So Vast The Prison Chapter Analysis

The notion of identity is considered to be part and parcel of the postcolonial literary accounts, as it negotiates the status of the postcolonial individual. Thus, language that plays a crucial role in transmitting and expressing one’s thoughts and values has always been at the core of the postcolonial writings.
Postcolonial feminist writers deal with the issue of language as a fundamental aspect of cultural identity in their literary accounts with its range of disciplines. Moreover, the complex relationship between language and identity is widely reflected on by many Maghrebian authors. Leila Abouzeid’s The Last Chapter negotiates the issue of identity in relation to language. Obviously, the novel reveals Abouzeid’s rejection to the French …show more content…
As a matter of fact, Djebar's work is often about the non-voice and the multifarious silences of women. Therefore, she is more interested in voicing languages rather than language and voicing voices rather than voice, as she takes her readers in different journeys in the historical past. In So Vast the Prison, Djebar presents the various aspects of the Algerian past with its rich and different culture, backgrounds, ethnicities, and languages. In retelling the unmentioned stories of the minority groups in the official history, Djebar puts a big focus on the history of Berbers and their language as the native language. As she clearly addresses in the following …show more content…
French, unlike like Arabic and the Berber language was hugely promoted and explicitly legalized among Algerians, in the colonial era French as the colonizer’s language. Throughout the novel, and as the author narrates the different stories, languages are always there as part and parcel of those stories and as part of the history of Algeria as whole. Yet, and most importantly, Djebar provides very detailed descriptions of different stages of the protagonist’s life in relation to the French language starting from her childhood. She