Sentence Versus Redemption and the ‘Spiritual World’ in Osiris Rising, Fragments, Why Are We So Blest? KMT: In the House of Life by Ayi Kwei Armah and Mama Day by Gloria Naylor

Abstract

This paper attempts to evaluate the different characteristics in the spiritual world that act on human destiny in blacks ‘cosmology in Ayi Kwei Armah and Gloria Naylor’s fiction while justifying the awareness of black intellectuals in their different approaches to sentence and redemption for African cultural revival. It also exposes black people facing acculturation phenomena and the deconstruction of the ancestral home. However, it argues that the achievement of the struggle for African cultural revival will be possible if they take the initiative in finding out specific strategies that would culturally, socially and politically reconnect black with their indigenous cultural reality. Some of these stratagems include good cultural references, rootedness, unity, teaming work, and rationality. To examine blacks’ spirituality in its double vocation of sentence and redemption, this study uses theories of anti-colonialists and Afro-centrists that advocate total liberation and empowerment of black people while assessing the issues of the disgrace of both African and African-American people. Similarly, the insights and commitment of thinkers like Afro-centrists are well considered as additional elements in this work. Ultimately, the novels contend that in African spirituality there is a divine will owed to the ancestors that have the mission of watching over their people and judging them in several ways when they are satisfied through rituals or recognition. As the authors of the three books suggest, the appreciation of ancestral legacy and cultural advancement is an effective means of ensuring blacks ‘social welfare in their communities and elsewhere.