Power
PowerWhen a person has enough power in a society, it gives them a lot of control over certain things. When they have this control, they can have ownership over a person or a thing. By naming someone, or something, a person gains an unspoken ownership over him or her, they are now in control of him or her and it has created a new identity for them and erased their old identity. Power, naming and un-naming, control and ownership and identity are very important elements in �Mary� and �No Name Woman�. Both essays deal with power, identity, control and ownership, while �Mary� focuses more on naming and �No Name Woman� focuses on un-naming.
One�s power and position in a society can give them the �right� or ability to name or un-name a person. Someone can gain this right by his or her status socially, financially, and even racially. If it�s their own child, of course, they have every right in the world to name him or her. But in some cultures, as is evident in �No Name Woman�, they have the right to take away someone�s name if they have disgraced their family and/or community. A name is very significant because it gives a person a sense of who they are, an identity. In �No Name Woman�, Kingston�s aunt had no identity except for the story her mother told her and in �Mary� Marguerite�s new boss, Mrs. Cullinan changed her name to Mary which then, in a way, removed Marguerite�s original identity and gave her a new one, one she didn�t want.
By changing Marguerite�s name, Mrs. Cullinan proves how much power she has over a little black servant like Marguerite. A rich white member of the society, in which Marguerite grew up, has more power and control over things than someone of a poor background or a black background. Mrs. Cullinan wasn�t the first to incite the drastic change of Marguerite�s name, although she started it off by calling her Margaret, it was in fact, one of her friends who suggested that �the name�s too long. I�d never bother myself. I�d call her Mary if I was you.�(5) As if showing off to her friends, and proving that she really does have control and power over black people, she starts calling her Mary, much to Marguerite�s disgust. Marguerite soon learned that Mrs. Cullinan had changed Miss Glory�s name twenty years ago. �My name used to be Hallelujah. That�s what Ma named me, but my mistress give me �Glory,� and it stuck. I likes it better too.�(7) After learning this, Marguerite was torn between laughing at Miss. Glory�s original name and crying because she knew it wasn�t the first time Mrs. Cullinan changed a name for convenience or to prove her power. She went to great lengths to get fired from working at Mrs. Cullinan�s and to get...
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