Praisesong for the Widow (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Paule Marshall
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: 1976
- Setting: The Caribbean islands of Grenada and Carriacou, Tatem Island (off the South Carolina coast), and Brooklyn
- Principal Characters: Avatara (Avey) Johnson, Great-Aunt Cuney, Lebert Joseph, Marion Johnson
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: African Americans
- Locales: New York
Form and Content
When Avey was a girl, her Aunt Cuney called her to pass the cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Aunt Cuney would take Avey to the Landing and tell the story about the arrival of a shipload of Ibo slaves. At first, Avey answered her calling and told her brothers, but once her trips to Tatem Island stopped and after her adult attention shifted to achieving the American Dream, Avey sublimated what she had learned. The breach between Avey and her cultural heritage widened, and Avey stopped identifying with the struggles and concerns of other African...
[The entire page is 2962 words long]
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