“Black Womanhood” in Alice Walker'sThe Temple of My Familiar

Abstract

lice Walkers’ novelThe Temple of My Familiarweaves an intricate pattern of womanhood challenging the stereotypical canonicalpatriarchalrepresentation of women down the centuries.This thesis shows thatWalker's principal technique indoing sois to revise the Western representation of reality, whichdepicts itself as separate from and superior to other cultures, by telling stories that stress connection and equality.The female characters in the novel who occupy most of the detail and claim interest of the reader, reveal thetales of black contributions to American history that have been neglected or suppressed.They alsopresent reinterpretations of ancient myths;recount horrors and heroism that would have been left in the jungle and out of recorded history. This way they claim attention of the readers and historians the world over. This thesis examines how the novelrelates the damage inflicted on blacks by the oppression of slavery in Africa and in the Americas. No less damaging is the effect of the racial prejudiceworking against the blacks whose female members sufferfromgender oppression too. The novelhypothesizes that Western civilizationadoptedand subverted the ancient African deities, metamorphosing their worship of the MotherGoddess into a patriarchal line. The message of the novel isthatBlack women have suffered most since they were subjugated both by whites and by men.And the way to liberation is to spin the histories and stories of the past when women used to occupy equal or even special position in the society, and claim the same status at present.