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Authority through Polyvocality in The Poisonwood Bible

I explore how the structure of Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible invites the reader to accept narrators’ authority in different ways depending on their temporal situatedness. I examine how a retrospective, extradiegetic perspective contrasts with limited, homodiegetic and intradiegeitc perspectives among female narrators. I analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, as well as how they shape one another. I discuss how the intersection of these voices develops the identity and enhances the authority of each narrator. Kingsolver employs polyvocality to bring female voices out of marginalization in order for readers to hear and respect their testimonies.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:vcu.edu/oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-1309
Date12 May 2012
CreatorsWilliams, Emily C.
PublisherVCU Scholars Compass
Source SetsVirginia Commonwealth University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceTheses and Dissertations
Rights© The Author

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