“THE PROBLEM THAT HAS NO NAME”: PERSPECTIVES OF RADICAL FEMINISM IN THE SELECTED POEMS OF ANGELOU, JORDAN AND WALKER

Abstract

Radical feminism, as a perspective of feminism, believes in radical notion of change and reordering of the social system which is all patriarchal and the bone of all contention because of being man-centric. Being traditionally and largely white-woman-centric, radical feminism strives to overthrow domestic violence, sexual abuse, injustice, economic inequality, and gender oppression being at daggers drawn with men. Thus, the aggressive tone of these radical
feminists becomes a powerful sound that penetrates and reverberates even into the lives and writings of black women who themselves have their own issues of being black and being marginalized by white feminists. This study explores radical feminist perspectives in the selected poems of black female poets, Maya Angelou, June Jordan and Alice Walker to explain the difference between the patriarchal social system and the female reality and, at the same time,
surfaces the fact how women get beyond boundaries of race, caste or group whenever there is a call to demolish that patriarchal system which, as found in the study, sets its own standards to exploit women. The concept or framework of radical feminism is defined with special reference to Adrienne Rich, Kate Millet and Shulamith Firestone–which is, then, analyzed in the target poems.