The central themes in Possessing the Secret of Joy is a concern central to all of Walker's work: the subjugation of women. It tells the story of an African female named Tashi, who is from Olinka, a place where females commonly practice genital mutilation. Introduced first in The Color Purple (1982), female genital mutilation emerges in … In this novel the focus is specifically on how ritualized female circumcision denigrates women's bodies,… Presenting the Problem in Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy In 1992, Alice Walker published her novel Possessing the Secret of Joy. Possessing the Secret of Joy book. Alice Walker - Possessing the Secret of Joy. It announces with a vengeance that the secret of joy (that is, the secret of survival) is resistance. Colonialism in Possessing the Secret of Joy. Possessing the Secret of Joy is Alice Walker's 1992 novel about an African tribal woman whose life as an immigrant to the United States is haunted by the trauma of her genital mutilation (so-called "female circumcision": excision/clitoridectomy and infibulation). In Possessing the Secret of Joy, female circumcision can be interpreted as part of the Africa's inglorious past where men try to mutilate female genitals for their own sexual desires. EVERY DAY NOW, down below my window in the street, there are demonstrations. Read 578 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. In Possessing the Secret of Joy, characters do not have a fixed identity; rather they are in a process of becoming. Possessing the Secret of Joy is the story of Tashi, a... Read 578 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Our 2012 September Book Selection: Possessing the Secret of Joy Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker.