A Call for Right from the Different Existence —A report of Alice Walker’s the color purple
郑宇欣 1012
Most of the readers will concern the theory of womanism after they read Alice Walker’s the color purple. But I see not only womanism but also other ideas about the right of different existence in this book. The book doesn’t only speak out for women without traditional norms, the colored people in America which they think are not the native people, the homosexuality, different cultures but also for the nontraditional men and white people, to sum up, the deferent ones.
The stories in the book are relied on a context of white racial oppression of blacks both in the United States and in Africa in the period between the turn of the century and the Second World War (Yang Hongqaun). We can see that, though slavery was abandoned after Civil War in America, the social state status of the blacks has not been improved, which has a wide influence in the world. The book was first published in 1982 and Feminism, since it has begun in 1930s, has been reformed for several generations. In the 1960s, a new word appeared: Womanism. When it came to 1980s, Womanism was connected with multiculturalism, admitting the differences between women and man, combining race, gender and culture. Alice Walker was strongly influenced by the Womanism tide. She said that she had a different point of view of the world because she was not only a black people, a woman, but also a South American grew up in the poor region and most of all, a writer. Some of her views may
be radical, but her ideas can help people to notice what should be changed. As she is a South American, she is very sensitive to the unjustified issues. Thanks for her multi-identities, the color purple written by her has different aspects of concerns. She innovatively asked for the right of black women, meanwhile, she didn’t stop at this theme.
In my opinion, Alice Walker has showed a call for right from the different existence. Of course, mostly, the book has the theme of womanism.
First, we can see the theme in the plots Alice Walker described: She depicted a black woman, Celie, who had suffered a lot but then awaked and fight for her own way of life. She got rid of the traditional black women’s destiny. Her success can highly prove that women are able to realize their pursuit of self-identity.
Moreover, we can see the theme in the style of writing. Alice Walker also used epistolary style to reveal a most authentic psychology of the characters, the women. She uses first narrator perspective to effectively strengthen the black women’s freedom of speech. What we should pay attention to is that Alice Walker used patois spoken by black people almost in the whole the color purple, which was unprecedented in an established book because it has been regarded as informal language. (e) She used it to enhance that other dialects of English, including patois spoken by black people, should also be respected. Language probably is the base of ethnic culture because it can convey the culture by words. Thus Alice Walker is showing her concern about culture of black people, too. In addition, there is a detail in
the book that I cannot neglect: When Celie is mentioning the men who has once hurt her, such as Albert, her husband and her stepfather, she never call their names till the very last. Celie uses “Mr. ___” instead in her letters to God or to her sister Nettie. It might be a method of self-protection, weakening the burden on her heart, the sorrow memory that she doesn’t want to recall. But it can also be a clue of womanism. It lowers the priority of men, erasing their identities, because, as for Celie, men who hurt her are the same.
Finally, some of the symbols in the book reveal the theme of womanism, too. Firstly, the color purple, is a color represents nobleness and dignity, which has been repeated several times in the book, calling the right for black women. At last, Celie even paints most of the things in her room in purple. What’s more, the making and wearing pants symbolizes a call for equality between men and women. “Wearing the pants” means that women take the place of control. The elephants and turtle decoration in Shug Avery’s house serve the same aim. Singing “Blues” shows a way of fight from the black women under oppression, among which, “blue” is also a color representing the charm of women. Making patchwork quit represents that women fight together.
However, there are other “differences” in the book. The special feelings between Celie and Shug, which might be a state of homosexuality, are different. Harpo's insecurity about his masculinity and failure of masculinity though he has tried to act out masculine, is different from other men. Albert Johnson’s secret desire for sewing when he was a child is different. Shug’s honest to her own desire for sex and pursuit
of singing is different. Samuel, as a “colored” missionary, is different, meanwhile, Nettie, as a “colored” woman missionary, is more different. The ideas about the origin of man in Bible among tribes in Africa are different; they think that they are the origin of white people and the first “white” people was cast out because he had no “color” and he was thought “naked”. The Indians among the black people are regards as different.
All in all, Alice Walker shows us the difference in various aspects which are waiting for admitting and respecting. It really strikes a chord not only in period of the first establishing of the color purple, but also in the contemporary era and perhaps even in the future.
Work Cited:
1. Yang Hongqaun, “The Carnival in Black Women’s Liberation—An Interpretation of
The Color Purple Based on Bakhtin’s Carnival Theory“, Culture Research, China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, June, 2009.
2. 冯修文,艾丽斯 沃克《紫色》的象征隐喻解析, 外国文学, China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, Oct, 2008.
3. Alice Walker, The Color Purple, Mariner Books, May 28, 2003.
