A mature, middle-aged Selina, the protagonist of Marshall’s novel Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959), can possibly be found in the short story “Reena.” The story has been described by critic Barbara Christian, in Black Feminist Criticism (1985), as “one of the first pieces of Afro-American fiction to delve into the complex choices confronting the contemporary, educated African-American woman.” Reena is self-exploratory; she knows what she wants from life. As a woman who has fought her way from working-class to middle-class status, she has had experiences that are similar to those of other African American women: rejection by African American men, single parenthood, and underemployment. A sophisticated and intelligent woman, Reena is aware of the inequities that are inherent in American society and are reproduced in different forms in African American communities.

After two unsuccessful love affairs, she is understandably reticent in beginning new relationships. Her first lover rejects her because his family considers her too dark. The second, a European American, represents not only a part of her involvement in radical politics but also an escape from her “self.” As she evolves, she must discard him. She must, however, find an acceptable partner. African American men of a suitable status prefer European American women, are homosexual, or are resolutely yoked to their parents. Not only has Reena been subjected to the racism and sexism of U.S. society, but she has also experienced the “colorism” that exists in many African American communities.

Reena eventually marries an African American and begins the life of the typical American homemaker, but her husband’s career as a photographer is not immediately successful, and he frequently takes out his frustrations on her. In this relationship, as in others, Reena, powerless, is the subordinate member. Sensing the power base of these relationships, she leaves. There is a divorce, and she is left to rear her children alone. Reena blames many of her marital problems on her absent husband and, in a sense, blames all African American men for the problems of African American women.

After the divorce, however, Reena’s sense of independence emerges, and she begins to plan a husbandless, fatherless life for herself and her children, a life that includes possibly living and working in Africa. She tells her friend Paulie that she has everything she needs: her children and her career. Having suffered the constraints of an American marriage, she feels that she must live her life alone. Yet neither she nor Paulie will spare herself the brutal truth that she feels rejected by African American men.

In her fiction, Marshall explores the racism that permeates American society, but the racism gives way to the sexism and colorism of the African American community. In order to avoid the racism and sexism that are seemingly endemic in Western societies, many of her characters journey to other places. Reena and Merle Kinbona (“Merle” and The Chosen Place, the Timeless People) go to some unnamed African destination. Avey Johnson (Praisesong for the Widow), however, goes to Tatum Island in search of her “self.” These women leave the United States or their Caribbean islands in search of a place to find themselves instead of looking inside themselves for answers. This search for truth is an effect of the diaspora on the lives of these women. In order to understand their position in contemporary society, they have to understand from where they came.

In order to achieve a sense of self, they usually journey to Africa, which, for Marshall, symbolizes the Pan-African consciousness that is important in the development of black identity. With her concentration on African American women and their search for identity and history, Marshall links her racial themes to the feminist movement. Yet, with their racial and gender crises and their wandering, these women are not defeated. They make radical choices that make them self-liberated. The women in these stories not only discover their natural powers and reinforce them but also represent the independence that has been a constant in the lives of many African American women.