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1、l introduction1.1 the writer and the novelalice walker, a pulitzer prize winner, is best known for her novels about the black women who achieve heroic status in a white and patriarchal world with their own ways of fighting she is a novelist, as well as a critic and a poet.sincel968,she has published

2、 three collections of poems: once( 196srevolutionary petunias 1973),and goodnight willie lee, i'll see you in the morning1979);two collections of short stories: in love and trouble: stories of black women(913), and you can 9t keep a good woman dpvv/i(1980);six novels: the third life of grange co

3、peland(910), the color purple 1982),which won her the pulitzer prize, the temple of my familiar 1989),possessing the secret1992),and bythe light of my father's 5m/7(1998);one collection of essays: in search of our mother's gardens: womanist幺(1983);and many other works.many of walker's wo

4、rks are inseparable from her life experience. she is very proud of her origins and she believes that “the grace with which we embrace life, in spite of pain, the sorrow, is always measure of what has gone beforem(qtd in gilbert & gubar 2365).her childhood was typical like other black women of he

5、r time. she often had to confront racism and sexual abusetn 1982, walker published her most famous novel the color purple, which depicts the black women's struggle for their spiritual wholeness as well as sexual, political and racial equality. the novel raised a stir in the black community with

6、its starting point of “the absolute rock bottom of a woman's economic and sexual enslavement in a male-dominant and racist society” since its publication (willis 118).and walker got lots of criticism on her and the novel, both positive and negative. she has been plagued by constant criticism for

7、 her negative portrayal of black males.in some cases the same people who insist on artistic freedom and innovation criticize walker for veering from the recommended course. trudier harris, a professor at the university of north carolina and also alice walkers severest critic, protested among other t

8、hings "that the portrayal of celie was unrealistic for the time in which the novel was sef that nettie letters from africa to america "were really extraneous to the central concerns of the novef and celie and shuggs sexual interaction "represented the height of silly romanticisnv5(kan

9、e). however, most critics applauded her lyrical prose, her sensitive characterizations, and her gift for 3 rendering beauty, grace, and dignity in ordinary people and places. peter s.prescott called the color purple in the newsweek, "an american novel of permanent importance, that rare sort of

10、book which amounts to "a division in the fields of deact. gloria steinem also wrote in ms, "she is even brave enough to write about such delicate fictional themes as interracial sex and the oppression of women by many cultures in africa. but white women, and women of diverse ethnic backgro

11、und, also feel tied to alice walker： the novel won both the pulitzer prize and the american book award, and was adapted for film in 1984 by steven spielberg.in 1984,alice walker put forward a special term, womanist, which as she interprets, means a black feminist or feminist of color, in her book in

12、 search of our mothers "gardens: woman 1st prose, which also attracts a lot of attention from critics. twenty years later, her definition remained a point of reference for womanist thought and spirit. linda e.thomas, a womanist ethicist and theologian, wrote, "the freedom of black women en

13、tails the liberation of all peoples, because womanist theology concerns notions of gender, race, class, heterosexism, and ecology".since the color purple was translated into chinese in 1980s, there have appeared several chinese versions of the novel. more and more teachers, students and scholar

14、s do research and write comments on alice walker, the color purple and her womanism. xie lili, a postgraduate student at nanjing normal university, stated in "the color purple and alice walkefs womanisrrf； that “the novel gives a full expression of the ideological connotation of womanism and a

15、vivid description of black women's struggle for liberation and the nationalities striving for equality. xie jingzhi, a professor at henan college of 4 public security, pointed out that walker7s womanism "embodies the theme of black women seeking for personalities and self-esteem in predicam

16、ent. zeng zhuqing, a professor at central south university, also wrote that "her excavation of the tradition is very significant toafrican-american woman literature, african-american literature and american literature. alice walkers novel, the color purple, and her womanism have truly impressed

17、 the chinese readers and scholars a great deal. based on works and articles on alice walkers novel, the color purple, and her womanism, the author of this thesis attempts to interpret her womanist ways of liberation of the black women in the novel, as well as to give a brief analysis of the thematic

18、 concerns as represented in her great work, the color purple. moreover, as a chinese young woman, the author also hopes that through her study on the novel, she can learn some useful ideas from walker's womanism and the ways of the black womerfs liberation. thus, she can understand the situation

19、 of chinese women more correctly and one day she will be able to help those chinese women who are being oppressed1.2 cultural and historical background1.2.1 critical realisminfluenced by the radical struggles of the age for social change, especially the black power, black arts, and womeifs rights mo

20、vement, some contemporary afro-american novelists explored the flexibility and appropriateness of critical realism for their color, sex, and class approach to reality.1.2.2 historical events related to the novelthe color purple is set in the american south in the 1920s to 1940s; inevitably it reflec

21、ts some events of that time. in the early 20th century the south was still largely rural and agricultural. sharecropping replaced slavery as the central source of black labor, upon which southern agriculture still relied. however, it made no change for blacks，hard lives- poverty was widespread. from

22、 1915, many blacks went away from sharecropping to seek a better life in the industrial northern cities, participating in the exodus from the south. this is called the great migration. however for those who stayed, both men and women, life remained hard. they had to struggle under the twin burdens o

23、f extreme poverty and entrenched discrimination. by the 1920s,after almost half a centurypost civil war period of reconstruction, african americans in the south as well as elsewhere won little improvement of their civil rights. aided by a reactionary supreme court, the southern backlash against reco

24、nstruction had solidified into the jim crowds regime of enforced segregation between blacks and the whites and white domination. based on the principle of white supremacy, jim crow laws created separate societies for blacks and whites- from theaters to drinking fountains, and from schools and theate

25、rs and cemeteries, blacks were faced with signs that turned them away. restrictions constantly remained blacks of their inferior status in white eyes aside from creating separate societies for the whites and blacks, jim crow laws ensured that when blacks and whites did mix, they would do so on terms

26、 that guaranteed white dominance like jim crow laws, which flourished in the south from the 1880s to the 1930s, lynching arose as a white reaction against black freedom, a way for southern whites to control the blacks. lynching had sexual and economic aspects in the south, for a common excuse was th

27、e alleged rape of a white woman by a black man. as black anti-lynching crusader ida b. wells pointed out, a rape charge could be provoked by consensual relations between a black man and a white woman, or by nothing more than eye contact that a white perceived as a threat. it could furthermore serve

28、as a manufactured excuse for getting rid of a black man who was prospering financially, or one whose attitude was not submissive enough to please local whites. the color purple reflects the history of african americans9 hard life at that period of time.2. feminism and womanismin the black culture, t

29、he word “womanism，specially means the character of audacity of woman and embodies the eager and practice for knowledge, creativity and responsibility of woman. this concept contrast with the submissive and inferior woman image in the western patriarchal society. the dictionary of feminist theory giv

30、e a definition: this technical term now means black feminism. a feminist who believe in womanism is a womannist. in the in search of our mothers' gardens, alice walker gives a definition to “womanish as follows: womanist. 1. from womanish ( opp. of “girlish" i.e. frivolous, irresponsible, n

31、ot serious.) a black feminist or feminist of color. from the black folk expression of mothers to female children, "you acting womanish笃 i.e. like a woman, usually referring to outrageous, audacious, or courageous or willful behavior. wanting to know more and in greater depth than is considered

32、“gooct for one. interested in grown-up doings. acting grown ups. being grown ups. interchangeable with another black folk expression: “you trying to be grown, responsible, in charge and serious.”a woman who loves other women, sexually and/or non-sexually. appreciates and prefers women5s culture, wom

33、ens emotional flexibility (values tears as natural counterbalance of laughter),and women's strength. sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or non-sexually. committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. not a separatist, except periodically, for health. traditional

34、ly universalist, as in “mama, why are we brown, pink, and yellow, and our cousins are white, beige, and black?，ans.: “well, you know the colored race is just like a flower garden, with every color flower represented?5 traditionally capable, as in: "mama, fm walking to canada and um taking you a

35、nd a bunch of other slaves with me： reply: "it wouldrf t be the first time”loves music. loves dance. loves the moon. loves the spirit. loves love and food and roundness. loves struggle. loves the folk. loves herself. regardless.womanist is to feminist as purple to lavender.(walker 1983,1)the fi

36、rst interpretation delimits the scope of the womanist, which means that only the black or colored feminist can be called the womanist. this proposition is set against the main-stream white feminism which "has alienated working class and colored women from the liberation struggle： as a black wom

37、an, walker is mainly concerned about the condition of black women, but she does not forget other oppressed colored women. thus the womanist can not be simply called the black feminist.walker also gives the origin of the womanist in the first interpretation, i.e. womanish. thus a womanist must have t

38、he characters which the word “womanish，' suggests, such as outrageous, audacious, courageous, willful, serious, responsible, grown-up and the like. as a womanist, walker herself demonstrates these characters thoroughly.in the first interpretation, walker marks the womanist from race, i.e. the co

39、lored, and in the second interpretation, she marks the womanist from gende匚 definitely, a womanist should be a woman; however, the point is for which sex a womanist should serve. first, walker indicates that a womanist should love other women, sexually and/or non-sexually, which means both lesbians

40、and non-lesbians can be the womanist. it also emphasizes sisterhood, which is an important part of traditional african american culture.in the color purple, the lesbian love between celie and shug, and the friendships among celie, shug, sophie, nettie and etc., which will be discussed in detail late

41、r in this thesis, illustrate the important effect of sisterhood on the liberation of black women. she also emphasizes women's culture and women，s emotion, one of which is quilt making. in the color purple, celie, shug and sophie also make a quilt named "sister，s choice", which symboliz

42、es th&r friendships-despite women's good relationship, walker never forgets men. the womanist should also love individual men, sexually and/or non-sexually, for the womanist should commit themselves to the entire people, whether they are male or female. although walker is usually criticized

43、by her negative depiction of men,especially black men,she is not a separatist.she only wants to remind black men of the fact that they also one of those who suppress and abuse black women. however, walker believes that black merfs behavior is just an imitation of the society around them "becaus

44、e white men一-whether in films or in person一-offered man as dominator, as killer, and always as hypocrite(walker 1983,330). therefore, if black men can realize and rectify their problem, they still can be friends with black women and be helpers for the liberation of the black people in the color purp

45、le, the change of albert and harpo is a good illustration of walker9s wish to work with black men to liberate not only black women but also black men.the womanist should also be the universalist, which means that they should not work only for the liberation of black people or their own race, but als

46、o for all the human beings in spite of their skin color. people with white, beige, black, brown, pink, yellow and any other skin color are all brothers and sisters. thus although the womanist should be the colored women, they should work for all human beings, male and female with all kinds of skin c

47、olor.the last part of the second interpretation means that the womanist should be brave and be an activist. she is brave and capable enough to fight for and protect her people. tt wouldnt be the first time", for the ancestors have fought for many years and it would not be the last time until ev

48、eryone gets his/her liberation.walker's last definition of the womanist may be the most misunderstanding one. "womanist is to feminist as purple to lavender/5 this interpretation contains two meanings- one is that womanism and feminism are not two totally different schools. they have someth

49、ing in common. both of them, for example, serve for women's liberation. anyhow, as lavender is much lighter than purple, feminism has less connotations than womanism. one of the reasons is that the main-stream white feminism usually ignores the existence of black women and other colored women.fo

50、r a womanist, “when she thought of women moving, she automatically thought of women all over the world(walker 1983,378)." is her own experience that enables her to do so. a colored woman usually suffers double oppression in america. the black women, for example, when facing the white people, su

51、ffer racial oppression, both from the white men and women. when coming back to their own homes, they have to sustain the oppression from the black men. if black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the syst

52、ems of oppression.any theory must be based on reality. walker not only gives the basic connotations of her womanism, but also writes many works to illustrate it. the color purple is one of them. the female figures in the novel suffer greatly from the double oppression mentioned above. however, they

53、do not yield to their destiny. they try hard and finally liberate themselves, and their ways to liberation also form lots of elements of walkers womanism.3. the hard journey of awakening and establishmentof self-consciousness of celie3.1 the period of spiritual attachmentduring this period, celie ch

54、ose to resign herself to adversity and were willing to suffer enslavement. she lived without self-esteem, status and even the consciousness of fighting. why did these happen to celie? she had suffered from double oppressionsexual and racial discrimination for a long time and didn't realize the o

55、rigin of her tragedy. the long-term sexual and racial discrimination made celie lose her self-identity and independent personality. black women are a unique group in america. on one hand, they are women; on the other hand, they are black. their particular identities decide their destiny.the novel be

56、gan with the protagonist celies letter to god. before the letter, there is a sentence, “you better not never tell nobody but god. it5d kill your mammy from this ,we can see celie was afraid because her own father raped her, although later it proved that the man was her stepfather. she bore two child

57、ren to the man, but both the two little babies were given to others without her acknowledgement. celie is a very obedient black woman. under her stepfather's cruel treatment of raping, scolding and beating, she suffered without rebellion. even when she discovered that her stepfather wanted to ra

58、pe her beloved little sister, nettie, what she only could do was to beg him, for she scared of men and she even did not look at men however, all her tolerance did not turn into happiness or freedom but into the mamage to mr. albert, who wanted her because he needed someone to cook, clean and take ca

59、re of the children for him.me come finally one day looking all drug out. the woman he had helping him done quit. his mammy done said no more.he say, let me see her again.pa call me, celie, he say. like it wasnt nothing. mr.albert want another look at you.i go stand in door. the sun shine in my eye.

60、he，s still up on his horse.he look at me up and down.pa rattle his newspaper. move on, he won't bite, he say.i go closer to the steps, but no too close cause fm a little scared of his horse.turn around, pa say.i turn aroundmr._ say. that cow still coming?he say, her cow.(walker 1982,11-12)like a slave auction, celie was thus passed like a piece of property from one cr