Traumatic Dualities: Religion and Recovery in African-American Women's Writing

Abstract

The thesis explores the sacred in three modern African American novels: Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987), Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall (1983), and The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1970). These novels include female protagonists who have undergone various traumas, though all of their traumas extend from their positions as black women in white male dominated America. The inclusion of both Western and African religious elements relates to their individual and cultural traumas, and patterns in sacred motifs in each novel are read as paths to reconciliation.