As I hope this study guide has proved, the analysis of biopower is essential to understanding how Harper’s novel works to redefine it as a system of power that leaves the black race unprotected. This inability to protect is what makes Harper’s racial uplift so important and necessary. After all, this is a novel that takes place mostly after slavery is abolished and yet the black race is still extremely oppressed and vulnerable as compared to a race where every institution is working to sustain and protect it.
Harper’s novel demonstrates how self-sacrifice, and characters like Iola and Robert, is necessary in beginning to create a system and society held together by a strong faith and uplifted through education, where the black race can serve to protect itself.
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