Empowering Black Women through Female Solidarity: A Magical Realist and Gynocritical Analysis of I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, Mama Day and The Color Purple

Abstract

This dissertation aims to identify the subversive writing techniques adopted by the black female authors to empower their black female protagonists. Maryse Condé in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, Gloria Naylor in Mama Day, and Alice Walker in The Color Purple demonstrate how their victimized black female protagonists unify with other afflicted black women to challenge the stereotypical ideologies of patriarchal society and reconstruct their future. In the first chapter, the analysis of I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem through the theories of Showalter’s gynocriticism, Hart’s magical feminism and Bowers’ magical realism help understand how Tituba utilizes her voice, her medicinal knowledge, and her connection with female ancestors to initiate black resistance. In the second chapter, the theoretical understandings of black feminism, magical realism and female rivalry by Arndt, Bowers’ and Springer respectively aid to explore the transgressive nature of Cocoa’s relationship with George, the reconstructive aspects of Cocoa’s attachment with her grandmothers and the cataclysmic result of Ruby’s rivalry with Cocoa in Mama Day. In the final chapter, this paper incorporates the theoretical perspectives of feminist satire, lesbianism, female consensus, and self-respect by Krefting, Atkinson, Hamer and Neville, and Dillon respectively to analyse the strategies used by the black female characters in The Color Purple to resist male domination and reclaim their individuality. Overall, this paper attempts to prove that the black female protagonists of these three texts embrace innovative ways to challenge social prejudices and interrupt the continuity of their subjugation to emancipate as a collective.