In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose Literary Elements

Essays, Intersectional Feminist and African American Literature.

The settings of most of the essays in the book is South during late 20th century. The essays have been written in the context of the oppression of Blacks, Civil Right Movements and Prejudice against Black women.

The narrator of the essays is Alice Walker and the essays have been written from her own point of view. She has given an account of The racist attitudes and prejudice against Blacks in general and Black women in particular.

Lamenting, Pensive. Ruminative, Anxious, Optimistic, Solemn, Encouraging.

The protagonists in Alice Walker's essays are the Blacks who were the victims of racial oppression and the Black females who raised their voices against their exploitation and prejudice by the Whites. The Whites have been portrayed as the antagonists who suppress the voices of Black authors regarding their freedom.

The major conflict in the essays is between the blacks and the whites. The African Americans were not given their proper rights and they were treated with prejudice. The Blacks fought for their rights and Alice Walker has told about this conflict between two races through various essays.

The climax in the struggle of the African Americans came, when they fought for their rights and the Civil Rights movement begun.

In the second part of the essays, the oppression of the Blacks foreshadows the initiation of Civil Rights movement in America.

The understatement in the essays is that the Blacks should not be suppressed and exploited by the Whites. They are human beings just like the Whites and they have the right to propagate their views through their writing. They must be allowed to fight for their freedom and religious and political activity. The African Americans should be given their due rights and they must not be deprived of the basic necessities of their lives. Another understatement in the essays is that art can be used as a medium to celebrate culture. One should strive to help others and to build a better future through utilizing different mediums. The author has also understated through the essays that each person's voice matter so one should not feel reluctant to propagate his views.

There are allusions to the exploitation of Blacks, Civil Rights movement, art, gothic literature, American authors, Harlem Renaissance, Martin Luther, Coretta Scott King, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Flannery O'Connor, Zora Neale Hurston, transcendentalism, past, present, future, evils, social progress, personal growth, marginalization of Blacks, atomic wars, virtues and vices.

There are images of brokenness, exploitation and prejudice against African Americans. The author has conveyed the images of suppression. The Black writers were not allowed to write literature or to propagate their views. The women were exploited just because of their Black race. There are also images of interviewing Coretta Scott King.

Although the African Americans were a part of American community and they put their efforts to celebrate Black culture but the paradox is that they were not allowed to convey their thoughts. There was a strong opposition against them in America and they were treated worst than animals.

The author has demonstrated the parallelism between the suppression of Blacks and the Civil rights movements. The more they were silenced, the more they raised their voices against the violence that they faced. The black female writers narrated their stories by using different genres..

An example of synecdoche is Harlem Renaissance which represents the flourishing of African literature and culture in New York. An example of metonymy is Alice Walker who represents all the African American writers and their experiences.

Literature, Art and Racism have been personified in the book.