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Ann Arbor, MI 48106 NEVER MIND THE CATTA, ITS THE BUNDLE BEHIND: DISCOVERING THE MEANINGS BEHIND THE FOLKLORE AND THE LANGUAGE IN THE FICTION OF TONI CADE BAMBARA. DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Viola Maria Newton, A.A., B.S., M.S., M.L.S. ********* The Ohio State University 1992 Dissertation Committee Approved by Dr. Patrick Mullen Dr. Daniel Barnes Adviser Dr. Amy Shuman English Department Dedication To My Children de best Picknees in de whole world, I love you! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I express sincere appreciation to Dr. Patrick Mullen for his undying support, patience, and guidance through my graduate studies at The Ohio State University, my Master’s thesis, my general exams, and through this dissertation research. I also thank the other members of my advisory committee, Drs. Daniel Barnes and Amy Schuman, who gave time and support throughout my graduate career and my dissertation project. I also express gratitude to Dr. Shirley Palumbo, Dr. Bruce Ardinger, and other faculty and staff at Columbus State Community College for their encouragement. I must also acknowledge the assistance of Shelly Reed who typed the entire dissertation through all its revisions; thanks so much. To my husband, Keith, I offer my love and sincere thanks for his understanding and for his financial support. To my children, Ingrid, Keith, Kristine, I thank you for believing in me and always being there for me. VITA November 5,1946................................................................ Bom - St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands 1965 ........................................................................................ A.A., College of The Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 1968 ...................................................................................... B.S. New York University, New York City 1986 .............................................................................................M.L.S. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1968-1981............................................................................. Public School Teacher, Virgin Islands Public Schools 1988-1991............................................................................. Assistant Professor, Columbus State Community College 1992 ...................................................................................... Associate Professor, Columbus State Community College 1992 ............................................................ Chairperson, Developmental Education Department Columbus State Community College PUBLICATIONS "Using A Survey Approach to Teach Technical Writing," OATYC Journal. Vol. XV, No. 1 (Fall 1989): 14-16. "On Hie Road with Technical Writing: Teaching the Employee to Write Better." OATYC Journal. No. 2 (Spring 1991): 31-34. "The Jumbiekeeper.” Spring Street Vol. 2 (1991): 31-33. "Getting Involved in Literacy Instruction and Assessment: The Student Literacy Corps at CSCC." OATYC Journal Vol. XVII No. 2 (Spring 1992). FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: English Others: Folklore Black Studies Technical and Business Writing Computer Assisted Writing iv TABLE OP CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................iii VITA.................................................................................................................. iv PREFACE.................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. PRESENCE AND ABSENCE: AN INVESTIGATION OF FOLKLORE, LANGUAGE, AND NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES IN THE SHORT FICTION OF TONI CADE BAMBARA........................................................................48 Introduction.................................................................................48 Bambara’s First-Person N arrator............................................. 50 The Female Protagonists ofThe Seabirds Are Still Alive ................................................................ 106 II. TONI CADE BAMBARA AND THE LANGUAGE OF SELF IN GORILLA. MY LOVE AND THE SEABIRDS ARE STILL ALIVE ..................................................................................... 134 Introduction........................................................................... 134 The Black Aesthetic Movement ..............................................138 The Ideological Environment..................................................159 Black Folklore and the Fashioning of S elf............................175 ID. SIGNIFYING IN THE SALTEATERS: THE DOUBLE­ VOICED DISCOURSE OF VELMA HENRY ..................................196 Introduction........................................................................... 196 Concepts and Meanings o f Signifying]................................ 211 The Southwest Community Infirmary.................................. 229 The Bus Driver ........................................................................242 v The Seven Sisters Theatre Troupe..........................................249 Conclusion.................................................................................258 WORKSCITED ..............................................................................................265 Introduction..........................................................................................265 Chapter O ne....................................................................................... 267 Chapter T w o ....................................................................................... 270 Chapter T h ree..................................................................................... 272 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................273 APPENDIX A ................................................................................................ 284 What I am Thinking Now ................................................................. 284 Gorilla. Mv Love .................................................................................285 The Seabirds are Still Alive............................................................... 286 The SaltEaters..................................................................................... 287 vi PREFACE Any good West Indian cook knows that to make a pot of Kalaloo serve as a healthy and digestible meal with a lasting taste, he or she must add to the pot a variety of meats and blend native seasonings and herbs to give the soup its characteristic West-Indian flavor. In addition, a good cook will be most careful not to allow any of the meats or seasonings to lose their natural taste in the cooking process, that when the Kalaloo is served, each ingredient will have its own texture and flavor different from another; however, the soup itself must have the flavor of all the meats and the seasonings. I find Toni Cade Bambara’s fiction is made like the West Indian Kalaloo; it is seasoned with a variety of elements from Black folklore and each element is distinguished in the language to give a particular quality to the work. In the story or in the novel, these elements blend to produce a flavor of Black culture. Black American folklore, as we know, figures prominently in the works of Black writers, for as Houston A. Baker Jr. writes in Black Literature in America "literary artists from Paul Lawrence Dunbar.. .have made use of its values, forms, and techniques" (20). I maintain, however, that Toni Cade Bambara has a special way of structuring Black folklore to give her fiction