결혼과 시민권: 『카스트의 저주; 노예신부』와 『아이올라 르로이』를 중심으로

Abstract

This paper argues that The Curse of Caste and Iola Leroy appropriates a marriage plot of ’women’s novel’ to mediate the citizenship of Black women in the 19th century. Considering marriage had been denied to the enslaved Black and interracial marriage was illegal, marriage in both novels illustrates that it constructs the boundary of citizens by allocating civil rights and privileges. As a literary convention, the marriage plot between a mulatta and a White man expresses and practices Black citizenship. Iola―refusing to marry a White man―marries a mulatto while Claire remains unknown to marry a White man. They not only problematize the citizenship of wives who are supposed to be the dependents of their husbands but also explore the citizenship of Black women. Mulatta daughters who refuse to pass for White and claim the place to work and live as Black women narrate the possibility to disrupt the separate spheres, to reform the private sphere, and to enter the society as Black women citizens.