Violent and Uninvolved Fathers in The Third Life of Grange Copeland

Abstract

The present article tackles father-daughter relationship in the Afro-American community as it is depicted in Alice Walker’s novel the Third Life of Grange Copeland. The objective of the study is to demonstrate the destructive bond that connects black American fathers with their daughters. Therefore, questions as how father-daughter relationship is represented in the Third Life of Grange Copeland; in what sense daughters are fatherless; and what causes fathers’ uninvolvement and/or violence in the Third Life of Grange Copeland, are raised to investigate the aforementioned topic. To approach these problematic issues, we hypothesise that father-daughter relationship is negatively represented in Walker’s novel; fathers are portrayed as violent on and uninvolved in the lives of their daughters; and that violence and uninvolvement of black American fathers occur as an attempt to identify with their male gender roles. Following a gender-based analysis, we arrived at confirming fathers’ violence and absenteeism in their daughters’ lives as an outcome of masculine gender stereotypes focussing on nurturance avoidance in males’ dispositions.