"Central to this process of appropriate in the discourse surrounding sati was the ascription of a ‘voice’ - representing free will and agency- to the subaltern woman. In the case of the British, this voice supposedly called out to the imperialists for liberation; according to the native male, the voice assented voluntarily to the practice. Neither version, according to ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’, can possibly be trusted as authentically representing the ‘true’ voice of the female subaltern."