Possessing the Secret of Joy

I learned of this book from another novelist's work, Kola Boof, and was moved to check out why "Boof" (who is vaginally circumcised) is so enamoured of Walker's work and especially holds this book in so much esteem. I had no idea that there would be so many other facets to the story that have nothing to do with the main subject of female genital mutilation or that Walker could reveal so much about African society, culture and the lives and suffering of African women. I am an African woman, so this work is monumental to me. I was quite moved and I recommend this to anyone who cares about the lives of women and especially the suffering of African women and girls.

I am a high school student going into the twelth grade and before my junior year I had honestly never heard of Alice Walker until my U.S. literature class when we began reading her novel The Color Purple. I enjoyed the book so much that I wanted to read and learn more books by the Alice Walker. My U.S. literature teacher offered to let me borrow another novel so I decided I would see if I really liked Alice Walker's style of writing the book she offered was Possessing the Secret of Joy. At first I wasn't sure if I would like it but as soon as I sat down to read it I couldn't put it down. The book has a lot of good points to it and it discusses a lot of issues that most people don't think or hear about very often. The book was really interesting because it taught me a lot about the horrors of female circumcision and the way it affects the women it is performed on.

Possessing the Secret of Joy, by Alice Walker, reveals a cultural tradition that is considered taboo by its society; it is left unspoken of, yet it is condoned. To someone of a different culture, this tradition is not only unacceptable but completely appalling. It is a tradition that brutally abuses and destroys its victims, the women of the society. Alice Walker presents us, specifically, with two of these women, Tashi and M'Lissa, of Olinka. Tashi can easily be seen as a victim of this cruel tradition, but M'Lissa initially appears to be the enemy, a traitor who continues to force this "initiation" upon the girls of Olinka. However, M'Lissa's character can be seen to change toward the end of the novel as her own story is revealed, and we can ultimately view M'Lissa, not as the enemy, but as a victim also. While, on the surface, M'Lissa and Tashi can be seen as two entirely different women with different motives and ideals, they actually are a great deal alike. Not only are they both women of this Olinkan society, they are both women who have lost themselves to this Olinkan society. While their ways of coping contrast, they both must live the rest of their lives in an attempt to deal with the harsh consequences of the painful and degrading tradition of female circumcision. At the beginning of the novel, the idea that Tashi could murder M'Lissa seems very appealing. Tashi lives her entire life in grief and agony because of what this woman has done to her. It seems completely justifiable for Tashi to take revenge on M'Lissa. Tashi considers herself to be dead throughout her entire life simply because she has been so completely torn from herself as a result of this massacre of her womanhood. But as the novel progresses, M'Lissa's one-dimensional character of evil begins to change and we begin to sympathize with her as we do Tashi. Walker presents us with M'Lissa's point of view, which was formerly obscure. And instead of coming face to face with a murderous enemy, we acquire the tragic story of a woman who is raised to believe female sexuality is sinful and condemned. In addition, she is told by her mother that to be a tsunga is not only a tradition, it is a great honor. M'Lissa is lead to believe that these practices are normal and admirable; female circumcision is an accepted ritual in this society. It is common knowledge to know that M'Lissa, herself, has been circumcised, but to hear her actual story paints a different picture than the one of the beast we see destroying Tashi. We, instead, see a young girl being subject to an insane and insanitary procedure. We learn that M'Lissa's mother tries to protect part of her, which leads the angry witchdoctor to show no mercy, and M'Lissa's pain is far greater than any other girl. We hear M'Lissa's words, "I could never again see myself, for the child that finally rose from the mat three months later, . . . , was not the child who had been

I think that Alice Walker in this book gives a great and quite detailed view on this real bad African tradition that, badly enough is still practized in alot of African countries. It is amazing who she, as an African-American woman describes with such an intensity the pain that these women go through. It is another interesting example of how people do anything to just not go against the crowd just because of fear of being eliminated. I think it is good to know that there are women who fight against initiation because it is one of the worst evils that can be done to a female. I understand that Tashi says she is guilty of having killed that woman because that is the only way she can escape all the pain that her life has brought. This book is one of the best books I have ever read because it deals with a subject that many people deny is existing in a very realistic, but also exciting way. You just can't get enough of it once you have started reading.