Everyday and Internalized Racism in Joyce Carol Oats’ The Sacrifice

African-American study began to be addressed in the late ۱۹۶۰s. It analyzes the culture, achievements, characteristics, ethnicity, and issues of black people. The purpose of this study is to analyze Oats’ The Sacrifice by the use of two concepts of “everyday racism ”,and “internalized racism”. It’s a qualitative library-based research.The technique used in this study is close reading. It is found that although the violence of police against Blacks is discussed, in the end, the police officers are justified as individuals who have to follow the macro-level governmental policies. The finding shows how the reader of the novel can sense the inferiotery of black community through out the novel, and also white portraying the black communties as a low level of socisty, the idea of white supremacy has been internalized in this novel. In general, the author has depicted the agents of racialization, but in the end, the main agent of internalized racism remained ambiguous. It is noteworthy that Oats as a white author has only unfairly portrayed the negative stereotypes of blacks in the larger society and demonstrates them as violent and rebellious ethnicity, without addressing the hidden factors which provoke these negative stereotypes.

Keywords:

African American literature” , “Everyday Racism” , “Internalized Racism” , “Joyce carol oats” , “The Sacrifice