English critics paper 2

Hwyel Dix

Skirrid, male

Argues that Welsh writing in English can be seen as postcolonial literature

In a period of the reclaiming of Welsh voices, Sheers poetry engages with the practice of ‘writing back’, a practice associated with postcolonial literature

Hathaway

Skirrid, male

‘What stands out in his poems about his family is an attempt to circumvent those inevitable divisions and find within them, or in spite of them, a greater sense of unity and connection’

Church

Skirrid, male

‘this border from a seemingly simple childhood into the strangeness and complexity of manhood.’

‘In Sheers’ collection, it seems that these ceremonies within Welsh society are linked with violence’

‘the central theme of the collection is not transience, but the permanent impact of impermanent moments’

Alice Penfold

TCP, female

TCP could be argued to be a womanist bildungsroman

Celie uses the present tense ‘think’ and ‘thinking’ throughout The Color Purple; Mr, or any man, even whilst physically inside her, can never gain access to her mind and internal consciousness. Celie, then, begins to take control in the only way she knows how, by letting her thoughts drift to the familial and romantic relationships that mean something to her and thereby removing her emotionally

Weston

TCP, female

‘Walker’s emphasis is always on the inherent yearning for unity in all life – of body and mind, of flesh and spirit, and especially of male and female.’

Coult

ASND, male

‘Lightning flashes of emotional energy’

‘B comes in search of a hero who can rescue and protect her’

Heeney

ASND, male

It is Stanley’s American identity that wins out ultimately

Blanche xenophobic, originating from slave-owners

Kinder

ASND, male

‘Williams sets up a polarity in the idiolect and sociolect of the two characters’

Todd

ASND, male, Marxist

‘a Marxist critique would be more likely to see her as a representative symbol of the inevitable defeat of a capitalist elite.’

Simons

TCP, female

‘By visualizing a sympathetic correspondent, both Celie and Nettie use their writing to escape from solitude.’

‘letter-writing provides her with the fantasy of being listened to’

her letters can cross continents and cultures, and can find liberation and adventure when their writer remains oppressed and static

Lewis

TCP, female

‘The novel represents the pitfalls of ‘salvific wish’’- Black women shielding black communities from accusations of sexual deviance, usually at the sacrifice of their own sexual autonomy, freedom and exploration

Celie’s status as a ‘good girl’ is determined by her adherence to the salvific wish

‘Walkers represents black women’s sexual relationships with each other as an alternative to being subjected to masculinist and dominative ideas of sex’

Martha Cutter

TCP, female

‘the rape becomes not an instrument of silencing, but the catalyst to Celie’s search for voice’

Sarah Tripp

on masculinity, female

“it came to be defined more and more in opposition to femininity”, thereby “divorc[ing] itself from the softer virtues of compassion and emotional sensitivity that were previously a component of the male identity”

Magdić

ASND, female

‘She is neither a Southern belle nor a modern woman.’ (Stella)

Tries to break free from limitations of Old South but is trapped and confined by marrying the embodiment of the violence and corruption of the New South

Blanche is a ‘scapegoat’ cast out of society

Susan Koprince

ASND, female

“Stella is a submissive, self-deprecating wife who tolerates and excuses her husband’s behaviour.”

Onyett

ASND, female

‘Stanley strips Blanche of her psychological, sexual and cultural identity.’

Rebecca Wilshaw

Skirrid, female

‘As is central to the pastoral ideal, Sheers suggests that the loss of and separation from childhood arises from our discovery of sin’

Pauline Kael

TCP, female

Alice Walker fot away with ‘rampant female chauvinism’

Mel Watkins

TCP, female

Alice Walker exposed ‘aspects of inner-community life that might reinforce damaging racial stereotypes already proffered by racial antagonists’

Kimberley Chambers

TCP, female

The history Walker wanted to depict was grounded in ‘the events of ordinary life’

‘Celie is merely a servant and an occasional sexual convenience’