Title
“Everything She Knew": Race, Nation, Language, and Identity in Philip Pullman’s The Broken Bridge
Document Type
Article
Abstract
A decade before his international acclaim for the His Dark Materials fantasy series, Pullman authored The Broken Bridge, a coming-of-age tale featuring Ginny, an Afro-British teenaged girl living in postmodern coastal Wales. The Broken Bridge delves into dilemmas of racial identity, ideologies of language and location, and aspects of non-Western religion that are not often touched upon in young adult literature. Pullman’s deft characterization prevents Ginny from becoming a caricature; instead, he presents the story of a very real sixteen-year-old girl with resentments, fears, and doubts. Ultimately, The Broken Bridge serves as a metaphor for the irreconcilability between an imagined Blackness that is authentic, unitary, and atemporal, and Ginny’s lived reality of a fragmented Blackness that has been irrevocably created by and reified through personal and collective cultural trauma and loss.
Disciplines
African American Studies | Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Literature in English, British Isles | Reading and Language
Recommended Citation
Thomas, Ebony Elizabeth. "'Everything She Knew': Race, Nation, Language, and Identity in Philip Pullman's The Broken Bridge." Sankofa: A Journal of African Children's and Young Adult Literature Vol. 7, 2008, p. 50-57.
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Reading and Language Commons
Comments
This article is the publisher's (Morgan State University) version, previously appearing in Sankofa: A Journal of African Children's and Young Adult Literature, Vol. 7, 2008, p. 50-57.
Copyright 2008 Ebony Elizabeth Thomas.