The quilting of culture: The depiction of African American community in the novels of Gloria Naylor

William R Hunter, Purdue University

Abstract

In depicting a variety of African American communities, Gloria Naylor shows how black women's culture is aided through a growing awareness of the values demonstrated in quilting, and as a writer she uses quilting techniques to highlight these same values. This dissertation is important in that it presents a new metaphor for describing the creation of culture in the African American community. Rather than calling for assimilation into the larger, white culture, and rather than demanding the depiction of a separate, black society, Naylor's depiction of culture resembles a quilt. It remains firmly rooted in a folk culture strongly influenced by slavery and its African heritage. Yet within this basis, any element of culture, whether committed to black life or not, is allowed access as long as it can be used by the skilled hands of black artists to tell stories of black life. Chapter One examines the scope of black fiction written in this country and the questions concerning culture that are asked. Chapter Two sets up the quilting metaphor that Naylor uses to answer some of these questions. More specifically, it reviews current research into the cultural values that are demonstrated in African American quilting. It also shows how the techniques in quilting can be used in the construction of written narrative. Chapters Three, Four and Five each deal with Naylor's portrayal of a separate African American culture. In The Woman of Brewster Place, she examines the inner city; Linden Hills, a black middle class neighborhood; and Mama Day, a rural island off the coast of South Carolina. Each chapter shows how Naylor's characters develop an understanding of their own culture through an understanding of values that are also demonstrated in African American quilting. It also examines how Naylor uses quilting techniques such as piecing and the Shadow Block to construct each novel and to show how a culture can share the interests of the wider American culture while also remaining distinct and separate.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Flory, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American literature|Black studies|African American Studies

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