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Abstract
Alice Walker addresses the issue of racism, sexism and gender discrimination in variegated form in her novel Possessing the Secret of Joy. The entire novel is about the circumcision done on Tashi and her consequent physical, mental and psychic trauma. Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy is an obvious example of a society in which the patriarchal ideologies are dominant and tribe’s women, from their early childhood are demanded to follow the male defined customs and norms to preserve the tribe’s sanctity. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) itself is the result of sexism and oppression of women in the name of gender. Walker through this novel has stressed on the fact that women need to debunk tradition and myths that shackle and do no good to them. Walker has vehemently condemned such traditions and through this novel has depicted that the female genital mutilation is one such tradition that should be done away with. Through the ‘mutilated life of Tashi’, Walker has showcased how women are proselytized to accept such traditions in the name of cultural integrity, ethnic oneness, and mark of a community