Survival Of Female Mulattos In Lalita Tademy’s Cane River

Lalita tademy’s Cane River (2001) is a novel about her family history of four generationsduring1834to1936. Based on close reading of the novel and analyzing of the historicalbackground in that special period, this thesis argues about female mulattos’ survival with thetheories of postcolonialism and black feminist theory.Under the harsh oppression of the cruel racism and the cultural hegemony policy, themulattos are being marginal politically, economically and culturally, some of them feel lostabout themselves, their future and the society. In order to survive in the white-dominant world,some mulattos are just assimilated by the dominant culture and lose their own identities, thuslose their roots. This thesis firstly analyzes Emily’s survival by pretending to be whites,discriminating the pure blacks and requiring her children to marry the whites in order tobleach the line and finally to pass as whites. This is not the true way for the mulattos tosurvive because the passers give up their identity and the connections with their blackancestry. Then it analyzes Philomene’s survival by reuniting her family members andinheriting black culture. The oppression of the black culture by the white culture caused theconfusion of female mulattos’ identity. Only based on return and inheritance of the traditionalculture can mulattos survive in the marginal society.By presenting the life of the two female mulattos in Cane River, Lalita Tademy attemptsto inform readers that slavery and racism not only do harm to the blacks, they may also bringdisaster to the mulattos. It shows Tademy’s concern with the mulattos and her craving forcultural and racial amalgamation. She expresses the idea that the female mulattos can surviveby establishing their identity and achieving their spiritual rebirth based on finding their rootand culture.