Amalgamation of Pain and Passion in Anna Quindlen’s Black and Blue

Abstract

The paper highlights the struggle of women in the patriarchal society as seen in the novel Black and Blue written by Anna Quindlen. Anna Quindlen is an American author and journalist whose writings were always related to women and their importance in family and society. She has won the Pulitzer Prize for her commentary on Public and Private in 1992. Anna Quindlen has written eight bestselling novels in which three are made into movies.

            Black and Blue is the third novel by Anna Quindlen which was published in the year 1998. The novel is about the survival of a young woman, Fran Benedetto who bears the bruises given by her husband, Bobby and takes a bold decision of leaving him just for the sake of her son, Robert. She shifts to a new place as Beth Crenshaw where is in search of her own identity. Thus the novel is a feministic work as well as a work that emphasis on the need of identity for a woman.

            The paper focuses on the ill treatment of women by their own partners. It highlights how women undergo violence both mentally and physically and bear all the bruises in their body. Though they are beaten up black and blue they still strive to survive in this male dominant society for the upliftment of their family.