Women's Ways of Knowing

Lydia's daughter, Treasure, is very much a received knower at the beginning of the last section of the book. Lydia raises Treasure to be a strong, moral girl and Treasure never questions her mother's authority. When Treasure gets to know Lloyd she becomes his received knower, instead of Lydia's. This is shown on the day that Treasure screams and hits Lydia (pg 355). Her father is the authority figure and he has influenced her at this point to believe that violence is acceptable, especially directed at another person. Treasure becomes a subjective knower when, on pg. 384, Lydia describes Treasure to Mattie: "She still refuses to talk about it [Lloyd's bank robbing]." Treasure avoids even Elton and withdraws into herself. She feels she cannot express herself at this point in her life.