A Comparative Study of Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987) and Malika Mokeddem’s Les Hommes qui Marchent (1990)
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Date
2025
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Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
This dissertation is a contribution to Feminist Studies and Comparative Literature. It
examines the representation of marginalized women in Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Malika
Mokeddem’s Les Hommes qui marchent. The aim is to explore how both novels depict
women’s experiences of oppression linked to race, gender, class, and colonial history, using
bell hooks’ theory of “Intersectional Feminism” and Gayatri Spivak’s concept of
“Subalternity” as theoretical frameworks. The two texts give voice to women who are
excluded from dominant narratives and question the possibility of representation for those
who are silenced. The dissertation applies a comparative literary approach, focusing on
structure, setting, characters, and themes. The findings show that in Beloved, Morrison
portrays a formerly enslaved Black woman whose struggle centers on the legacy of slavery,
the trauma of maternal loss, and the effort to reclaim voice and subjectivity. In Les Hommes
qui marchent, Mokeddem depicts women’s lives under colonial and patriarchal constraints
in Algeria, where displacement and exile mark their identities. Yet, resilience enables them
to assert presence and agency. The study shows that although the contexts in which the two
texts were written differ, their stories reflect common patterns of marginalization and
resilience.
Description
64p. ; (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Marginalization, Silencing, Resistance, Women’s Speech, Reclaiming a voice
Citation
Literature and Civilization.