Discourse, counter discourse and the manichean factor in the fiction of Conrad, Cary and Chinua Achebe

Abstract

This dissertation is concerned with the issue of feminism in three important novels belonging to post-colonial literature, and rarely studied in conjunction. By exploring feminine enunciations in the works of the African writer Ama Ata Aidoo'sOur Sister Killjoy, or Reflections from a Black-eyed Squint andChanges: A Love Storyand the African-American Alice Walker's The Color Purple, I examine the stylistic and thematic features which reflect the common concerns of African and African-American women writers by focusing on the way the characters, themes and women's issues are dealt with in their fiction. This study postulates that even though the lives of the African and African-American women are shaped by different historical forces and social traditions, situations and issues intersect -as revealed by Aidoo and Walker's writings -because of a common background of patriarchal domination. Through the course of this study, an attempt is made to draw a comparison between the black women portrayed in the literary works of the two writers, how African female protagonists have fared, as compared to their African-American counterparts. Furthermore, the various issues affecting these protagonists' lives are analyzed, insisting on the specificities of race, class, nationality and sexualities that intersect with gender. In the process of critically discussing the novels, the emphasis islaid on the socio-cultural and historical factors, such as patriarchy, slavery, racism and sexism, as being the causes of the resentment or dissent noted in the females' behaviors. Then, this study examines the extent to which these constraints succeed in silencing and marginalizing the 'subaltern' women by reducing them to an inferior status. I also examine their degree of resistance in the novels, and consider to what extent the female protagonists react and reject the silence imposed by these dominant ideologies.