The Construction of African-American’s Identity in Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones and Praisesong for the Widow

Abstract

In the context of homeland writing, this paper will interpret the two novels of contemporary African-American female writer Paule Marshall: Brown Girl, Brownstones and Praisesong for the Widow. This paper focuses on the identity loss caused by the cultural dilemmas faced by African- Americans in various social spaces, and how they finally complete the reconstruction of their self-identity through the pursuit of identity.