This study, using Michelle Cliff's Abeng and Paule Marshall's Brown Girl Brownstones, explores these novels as coming of age narratives that challenge the bildungsroman genre and these novels are therefore placed in a new theoretical model termed Yere-wolo. Cliff and Marshall illuminate the need for a reevaluation of the bildungsroman genre. The construction of, Toward a Theory of Yere-wolo, emerges out of the unsettling disposition of black female development within the bildungsroman genre. The critics within this genre have failed to adequately address obstacles that are specific to black female identity construction. This study illustrates how a theory of Yere-wolo offers a space for a diverse reading of the coming of age novels of black women. Toward a Theory of Yere-wolo offers a space in which differences in the identity construction of various black women is shared. If identity constitutes a variety of meanings, including race, gender, and class, then it is imperative that authors writing about identity construction have a space to do so. Cliff's construction of Clare's identity differs greatly from Marshall's construction of Selina's. Under the umbrella of bildungsroman, black bildungsroman, and female bildungsroman, the protagonist's development is universalized as woman or black, with little room for different subject positions. A marginal and monolithic view of black women has been the tendency amongst essentialist, and female bildungsroman scholars. However, the construction of a theory of Yere-wolo is centered on the experiences of black women and it opens a space for various aspects of black female development that have been erased from contemporary scholarship. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. / Fall Semester, 2004. / September 23, 2002. / Black Bildungsroman, Female Bildungsroman, Bildungsroman, Coming Of Age / Includes bibliographical references. / Jerrilyn McGregory, Professor Directing Thesis; Maxine Montgomery, Committee Member; Chanta Haywood, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182551 |
| Contributors | Ford, Na'Imah Hanan (authoraut), McGregory, Jerrilyn (professor directing thesis), Montgomery, Maxine (committee member), Haywood, Chanta (committee member), Department of English (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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