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Analysis Of Paule Marshall's Praisesong For The Widow

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The recognition of African cultural legacy is a fundamental element so as to comprehend black identity and its rich culture, and Paule Marshall, as an American of African descent, is keen on “showing Black characters that boldly fight white supremacy in a positive light, in an attempt to help liberate her readers, at a personal level, from believing negative images about Blacks”(Fraser, 2012: 527). The author’s fiction evidently goes hand in hand with politics in the pursuit to bring consciousness, acknowledgment and assimilation among Black cultures in the West. Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow is an influential novel which sketches the internal journey that the main character undergoes so as to reconnect with her long-lost roots and eventually her coming to terms with the fact that she is part of the African diasporic community. Thus, my essay will examine how Avey Johnson’s spiritual …show more content…

he asked her […] Aranda? … Cromanti maybe? … Yarraba then? … Moko?” […] “What was the man going on about? What were these names? […] Africa? Did they have something to do with Africa?” (Marshall, 1983: 167). Avey’s lack of knowledge enlightens Lebert to see the actual reason why she is there: her spiritual quest to rediscover herself and to get in touch with her African

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