Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 07:55:27 -0400
Subject: Re: Toni Morrison and survival


JCharles,
I know I am on shaky ground here but what I am suggesting is that stereotypes
such as the red-haired girl in the LWFC movie, (and red-haired girl is
certainly another stereotype for a strong willed hot tempered female) may be
seen as a positive in postcolonial literature.  The Hogue quote was
commenting on Morrison's book Sula and Morrison, herself has remarked that
"people talk about the friendship of women, and them having respect for  each
other, like it's something new. But Black women have always had that, they
always have been emotional life supports for each other."
What I am trying to delve into is the idea that with colonialism, the
emotional, spiritual, (place any word you think fits) bond that all humans
had, has been fragmented.  Cultures were made to assimilate with the Colonial
power and with that came a loss of identity and a separation from each member
of the preculture community which in many cultures centered around the female
members social bond.  
In the postcolonial world women  , it seems to me, by media influences
especially, are made to be suspicious of other women.
I do not want to be stereotypic and suggest that men are not also exposed to
this suspicion of other men but I believe it is on a more economic level, a
competition.  Of course, I believe that men can and are and need to exist on
a spiritual level also to survive.  
It seems though, that women recognize the power of spiritual strength more in
the postcolonial novels I have read.  As I read more I am sure I will find
male survivors who have also found their own voice through pursuit of this
spiritual link to the rest of humanity.
Who is the writer, that you refer to who is not of African descent?

Linda E. Neville
Ladydonut-AT-aol.com


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