The Voice In Alice Walker's The Power Of One Voice

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In his essay “The Power of One Voice,” award-winning columnist Tony Norman wrote, “Never underestimate the power of one voice. One voice is all it takes to speak truth to power…One voice spoke the world into being. One voice shatters mountains with a whisper.” Although Norman speaks to the power of one voice, not every voice is considered equal. A voice does have power, but specific voices are heralded over others. In The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, black woman Mary Prince’s story is only heard and voiced through the actual author, Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society Thomas Pringle. Similarly, the main character Celie, a young, uneducated, black girl in rural Georgia, has her voice oppressed for much of Alice Walker’s novel,
Mary Prince’s repressed voiced is illustrated within her narrative. Although narrative is a powerful force that allows one to augment their voice, Mary Prince does not have that same advantage. Mary Prince’s voice is that through Thomas Pringle, so he has the privilege and power that comes with authorship. Authorship gives one the power to add, omit, or change anything written, altering the story in any which way possible. Though this could actually be due to Mary Prince’s role in society (being a slave puts her in an outlined, structural social position that puts her below white people) or it could be that is not considered to be a reliable source because of her position in society. She becomes credible through the clout that Thomas Pringle’s status as a white man holds. Even though Pringle states that her narrative is relayed in the text as accurate as possible, he still has final say in what is published. He gets the opportunity to include any information that he thinks is significant and omit anything that he think is insignificant, and this does not reflect Mary Prince’s sentiment in the slightest. This is probably the greatest indication of Mary Prince’s repressed voice because even though one might think that she has the platform to share her story in this way, the power of her narrative is complicated because of this. Her story is presented with Thomas Pringle’s intentions more than her own, and that takes away from her story in some way. It takes away the authenticity of her story and her freedom of expression, something that Celie is able tot develop through her own writing. However, it does allow her story (no matter how inauthentic it is) to be shared and respected because of Pringle. Pringle’s hegemonic privilege affords him the opportunity for his voice to be heard and respected over

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