원문정보
Rebirth through Legends, Rituals, and Memory in Paule Marshall's Praisesong for the Widow
초록
영어
As a neo-slave narrative that emphasizes the impact of slavery on the descendants of African Americans living in modern America, Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow depicts how individual and cultural memory function in overcoming the disinherited body and soul of African Americans. Blending legends, dreams, memory and ritual, Marshall portrays Avey Johnson’s physical and spiritual journey that intersects the wide geographical regions of Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States of America. Estranged from blacks’ cultural and racial heritage in the pursuit of upward mobility as well as white’s values, Avey Johnson regains her cultural and racial identity through the help of her ancestral figures such as Great Aunt Cuney and Lebert Joseph. Cultural and racial identity through individual and collective memory help her rediscover her blackness and inheritance. The discovery of her blackness is made possible by remembering her past through her memory. This paper explores the way in which Avey Johnson restores her memory. The paper investigates not only how Avey’s memory of past experiences affects her current life and what it is to make this happen, but also how she re-establishes it through the symbolic ritual of rebirth and forgiveness.
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Works Cited
Abstract