Possessing the Secret of Joy
by Alice Walker
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- Masterplots II: African American Literature, Revised Edition
- Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition
- Magill's Literary Annual 1991-2005
- Magill Book Reviews
- Identities & Issues in Literature
- Cyclopedia of Literary Characters, Revised Third Edition
- Masterplots II: Women's Literature Series
See Also
- Alice Walker (Critical Survey of Poetry: American Poets)
- Alice Walker (Cyclopedia of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition)
- Alice Walker (Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century)
- Alice Walker (Identities & Issues in Literature)
- Alice Walker (Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Fourth Edition)
- Alice Walker (Critical Survey of Short Fiction, Second Revised Edition)
- Alice Walker (Women's Issues (Ready Reference series))
At a glance:
- Author: Alice Walker
- First Published: 1992
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The 1930’s to the 1980’s
- Setting: Africa, the United States, and Europe
- Characters: Tashi (Evelyn Johnson), Olivia, Adam, M’Lissa, Lisette, Pierre, Mzee, Benny (Bentu) Moraga, Raye, Amy Maxwell
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: African Americans, North America or North Americans, Suffering, United States or Americans, Africa or Africans, Tradition, Sexism, Blacks, Sex or sexuality, Murder or homicide, Twentieth century, Gender roles, California, West, U.S., Pain, Women's issues, Adultery, Multiculturalism, Women, Revenge, Rites or ceremonies
- Locales: Africa, California, United States, North America
The Novel
When their missionary family arrives at the tribal village of the Olinka, young African Americans Adam and Olivia Johnson see Tashi, the main character of Possessing the Secret of Joy. They observe the six-year-old girl weeping silently alongside her mother; readers later learn that Tashi’s favorite sister, Dura, has just died from complications of a ritual clitoridectomy, performed on all village girls as they approach puberty. The novel weaves back and forth between the early memories of Tashi, Adam, and Olivia, cycling forward as Walker chronicles...
(The entire page is 2589 words.)
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