismantles the illusion of the American Dream for Black individuals, exposing how power structures—economic, gendered, and social—corrupt the very ideals they claim to uphold.
The uncanny, triad consciousness, and intersectionality in Ann Petry’s the street
My research analyzes Ann Petry’s The Street, set in Harlem in the late 1940s, by examining the socioeconomic barriers shaping Black women’s lives. I first establish the limited economic and housing opportunities for women of color in the mid-1940s, reflected in Petry’s portrayal of Lutie, Mrs. Hedges, Min, and Mary. Through these characters, Petry reveals how race, gender, and class intersect to confine Black women in cycles of oppression. Additionally, the restricted job market for Black men forced Black women into low-wage labor, perpetuating poverty. The housing crisis in Harlem, shaped by redlining and urban decay, further constrained their opportunities. Moreover, I explore how Petry critiques the dehumanization of Black women, particularly through Mrs. Hedges, whose survival depends on complicity with the white patriarchy. Using Freud’s concept of the uncanny, I examine how her physicality both enables and limits her social and economic mobility, reinforcing cycles of Black female suppression. Finally, the novel expands on W.E.B. Du Bois’s double consciousness theory, anticipating Kimberlé Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality. Building on these frameworks, I introduce the concept of a “triad consciousness,” which encompasses the compounding identities of race, womanhood, and motherhood that shape the female consciousness. Ultimately, The Street dismantles the illusion of the American Dream for Black individuals, exposing how power structures—economic, gendered, and social—corrupt the very ideals they claim to uphold.
Comments
Poster presentation at the 2025 Student Research Symposium.