Praisesong For The Widow - Major Themes

Major Themes

The cultural significance of language: Avey’s inability to speak Patois widens the barrier between her and the out-islanders going on the excursion. The cab driver asserts that those venturing to Carriacou only talk in the Creole dialect one weekend a year and the rest of the time speak in the “King’s English” (76). The language, despite being virtually useless in the daily lives of the out-islanders, enforces the deep ties they have to their ancestral past. Avey’s lack of comprehension in Patois ultimately magnifies her cultural ineptness and her isolation from those around her. However friendly the out-islanders may be, she feels uncomfortable and awkward around them as their cultural traditions, traditions that should be hers as well, only confuse her.

Dance: Throughout the novel, dancing becomes a spiritually freeing act for Avey. Not only does Avey recall meeting her late husband at a dance, but also reminisces with great fondness about the nights the couple spent unwinding from their long days by dancing in their apartment on Halsey Street. On these nights, she recollects feeling “…centered and sustained… restored to her proper axis” (254). Dance clearly plays an important part in her life even before her journey to Carriacou as Avey uses it to temporarily forget her daily troubles and place things into perspective.

Materialism and the loss of identity: Both Avey and Jay fall victim to the pitfalls of financial success. Their happiness suffers at the price of material fulfillment, as Jay regards their “ove like a burden he want to get rid of” (129). In the midst of the twelve-year struggle to escape from the poverty on Halsey Street, his and Avey’s romantic relationship dissolves and their emotional detachment increases. Although Jay gives Avey all of the worldly comforts afforded to the upper-middle class, he neglects her sexual needs and companionship. Ultimately, Jay’s work and determination to leave their Brooklyn neighborhood consumes his person, allowing him and Avey little time to rekindle their lost love.

The dream Avey has at the beginning of the book that compels her to cut her cruise short further captures the perils of living a shallow, object-oriented life. Instead of venturing to the Ibo Landing with her Great Aunt Cuney like she did as a child, Avey, dressed in a new suit and fine mink, scoffs at the prospect and violently retaliates against her Aunt when she persists on taking Avey as a grown woman. As the passion in her marriage disintegrates, so too does her connection with the spiritual world. The dream reflects her inability to understand the importance of her ancestry as a consequence of the high value she places on superfluous goods. Despite her immense sacrifice to eke out a better life for her and her family, Avey gradually loses herself and her priorities in the process.

The Middle Passage: During Avey's boat ride from Grenada to Carriacou, she slips into a dream about the middle passage, one her ancestors may have taken long ago. Through the remembrance of the past hardships of the slaves, Avey is able to alleviate her own, more temporary suffering aboard the ship: "Their suffering- the depth of it, the weight if it in the cramped space- made hers of no consequence." (209) Avey would have learned about the middle passage, or the middle leg of African slaves' journey to the Americas, from her great Aunt Cuney. As a child, Cuney showed Avey where the Ibos would have landed from the ships in Tatem, South Carolina, and then where they were sold after arriving. Through this insight to the past, Avey is able to gain strength that she had lacked when not remembering her African heritage.