IdeaFest
 

Document Type

Oral/Panel

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Publication Date

4-2021

Abstract

According to feminist standpoint theory, a person’s relative position in society is understood to influence the clarity and completeness of their view of the workings of that society. Contextualizing literary point of view based on the position of the viewer within the story is something we also see in the analysis of fiction, where readers engage with point of view, in part, to make sense of the story and to form opinions on such hazy matters as relatability, reliability, character likeability. From a craft perspective, point of view dictates the form of a story, in that it limits what information can be conveyed to the reader to only information that is available to the holder of the story’s point of view. Thus, the point of view of a piece of literature becomes the point of view of the reader, and any biases, limitations, and obscurations inherent in that point of view shape the reader’s experience of the story. This presentation uses standpoint feminism to examine the point of view in Helen Oyeyemi’s short story, “Sorry Doesn’t Sweeten Her Tea.” Oyeyemi’s story explores themes of justice and retribution via a central conflict between a marginalized woman and a privileged man. Told through a limited first-person point of view, the story presents a single voice and viewpoint. I present a standpoint feminist reading of Oyeyemi’s story, demonstrating how point of view functions to present to the reader a story that is purposefully incomplete, and how that incompleteness highlights the bias and distorted vision noted in standpoint feminism.

First Advisor

Lisa Ann Robertson

Second Advisor

Zoli Filotas

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