LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:12 December 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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The Narrows:
An Exposition of Ann Petry’s Racial Protest, Quest for Identity,
and Repercussions of Blind Adherence to American Dream

Ashaq Hussain Parray, M.A., M.Phil., NET/SET, B.Ed.


Abstract

African-American fiction is loaded with the protest themes, for it has to explore the bruised consciousness of its race. Therefore, it has haunted the memories of readers’ ever since its inception. Though the earlier writers of this variety of fiction have been often labelled as sheer protest writers, yet there is an effort to resuscitate them from the appropriation of partial canon makers and to show that they are matchless in terms of their literary thrust and originality. In this paper I will analyse one such writer Ann Petry, whose fictional aura is exceptionally superior and original as far as the exposition of the racial, economic and sexual issues of 1940s America are concerned. The masterpiece novel of Ann Petry, The Narrows, will be the focus of analysis. This novel is an exceptionally heart-rending interracial love affair of a young black man and a beautiful white lady. What happens to their tour de force in the racist America of 1940s will be succinctly scrutinized in this paper.

Keywords: Ann Petry, The Narrows, Racism, American Dream, Moral bankruptcy, Capitalist Repercussions, identity-crisis.

The Narrows

The Narrows (1953), Ann Petry’s third novel, explores the lives of an eclectic group of residents in the fictional town of Monmouth, Connecticut, England. By not just focusing on a single linear narrative perspective, rather making several characters the target of racial, sexual, and capitalistic oppression, Petry is trying to elicit empathy and action.

The novel focuses on Abbie Crunch’s adopted son Link Williams, a Dartmouth, Phi Beta Kappa graduate. He feels himself socially unacceptable because of his inter-racial love-affair, which he develops with the white heiress of Treadway Hall, Camilla Sheffield. Vernon opines, “This system has strengthened itself, linking slavery, racism, and money, from the first slaves through the Civil War, up until the present times” (71). Quite aptly, the protagonist is named Link Williams, a connection between past and present, who like a joint tries to link the two races. As his name alludes to Abraham Lincoln, to one’s mind comes Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation of 1863”. He (Link) seems to practically emancipate the Negro race.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Ashaq Hussain Parray, M.A., M.Phil., NET/SET, B.Ed.
Department of English Language and Literature
Degree College Boys
Anantnag 192124
Jammu & Kashmir
India
Ashaq533@gmail.com

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