In the novel Luster by Raven Leilani, the black female protagonist, Edie, struggles as she navigates through varying social scenes, personal relationships, and workplaces. The novel opens as Edie begins a relationship with Eric, a married white man nearly twenty years older than her, followed by the loss of her job, and the eviction from her apartment. In the novel Leilani analyzes the many factors that impact individuals' external perceptions of Edie as she carries herself through the world, and the power those external perceptions have to impact Edie’s internal perception of herself.
Workplace Perceptions
At the reader's first glance at Edie’s job, she describes the environment in an unsettling way. The first interaction portrayed at her workplace is between Edie and Aria, the only other Black person in her department. Edie states that the cultural proximity between the two women “forces a comparison between us that never favours me”. She describes Aria as “Lovely like only island women are”, and unthreatening through her “aw shucks shtick for all the professional whites.” Edie then goes on to state that Aria plays the game well, and though they are different, she can see the same hunger reflected in each other's eyes.
After Edie is fired from her position for inappropriate behavior, she speaks with Aria again before she finally departs. Aria tells her of how she has obtained Edie’s job, and Edie explains that Aria must be happy she has been fired, she says “I must have been a liability to you.” Aria explains to Edie that, yes, she was, but not in the way she expects. Aria explains that what Edie sees as ‘Black Power’ and the opportunity to ‘stick it to the white man’, such as the ability to slack or the lack of impulse control, is actually just feeding into exactly what the white man expects from her. The point that Aria is making is that as Black women, Edie and Aria do not have the same leeway for mediocrity as their white counterparts would. Their outward perception counts towards a hefty part of their assumed value, therefore they must mitigate that perception with patience and care in order to be valued in a fair and equal way.
Romantic Perceptions
The romantic relationships in Luster also hint at similar power imbalances to those of Edie’s professional ones. Such as her relationship with Eric, Edie experiences a significant power imbalance. In the novel, Eric is a wealthy, married, middle aged white man pursuing a relationship with Edie, a young, recently unemployed black woman. The differences in status naturally creates a heavily skewed power dynamic, one that Edie finds herself trapped inside of and trying to identify with. There is a point early on in the novel where Edie allows Eric to physically abuse her, without questioning, and with apparent consent. This act alone outlines how the perceptions of the two individuals impacts the imbalance of power, as Edie is essentially unable to perceive herself in an internal way. Due to her inclination to validate herself externally, this power imbalance slides into place with ease, and Edie accepts the role assigned to her.
Personal Perceptions
It is not until Edie is introduced to Eric’s adopted daughter Akila, a young black girl, that Edie begins to identify within herself. As Edie becomes witness to the environment Akila is growing up in, raised by two white parents, with a racist tutor limiting her learning, Edie is finally able to properly internalize the parts of herself she has buried deep within her identity, by externalizing them in a way that benefited Akila. Edie did not have the strength to put herself first and prioritize herself as a young black woman, yet when she witnessed Akila, a young girl who reminded her of herself, struggling to braid her hair, Edie picked up the comb and passed down tips Akila could not have acquired otherwise. It was at this point that Edie’s strength of invisibility finally resulted in hypervisibility, as she saw the value in herself reflected in someone else.
