Reformulating Freedom: Slavery, Alienation and Ambivalence in Suzan-Lori Parks' Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3)

  1. Paula Barba Guerrero 1
  1. 1 Universidad de Salamanca
    info

    Universidad de Salamanca

    Salamanca, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02f40zc51

Revista:
Ex-Centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media

ISSN: 2585-3538

Año de publicación: 2018

Páginas: 42-60

Tipo: Artículo

GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Ex-Centric Narratives: Journal of Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media

Resumen

In her epic trilogy Father Comes Home from the Wars Suzan-Lori Parks explores the (re)construction of socialrelations between and within communities during the American Civil War. To do so, Parks builds normativeexpectations, which she later deconstructs by means of ambivalence. Parks defies archetypal understandings ofblack slavery and questions the rigidity of our historical memories of war. Hence, the initial power imbalance of thetrilogy reveals unethical and hostile dynamics of war. In view of the outcomes of racism, classism and sexism,Parks’s protagonists react ambivalently, disrupting expectable alliances. Their radical dissociation producesotherness and alienation within the boundaries of the black community, which are overcome returning to one’s ownroots. In constructing a liminal battlefield, Parks challenges preconceived ideas of freedom while dissecting theevolution of her black characters’ identities during the conflict, thereby reshaping the slave narrative tradition tomake it fit into the highly ambivalent context of war. This frame of reference reduces humans to mere commodities,allocating the process to recover self-determination in the fight against one’s own cause, community and beliefs.

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