New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.
Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944 to a family of sharecroppers
in Georgia. She is most famous for her novel The Color
Purple, which won her the Pulitzer Prize and the American
Book Award. Currently she lives in Mendocino, CA.
Synopsis: This beautiful and tragic story tells the tale of heroine
Tashi-Evelyn Johnson, brought up in the fictitious African
tribe of Olinka, who returns from America to undergo the horrific
cultural tradition of female genital circumcision (clitoridectomy).
Tashi has grown up in the tribe where all female children
undergo this ritual, which eventually claimed the life of
Tashi’s sister and scarred Tashi emotionally. She too almost
died when finally undergoing the procedure. The book explores
Tashi’s journey in making peace with her heritage and tribal
expectations. After marrying Adam, an American missionary
who has visited Tashi’s camp, they move to America and she
changes her name to Evelyn to fit into the new society. However,
she is an emotional wreck who is slowly going insane, and
is physically unable to have normal sexual relations with
her husband. She moves from therapist to therapist, trying
to recover from the death of her sister and this brutal act
that was done to her. Told in a mixture of flashbacks and
different character’s points of view (including Olivia, Adam’s
sister, and M’Lissa, the circumciser), Possessing the
Secret of Joy is an amazing novel that reveals the truth
about this ongoing tradition of mutilation.
Target Audience: High School (Grades 11 - 12)
Genre:Novel
Length: 304 pages (paperback)
Availability/Cost: Hardcover $25.00 - Paperback $14.00
Commentary: “Its focus on one of the most debated and disturbing feminist
issues puts it among [Alice Walker’s] most powerful works,”
writes Mel Watkins in The New York Times Book Review.
A portion of the proceeds raised from the sale of this book
will be donated to the education of men and women on the practice
of female genital mutilation.
Links to Other Modules: Stereotypes, Ethics, and Universal Values Minority
Groups in Cross-Cultural Perspective
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