White is for Witching Flashcards
How does Oyeyemi summarise her tale
as a story of a ‘ starving girl and a xenaphobic house’
White is for Witching was Oyeyemi’s what novel
when was it published
3rd novel
published in 2009
What different genres does oyeyemi blend
the tradition of European gothic and fairy tale with African and Caribbean folklore and belief
what does the author use to emphasise the preoccupation with boundary crossing
geopolitical , supernatural and corporal boundaries
what does the novel waste no time in doing
self-conciously situating itself as part of the gothic tradition
very briefly- Oyeyemi story presents a multifaceted gothic tale about what
a girl struggling with disorderly eating and a haunting family history
What classic Jamaican novel does the title recall/ conjure up
Herbert George De Lisser’s The White Witch of Rosenau (1929) which offers a critique of British Colinisation in the west Indies through the evil female power of the Plantation Mistress
How are the twins seen as archetypal gothic figures
Eliot is a feminised melancholic, writing poetry to convey his teenage grief
Miranda is described by ore as “ one of those gothic victims, the child woman who is too pretty and good for this world’
What did Fred Botting note in the 19th c of Gothic settings
’ the castle gradually gave way to the old house; as both building and family line it became where fears and anxieties returned in the present
What do Yoruba beliefs say about twins
twins possess 1 soul between the 2 of them and with the death of 1, the living twin could not be expected to live with half a soul
Historically, Dover white cliffs marked an english border but in WIFW contemporary setting what does Dover represent
becomes a site of alienation as a point of ingress for others whose material presence threatens to supplant englishness
how are the gothic and postcolonial connected in the narrative
Oyeyemi Uses a Gothic idiom to explore questions of postcolonial identity
What does Helen Cousins argue about Oyeyemi use of gothic
Helen Cousins argues that Oyeyemi creates a new hybrid form of Gothic by introducing elements from her Nigerian cultural background.
Aje, a form of benevolent Yoruba witchcraft embodied in the housekeeper Sade. White is the colour of spiritual transcendence in this context.
Abiku, hungry spirits which take up residence in newborn children and consume their food, causing them to waste and die. ‘Like possessing abiku spirit
The novel uses the gothic to suggest what about racism
Uses Gothic convention to suggest that it is structures that are racist rather than the people within them.
How did A.B Ellis describe the akibu in an early text on Yoruba beliefs
the akibu ‘ are evil spirits who suffer from hunger, thirst and cold since nobody offers sacrifice to them
for instance like possessing akibu spirits anna and jenifer beg ‘ eat for me, eat for us’
