The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers

Critical works on Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers have been limited to the domains of surrealism and to the frame of literary criticism which situate Clara, the protagonist of The Owl Answers within a psychological context. Many critics find that the play is a portrait of a black woman who is sea...

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Main Authors:	Jabboury, Latifah Ismaeel, Ruzy Suliza Hashim, Anita Harris Satkunananthan
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/1/13953-51474-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-11235
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-112352018-01-13T10:17:44Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/ The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers Jabboury, Latifah Ismaeel Ruzy Suliza Hashim, Anita Harris Satkunananthan, Critical works on Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers have been limited to the domains of surrealism and to the frame of literary criticism which situate Clara, the protagonist of The Owl Answers within a psychological context. Many critics find that the play is a portrait of a black woman who is searching for home and belonging in a world of discrimination and inequality. Clara is often regarded as a mixed-raced woman of fragmented psyche who remains confused about her identity. Within the perspective of intersectionality, however, we contend that the study of Clara’s character acquires new dimensions of analysis. This article addresses Clara’s alienation within the scope of three intersectional categories of her identity: race, gender and hybridity. Clara tries her best to identify with her father’s white legacy, but all her efforts have been futile. As she recognizes that she has no hope at all to belong to this legacy, she feels entirely frustrated. The tragic outcome of The Owl Answers owes to psychological trauma experienced by Clara. We interrogate the overlapping oppressions endured by Clara through a study of how these three interlocking categories combine to shape her alienation right up to the point where it causes her to take her own life. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2017 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/1/13953-51474-1-PB.pdf Jabboury, Latifah Ismaeel and Ruzy Suliza Hashim, and Anita Harris Satkunananthan, (2017) The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers. AKADEMIKA, 87 (1). pp. 315-325. ISSN 0126-5008 http://ejournal.ukm.my/akademika/issue/view/860
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	Critical works on Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers have been limited to the domains of surrealism and to the frame of literary criticism which situate Clara, the protagonist of The Owl Answers within a psychological context. Many critics find that the play is a portrait of a black woman who is searching for home and belonging in a world of discrimination and inequality. Clara is often regarded as a mixed-raced woman of fragmented psyche who remains confused about her identity. Within the perspective of intersectionality, however, we contend that the study of Clara’s character acquires new dimensions of analysis. This article addresses Clara’s alienation within the scope of three intersectional categories of her identity: race, gender and hybridity. Clara tries her best to identify with her father’s white legacy, but all her efforts have been futile. As she recognizes that she has no hope at all to belong to this legacy, she feels entirely frustrated. The tragic outcome of The Owl Answers owes to psychological trauma experienced by Clara. We interrogate the overlapping oppressions endured by Clara through a study of how these three interlocking categories combine to shape her alienation right up to the point where it causes her to take her own life.
format	Article
author	Jabboury, Latifah Ismaeel Ruzy Suliza Hashim, Anita Harris Satkunananthan,
spellingShingle	Jabboury, Latifah Ismaeel Ruzy Suliza Hashim, Anita Harris Satkunananthan, The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers
author_facet	Jabboury, Latifah Ismaeel Ruzy Suliza Hashim, Anita Harris Satkunananthan,
author_sort	Jabboury, Latifah Ismaeel
title	The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers
title_short	The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers
title_full	The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers
title_fullStr	The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers
title_full_unstemmed	The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers
title_sort	alienated clara: intersectionality perspectives in adrienne kennedy’s the owl answers
publisher	Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate	2017
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/11235/1/13953-51474-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:59:45Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:59:45Z
_version_	1777406768864821248

The Alienated Clara: intersectionality perspectives in Adrienne Kennedy’s The Owl Answers

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