Title

A Woman's Voice and Identity: Narrative Métissage as a Solution to Voicelessness in American Literature

Author

Kali Lauren Oldacre, Gardner-Webb University

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Committee Chair

Kemeshia Randle

Abstract

The objective of this thesis was to analyze the progression of a woman’s voice in literature looking particularly at three American women writers spanning the 20th and into the 21st century—Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston, and Edwidge Danticat. In conjunction, these three novels show a progression through the history of American women’s literature, demonstrating the successes and failures of voice and silence in their works and the ways in which creating an identity through voice is necessary, even if one must create it complexly. Ultimately, the authors establish a voice in their works that lays the foundation for writers who will continue to tell the stories of those in need of a complicated sense of Self. This thesis asserts that this type of identity and voice can be successfully created through narrative métissage.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Citation Information

Oldacre, Kali Lauren, "A Woman's Voice and Identity: Narrative Métissage as a Solution to Voicelessness in American Literature" (2016). MA in English Theses. 13.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/english_etd/13