Praisesong for the Widow (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Paule Marshall
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The late 1970’s
- Setting: A Caribbean cruise ship, Grenada, Carriacou, and New York
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: African Americans
- Locales: New York
Characters Discussed
Avatara (Avey) Johnson, an affluent, determined, and headstrong African American widow in her early sixties. She is driven, as the novel opens, to escape her two friends aboard a fifteen-day Caribbean vacation cruise and return home. Feeling compelled by memory, dreams, and the ill effects of a rich peach parfait dessert, Avey has packed her six suitcases in the middle of the night and has made arrangements to leave the majestic Bianca Pride at its next port of call and fly home to White Plains, New York. Always a strong-willed, self- possessed woman...
[The entire page is 1903 words long]
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