Szalay Flashcards
How does Szalay present identity?
“The novel presents identity as constructed through discourse primarily… the individual exists for other and herself in the form of narratives only”
How does Szalay present reality?
“Throws… the knowability of reality into radical doubt”
“Reality as constructed; not as an independent, objective entity… manipulated by subjective visions”
How does Szalay present perspective?
“The lack and impossibility of a unifying perspective”
How does Szalay present autonomy?
“Grace’s right to claim authenticity for her own version of the events is habitually undermined by male figures of authority.”
How does Szalay present intersectionality?
“Her gender, socially inferior position and criminal status make Grace an especially vulnerable subject to prejudice, which empowers others to seize control of her story”
How does Szalay present storytelling?
“Both Scheherezade and Grace tell stories to save their lives primarily”
“The link between story-telling and quilting is immediately established”
How does Szalay present survival?
“Both Scheherezade and Grace tell stories to save their lives primarily”
How does Szalay present power, survival & resistance?
“She [Grace] gradually turns his own pseudoscientific tools against him [Jordan]”
“Despite her radically limited mobility, Grace has several weapons to fight”
How does Szalay present language?
“they essentially misunderstand each other, that they do not speak the same language” [Grace and Jordan]
“Her right to refuse to speak… as her most powerful weapon”
How does Szalay present disempowerment?
“Grace is overwhelmed by the number of discourses that claim to have ‘drawn’ her”
How does Szalay present female communication?
“Grace’s freedom lies in her very refusal to say anything. Instead, she opts for a specifically female discourse: quilting.”
How does Szalay present gender and sexuality?
“The war women fight is essentially connected with issues of gender and sexuality”
How does Szalay present Grace’s voice?
“She decides to change ‘the pattern’… Her own subjectivity is also given voice. This quilt is called Tree of Paradise”
How does Szalay present community and connection?
“The main pattern of her quilt speaks for her sense of community with the significant women of her life”
How does Szalay present Dr Jordan’s failure?
“Dr Jordan’s failure as an interrogator lies in his inability to realize that stories just like all quilts can be looked at “two different ways, by looking at the dark pieces, or else the light”
