Analysis Of The Book Praisesong For The Widow By Paule...

All the three novels represent inevitable shaping of identities through memories of slavery and the past. For this reason, the main characters in the novels are tightly connected to their homelands as it is essential part of their beings although American culture is strange and complicated for them to fit in and be a part of it. This is because of their alienation from cultural practices such as the use of a common dialect. The novel Praisesong for the Widow written by Paule Marshall revolves around a character named Avey Johnson who is crossroads to define her destiny generated from years of poverty and a rocky marriage. According to the detailed novel, Avey Johnson faces discrimination and attempts to assimilate her into being a white. It is evident throughout the novel that the senior citizen is unable to clearly acknowledge the white culture as a result of endless memory running across her mind. In her school of thought, the dense population of whites was not a representative of her identity but as conformity to the majority perspective. In this regard, this novel highlights the hegemonic practice of the ideology of selective retention. For example, Avey Johnson is singled out as one among many of the assimilated Americans who follow a certain culture blindly to limit violence and extremism from the majority of the citizenry. The Avey Johnson, the main character in Praisesong for the Widow (1983), in trying to become a part of wealthy, white society, forgets her