Secrecy and Power Hidden in the Silver Sparrow. Silver Sparrow is a novel based on lies, secrecy, and bigamy. Intertwined in this is the legitimate family to the character James Witherspoon, his wife Laverne and daughter Chaurisse. On the other hand is his illegal wife Gwendolyn and illegitimate daughter Dana. These individuals are all intertwined within each other’s life, some of them know about the others and some are simply unknown. There is a certain power that lies within individuals who are apart of secrets and lies, they become entitled with a sense of carelessness because they know the surreptitious lie. In Silver Sparrow Tayari Jones depicts the nature of power behind secrecy and lies, the power that Dana, Gwen, and James all poses,
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Dana and Gwen are the illegitimate daughter and illegal wife. They are also the ones who know about Chaurisse and Laverne whereas Chaurisse and Laverne are un-aware of Dana and Gwen. In Silver Sparrow, Gwen makes it very clear to Dana that they hold the power because she is an unknown not a secret, but they know everything, and just like God who has the whole world in his hands, they do as well (Jones 15). At any moment Dana or Gwen can reveal the fact that they are James’s secret affecting James, Laverne and Chaurisse. Gwen and Dana hold the power to destroy James’s other family. That is a very powerful secret to possess; however, James has the power to completely abandon either families destroying many lives in the process and stripping them of any power they assumed they possessed. James is the glue that holds this secret together; after all, he is the deciding factor any given situation throughout Dana and Gwen’s life. John Turner explains in his Article titled “The Nature of Power: A Three-Process Theory” that “A person, institution, physical event or idea may be described as powerful because it is having a big impact on society; it affects what people do and think and how they live” (2). Therefor even though most readers might argue Dana and Gwen hold all the power, I argue they do not and in fact James is the …show more content…
The careless actions of Dana caused her mother to react and in turn this had a domino effect with all the characters. Dana being the child of secrecy held anger and resentment and often participated in deviant behavior due to the secret. Dana and Gwen did indeed have a sense of power in the novel and they act on this power, which is what most readers would have suspected all along. Unfortunately, this does not work out for them and James shows the fact that all along he held the power to destroy them. The power James possessed is animalistic, malicious and life altering. Following the power scheme throughout this novel is not easy and most readers will interpret the possession of power differently. In the end though Tayari Jones depicts the true nature of this power that all character in a sense possess and that all along James had the most
Dana and Gwen are the illegitimate daughter and illegal wife. They are also the ones who know about Chaurisse and Laverne whereas Chaurisse and Laverne are un-aware of Dana and Gwen. In Silver Sparrow, Gwen makes it very clear to Dana that they hold the power because she is an unknown not a secret, but they know everything, and just like God who has the whole world in his hands, they do as well (Jones 15). At any moment Dana or Gwen can reveal the fact that they are James’s secret affecting James, Laverne and Chaurisse. Gwen and Dana hold the power to destroy James’s other family. That is a very powerful secret to possess; however, James has the power to completely abandon either families destroying many lives in the process and stripping them of any power they assumed they possessed. James is the glue that holds this secret together; after all, he is the deciding factor any given situation throughout Dana and Gwen’s life. John Turner explains in his Article titled “The Nature of Power: A Three-Process Theory” that “A person, institution, physical event or idea may be described as powerful because it is having a big impact on society; it affects what people do and think and how they live” (2). Therefor even though most readers might argue Dana and Gwen hold all the power, I argue they do not and in fact James is the …show more content…
The careless actions of Dana caused her mother to react and in turn this had a domino effect with all the characters. Dana being the child of secrecy held anger and resentment and often participated in deviant behavior due to the secret. Dana and Gwen did indeed have a sense of power in the novel and they act on this power, which is what most readers would have suspected all along. Unfortunately, this does not work out for them and James shows the fact that all along he held the power to destroy them. The power James possessed is animalistic, malicious and life altering. Following the power scheme throughout this novel is not easy and most readers will interpret the possession of power differently. In the end though Tayari Jones depicts the true nature of this power that all character in a sense possess and that all along James had the most