The pilgrimage of women in Laurence's The Diviners

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Recommended: Introduction to feminist literary criticism

Feminism as defined in the feminist Dictionary (1985) is a "movement seeking the recognition of the world upon a basis of sex equality and all human relations," a movement which would reject every differentiation between individuals upon the ground of sex, would abolish all sex privileges and sex burdens and would strive up to the recognition of the common humanity as the foundation of law and custom. Feminist literature is a canonical text, which portrays the sufferings of women, insists on the need for protecting their rights and suggests means on their emancipation. Feminism may be considered as a social movement. It considers women as the oppressed group, upholds their right by presenting them as individuals and human beings. It affirms their capacities to be autonomous, intelligent, strong and successful. Feminist literatures, on the other hand, embody in their works of imagination some of these views. These literary texts question the current social assumption, which they depict as being subjective, prejudiced and one-sided. They capture the depressing conditions of women, implicate suggesting ways and means for resolving their problems. They plead for a kind of literature which would be free from the biased portraits of individuals because of their race, class and sex. In spite of slavery and suppression, the women have contributed their intellectual and imaginative might to the growth and development of the society and themselves. Toni Morrison, Barbara Smith, and Lorraine Hansberry , Margaret Laurence, Margaret Clarke, Margaret Atwood and Ethel Wilson are some of them, ?Pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place As an act of religious devotion--- it Also mean... ... middle of paper ... ...e want to see more of. But too many other people, especially those in Morag's present life are ciphers. Her daughter and daughters' companions are stereotypical hippies of the time. Her professor husband, her own friends and neighbours and assorted landladies all seem to perform their narrative functions and then shuffle offstage. It is clear that Laurence writes withan awareness of her ancestral past and therefore writes with an immigrant consciousness. It is again this immigrant consciousness working in her which accounts for the pervasive presence of journey motif , for immigration has always been in close association with journey, with movement across time and space. In the case of Canadian immigrants, journeys were to bigin with, motivated by exploration and quest and later on led to processes of self-realisation, identity and personality development.

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