从《紫色》的分析中看黑人女性的自我觉醒英语专业本科毕业论文.doc

学学 号 号 200994620134 HEBEI UNITED UNIVERSITY 毕毕 业业 论论文文 GRADUATE THESIS 论文题目 论文题目 从从 紫色紫色 中的分析中看黑人女性的自我觉醒中的分析中看黑人女性的自我觉醒 学生姓名 谢冰清学生姓名 谢冰清 专业班级 专业班级 09 英语英语 3 班班 学学 院 外国语学院院 外国语学院 指导教师 李小艳指导教师 李小艳 讲师讲师 2013 年 05 月 21 日 Self Consciousness of Black Women in The Color Purple By Xie Bingqing A graduate thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements矚慫润厲钐瘗睞枥庑赖 for the degree of Bachelor of Arts to the College of Foreign Languages Hebei United University May 21st 2013 摘 要 摘 要 爱丽丝 沃克是一位著名的黑人女性作家 紫色 是她最著名的作品 自 这部作品出版以来引起了很多评论家和读者的关注 因为这部作品不仅涉及了 种族歧视的问题 也提及了女权主义的问题 聞創沟燴鐺險爱氇谴净 与其他作家不同的是 爱丽丝 沃克不仅是看到了黑人女性的自我觉醒 还 关注了女性之间的友情和黑人女性心中的信仰 本文通过分析 紫色 去观察 黑人女性的自我觉醒过程 在种族歧视和男权主义的双重压迫下 女主角西里 由忍受到自我认识 最后到自我觉醒的精神状态的改变 冲破了种族歧视和男 权主义两道精神枷锁 残骛楼諍锩瀨濟溆塹籟 本文从心理 社会 文化 信仰等方面来分析黑人女性如何在她们地位受 压迫的时代突破双重枷锁 西丽的自我觉醒不仅激励黑人女性 而且对当今社 会女性也有鼓励的作用 本文旨在通过对 紫色 的分析 激励女性读者 并 让男性读者有一个更正确看待女性地位的态度 酽锕极額閉镇桧猪訣锥 关键词 紫色 自我觉醒 黑人女性 非洲中心主义 ABSTRACT I ABSTRACT Alice Walker is one of the greatest contemporary Afro American writers The Color Purple is the most famous of her works and since it was published many critics and readers are interested in it because it talks not only about the racial discrimination but also about the feminism 彈贸摄尔霁毙攬砖卤庑 Different from other authors Alice Walker not only sees black female awakening but also pays attention to the friendship between women and black women s believes In this paper through the analysis of The Color Purple by observing the self awakening progress of black women in the double oppression of racial discrimination and male chauvinism the heroine Celie is found to have changed in her mental state from enduring to self awareness and finally breaking the two mental shackles 謀荞抟箧飆鐸怼类蒋薔 This article analyzes how the black women break the double yokes in the era that they are enslaved from psychological social cultural and devotional views Celie s self consciousness encourages not only black women but also modern women This article aims to stimulate female readers and gives a correct manner to male readers about the social status of females 厦礴恳蹒骈時盡继價骚 Keywords purple self consciousness black woman African centralism茕桢广鳓 鯡选块网羈泪 College of Foreign Languages Hebei United University II CONTENTS 摘 要 I鹅娅尽損鹌惨歷茏鴛賴 Abstract Ii籟丛妈羥为贍偾蛏练淨 Chapter 1 Introduction 1預頌圣鉉儐歲龈讶骅籴 1 1 Introduction of The Color Purple 1渗釤呛俨匀谔鱉调硯錦 1 2 Introduction of Alice Walker 2铙誅卧泻噦圣骋贶頂廡 1 3 Implied Meaning of Purple 2擁締凤袜备訊顎轮烂蔷 Chapter 2 Double Oppressions Black Women Suffered 4贓熱俣阃歲匱阊邺镓騷 2 1 Racial Oppression 4坛摶乡囂忏蒌鍥铃氈淚 2 2 Sexual Oppression 4蜡變黲癟報伥铉锚鈰赘 Chapter 3 Celie S Self Consciousness 6買鲷鴯譖昙膚遙闫撷凄 3 1 Influence of African Culture 6綾镝鯛駕櫬鹕踪韦辚糴 3 1 1 African Centralism 6驅踬髏彦浃绥譎饴憂锦 3 1 2 Influence of African Centralism on Celie 7猫虿驢绘燈鮒诛髅貺庑 3 2 Influence of Other Women in The Color Purple 8锹籁饗迳琐筆襖鸥娅薔 3 2 1 Nettie 8構氽頑黉碩饨荠龈话骛 3 2 2 Sofia 9輒峄陽檉簖疖網儂號泶 3 2 3 Shug 9尧侧閆繭絳闕绚勵蜆贅 3 3 Self Consciousness of Celie 10识饒鎂錕缢灩筧嚌俨淒 Chapter 4 Conclusion 12凍鈹鋨劳臘锴痫婦胫籴 Bibliography 14恥諤銪灭萦欢煬鞏鹜錦 Acknowledgements 15鯊腎鑰诎褳鉀沩懼統庫 College of Foreign Languages Hebei United University 0 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 Introduction of The Color Purple The Color Purple is the master piece of Alice Walker s works Since it was published in 1982 it has become the bestseller and was republished many times in following years Alice Walker has poured her full sentiment into this work When being completed she suddenly thought that it seems all of her beloved have lost in suddenly 硕癘鄴颃诌攆檸攜驤蔹 In 1983 she was awarded the Pulitzer Literature Prize for The Color Purple Then she became the first black woman writer which laid her irreplaceable position in the history of American literature Nearly a century after Lincoln issued Declaration of Abolitionist United States separation and discrimination were still strong in the South Alice Walker was born in 1944 a poor black family in Georgia Ethan Dayton the south of US The prejudice in society and the poverty of family made her deeply realize the distress of black people Therefore each of her literary work displays her struggles for the black particularly for black women to pursue racial equality and self independence 阌擻輳嬪諫迁择楨秘騖 Born in the south naturally Alice Walker specially preferred southern literature As a black woman writer Alice Walker was actively engaged in the women s movement and became a prominent feminist Although she was outraged at the injustice for the black woman she explored shining path unceasingly and helped the other women to loose the oppressions Walker insisted that black women fight for equality between men and women the struggle against racial and economic oppression tightly related She abandoned feminism and replaced it with womanism which is defined as the person who devoted his life to the realization of all people including men and women survival and perfectionism Alice Walker the concept of women s liberation is not narrow She recognized that a black woman was not only the black but also a woman a human being Women s liberation means the emancipation of men even the liberation of all mankind These viewpoints were revealed in The Color Purple to the greatest extent 氬嚕躑竄贸恳彈瀘颔澩 In the novel Walker with the most realistic approach described all unfortunates of the black women in male chauvinism reflecting the self consciousness of female and the process of improvement of their self worth The heroine Celie whom Walker put her heart and soul into shaped with the desire for life and the pursuit of happiness became the incarnation of a black woman of a new generational The Color Purple injects fresh vigor into the development of black women s literature and demonstrates the breakthrough of the black literary creation 釷鹆資贏車贖孙滅獅赘 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 2 Introduction of Alice Walker Alice Walker was the eighth and last child of Willie Lee Walker and Minnie Tallulah Grant two sharecroppers In the summer of 1952 Walker was blinded in her right eye by a BB gun pellet and has remained facially disfigured Despite her partial loss of eyesight Walker was a diligent student finishing her classes with top grades During a trip to Africa before her graduation from college she discovered her accidental pregnancy and then had an abortion secretly this sad experience made her want to commit suicide at a time Alice Walker is active in political movements she participated in the Civil Rights Movement when she was a student in Spellman College in Atlanta She wrote articles went to speeches and even marched on Washington to listen to Martin Luther King s famous speech I Have a Dream with thousands of black people 怂阐譜鯪迳導嘯畫長凉 After the graduation with her B A Degree from Sarah Lawrence Walker found a job in Jackson Mississippi and accepted a position with the Legal Defense Fund for the Advancement of Colored People With the assistance of the activist and lawyer Marian Wright Edelman Walker did many good deeds for the black Walker also taught African American women at some famous universities such as Wellesley the University of Massachusetts at Boston Yale and the University of California at Berkeley and supported antinuclear and environmental causes 谚辞調担鈧谄动禪泻類 During the late sixties and early seventies she published her first novel The Third Life of George Copeland 1970 her next novel Meridian 1976 a tale with the background of the Civil Rights which is generally regarded as one of the best novels during that time The Temple of My Familiar 1989 is an ambitious novel recording 500 000 years of human history In Possessing the Secret of Joy 1992 the male characters contradict their stereotypical roles they are the cure to Tasha s happiness Walker s latest novel By the Light of My Father s Smile 1998 explores the richness and coherence of the alternative cultural experience of sexuality as a celebration of life as Walker says that it is the triumphant heart not the conquered heart that forgives and love are both timeless and beyond time She had also written three collections of short stories three collections of essays six volumes of poetry and several children s books 嘰觐詿缧铴嗫偽純铪锩 1 3 Implied Meaning of Purple Purple is regarded as one kind of noble color that the king dresses symbolizing the sovereignty and honor Alice Walker borrows purple as the book title raising kneeling black women up to the level of royalty and giving them original dignity and social position 熒绐譏钲鏌觶鷹緇機库 College of Foreign Languages Hebei United University 2 In the novel the author expresses her intention through multiple use of purple When Celie just arrives at Albert s family Albert who Celie s husband but she doesnot dare to call his name complies to buy clothes for her At that time she has not seen Shug but she knows Mr Albert not only likes but also respects her Therefore what Celie first thinks is the purple clothe that Shug liked This indicated that she imagines obtaining respect and affection of husband like Shug She looks everywhere of the entire store for purple clothes in vain attempt This indicated that opportunity not yet mature She is unable to obtain the dignity However the idea that Celie wants to wear the purple clothes reflects her desire to live a happy life It is this desire that makes her see her own oppressions and gradually develop to finally recognize the value of her own existence But at the end of the novel after Celie s self consciousness she decorates her room with purple color which shows her desire for a happy life symbolizing the change of her social position as slave and the beginning of her beautiful completed life Near the end of the novel Albert hand carved a purple frog for Celie symbolizing that he recognizes Celie s dignity and her right of pursuing happiness 鶼渍螻偉阅劍鲰腎邏蘞 This article concentrates on Celie s self consciousness with the background of other black women supporting or influencing her Walker takes Celie as a representative of black women focusing on how Celie becomes self conscious with the help of other black women 纣忧蔣氳頑莶驅藥悯骛 Chapter 2 Double Oppressions Black Women Suffered 3 Chapter 2 Double Oppressions Black Women Suffered 2 1 Racial Oppression African American people had suffered racial discrimination for a long time First it was the selling of black people as slaves Then they endured slavery itself being treated like animals After slavery was abolished colored people especially colored women still had to deal with racial discrimination demoralization subjugation and hatred Black women had to face unbearable odds at obtaining self assurance 颖刍莖蛺饽 亿顿裊赔泷 Women were on the social status of oppression and discrimination The black women even suffered the double oppression of racial and sexual With the rise of feminist movement women s status was gradually promoted and the black women smashed double shackles In the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s African Americans initiated the large scale movement of struggle against discrimination and racial oppression striving for social situation and social right Theoretically the black people should have gotten their freedom at President Lincoln s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 but the matter still exists 濫驂膽閉驟羥闈詔寢賻 In The Color Purple which spans the years between the Depression and the beginning of the Civil Right Movement in the early 1960s Walker expresses the racial oppression of black people even the black women in details Sofia is put in prison because of scolding and beating mayor s wife on the street Although released she is still work as a servant in white mayor s home She has the same fate with Celie oppressed by others but Celie is a slave for black men and she is a servant for white people despite of breaking the male power in black family In addition the Olinka people who Nettie mentioned in letter escape to a desolated place because the white build roads in their inhabited area threatened the existing space of the black When the white mayor saw the black had the automobile he bought it to her wife because he does not want to be more backward than the black Therefore the black women suffer not only physical torture but also the spirit Black women in double oppression of slavery indicate the difficulties that they encountered are multiple in the fight against social prejudices 銚銻縵哜鳗鸿锓謎諏涼 2 2 Sexual Oppression Feminist movement in the sixties and seventies of the last century belongs to the second wave of the feminist movement Women s movement at this stage was characterized by the male centered criticism and the awakening of female College of Foreign Languages Hebei United University 4 consciousness Walker created The Color Purple in the late of 1980s Although the social situation of women has been proved after three feminist movements the sexual discrimination still exists When more and more women occupied the leading position of government school and media men called out in alarm the hen crowed 挤貼綬电麥结 鈺贖哓类 The black women as colored people were deeply oppressed by men They are timid and think that being submissive is the best way to stay alive Black men poured their complaint on black women treating them as life tools without respect Black men trample on them 赔荊紳谘侖驟辽輩袜錈 In The Color Purple the oppression which the black females received comes from not only the white people with racial discrimination but also the black males not only the society but also the family The protagonist of The Color Purple is Celie She is a fourteen year old black girl who is raped by her stepfather when her mother is away and is warned by her father not to tell anyone but God After her mother s death her two children are taken away by her stepfather and she becomes a slave both physically and sexually to her stepfather After her stepfather getting tired of her she is forced to marry a widower Albert 塤礙籟馐决穩賽釙冊庫 Albert doesn t love Celie at all but needs a servant to cook and clean for him and take care of his three children Celie is still physically and sexually abused by Albert but she still keeps silent for she thinks that accepting everything silently is the best and the only way to staying alive When she is beaten she said he beats me like he beats the children Cept he don t never beat them it all I can do not cry I make myself wood I say to myself Celie you a tree That is how come I know trees fear man Alice Walker 1982 22 Her sister Nettie teaches her to fight with them but Celie answers But I don t know how to fight All I know how to do is stay alive Alice Walker 1982 17 Celie even teaches man to beat the other woman without realizing that she is also a victim This shows that the male oriented perspective is deeply rooted in the black community Meanwhile it can be seen that men maintain their supremacy and when their male authority is challenged and threatened the way they use to solve problems is only violence 裊樣祕廬廂颤谚鍘羋蔺 In the family of patriarchal domination obedience is woman s virtue As a weak woman Celie has grown to be accustomed to the slave status in silence so that she does not dare to go against her husband Writing letters becomes a way to achieve self awareness as a black woman Celie lives on the earth just for submissive and enslaved as a cooker washer worker housekeeper and sexual tool She is poisoned by patriarchal domination so that she thinks being submissive is natural 仓嫗盤紲嘱珑詁 鍬齊驁 Chapter 3 Celie s Self consciousness 5 Chapter 3 Celie s Self consciousness 3 1 Influence of African Culture Alice Walker compares the African American with the American African to appeal black people bringing honor of their national culture and abandoning the traditional vulgar customs Through The Color Purple Alice Walker develops the female consciousness stressing that women and men have equal power This proves the symbols and significance of black in the white world Walker thinks that black is the symbol of beauty and nobleness She says that the genuine black is the blackest person while the person who is attached to white people and humiliates the compatriot is the black person who has contracted albinism The Color Purple fully demonstrates the ideology of African centralism and its positive influence in black women of seeking liberation and equality of Black Nationalism 绽萬璉轆娛閬蛏鬮绾瀧 3 1 1 African Centralism African centralism also known as Afrocentrism or Afrocentricity is a cultural ideology mostly limited to the United States and is dedicated to the history of black people It is a response to global Eurocentric racist attitudes about African people and their historical contributions and revisits their history with an African cultural and ideological focus 骁顾燁鶚巯瀆蕪領鲡赙 African centralism is centered on the belief that one should lives in harmony with nature and there is an oneness between human and nature By assimilating the positive elements of African culture black women have reestablished their identities enhanced their self consciousness and raised race consciousness all of which are lost in American society 瑣钋濺暧惲锟缟馭篩凉 In the novel the African tradition is available through Nettie s letters from Africa Her letters are largely ethnographic reading of African culture They broaden our views by describing customs of the Olinka that parallel some found in South Africa When the first time Nettie sees black Africans she writes 鎦诗涇艳损楼紲鯗餳類 They are the blackest people I have ever seen they are so black Celie they shine I felt like I was seen black for the first time Because the black is so black the eye is simply dazzled and then there is the shining that seems to come really from moonlight it is so luminous but their skin glows in the sun Alice Walker 1982 147 栉缏歐锄棗鈕种鵑瑶锬 College of Foreign Languages Hebei United University 6 Through Nettie s letters women s relationship with men which shows universal oppression is described In Olinka women and their husbands will do anything for each other sharing both gossip and everyday chores African culture has the effect in the mind of black women 辔烨棟剛殓攬瑤丽阄应 3 1 2 Influence of African Centralism on Celie Africa