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“Don't Tell”: Imposed Silences in The Color Purple and The Woman Warrior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

King-Kok Cheung
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Abstract

The Color Purple and The Woman Warrior exhibit parallel narrative strategies. The respectively black and Chinese American protagonists work their way from speechlessness to eloquence by breaking through the constraints of sex, race, and language. The heroines turn to masculine figures for guidance, to female models for inspiration, and to native idioms for stylistic innovation. Initially unable to speak, they develop distinctive voices by registering their own unspoken grief on paper and, more important, by recording and emulating the voices of women from their respective ethnic communities. Through these testimonies, each written in a bicultural language, Walker and Kingston reveal the obstacles and resources peculiar to minority women. Subverting patriarchal literary traditions by reclaiming a mother tongue that carries a rich oral tradition (of which women are guardians) the authors artfully coordinate the tasks of breaking silence, acknowledging female influence, and redefining while preserving ethnic characteristics.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 103 , Issue 2 , March 1988 , pp. 162 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1988

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