英语毕业论文文献综述

Black Women's Quest for Identity in the Color PurpleThe Color Purple is a quite famous fiction. Since the 1970s, African-American lit erature has taken on a new look, and a group of African-American women writers hav e claimed nationwide reputation. Alice walker is one of the most influential African-A merican women writers. Alice Walker is a contemporary outstanding Afro-American woman writer and also a steadfast womanism, whose great contribution to black and e ven American literature is that she successfully portrays a series of new images of bla ck womanhood. She focuses on the black women’s quest for identity. Her novel, The Color Purple attracted a lot of attention from American literary critical world, which d escribes the oppressed black women’s tortuous life. She won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize a nd the American Book Award due to The Color Purple, and also this novel was nomin ated for the 1982 National Book Critics Circle Award.In 1986, the novel was adapted for the screen by the director Steven Spielberg and ign ited some controversy. As a masterpiece, this novel occupies a significant place in the the histories of both Black literature and American literature. Alice Walker’s writings abounds with originality and profundity, which are different from those of the traditio nal black male wirers and the white female writers. The black male writers mainly pay attention to the racial oppression and discrimination that black Americans have suffer ed in White America; the white women writers only expose the humiliating and suffoc ating sexual discrimination. However, Alice Walker portrays the miserable life of blac k women under double oppressions of racialism and sexism, which results in black wo men losing their due rights. The Color Purple portrays a new prospect, it describes tha t the black women fought, struggled and survived who used to be raped, beaten, and s eparated.So far there have been a large number of people doing researches on The Color P urple. Because this novel can provide them witha lot of information. However, many people see it from a different angle. Scholars hav e done researches on several aspects. The majority of scholars would like to focus on t he rights for which black women struggle, and pay attentions to the process for which they quest identity. Alice walker portrays the catastrophic life the black women in thei r livelihood. Her main concerns are black women issues. In her The Color Purple, the dominant theme is the heroine Celie’s quest for freedom, wholeness and self-identity. At first, Celie’s a submissive girl and succumbs to the destiny and being arrangement. She is raped by her step father and gives birth to two children. Later she is forced to marry a widower who has four children. However, she never react against. Celie is so ki nd that she helps her younger sister Nettie run away from home after finding her step f ather and husband have evil intentions. What’s more, she takes good care of her husba nd’s lover. When she becomes a skilled artisans tailor and leads a independent live, sh e forgives Mr. And they become good friends. Later in her life, she was enlightened b y Shug, she finds Mr has hidden her sisters letters for years. She finally leaves Mr. Sh e gains Mr’s apology and a new life. With the change of the society, black people cha nge their old minds to liberate and struggle for their identity.What’s more, some scholars even stand a higher place to see the novel. They not only have considered the change of the society, but also do further researches from the poin t of black women’s rights. The point is very advancing and typical. Scholars believe th at Celie was the typical model of black woman fighting for rights. In the thesis named The Color Purple: Black Women’s Quest for Identity written by Zhang Yuhong(2007) holds the ground that: Black women suffer from both racism and sexism. And Celie who successfully declares female identity and actually attains a real spiritual rebirth ju st as she describes herself when she is at an old age, “But I don’t think us feel old at al l.And us so happy. Matter of fact, I think this the youngest us ever felt” (CP: 261). She wins peace, calmness and happiness of mind. She saves her own spirit as a black wom an, which will last forever. Celie’s final success seems to be unrealistic in today’s Am erican society, but it expresses the writer’s good ideal of black woman’s liberation. Ev en black women cannot completely be equal with white people, but the effort they ma ke will last forever, and the spirit they hold in minds will last forever. They win the pe ace, calmness and happiness of mind. Celie’s changes can represent most black wome n’s aspirations, which should be respect.In the Analysis of The Color Purple as an Initiation Story, Feng Lijun(2011) holds that the ignorant black woman like Celie who had been poisoned by the patriarchal thoug ht and completely internalized the patriarchal thoughts into the code of conduct wants to be truly liberated. It is really difficult to achieve just by her own power. She must a ppeal to outside force. However, in the patriarchal society at that time, it is extremely difficult to acquire liberation depending on the strength of men. Two men in the novel influence Celie the most are Celie’s step father and Mr-. They take Celie as no people, let alone to help Celie fight against the male chauvinism. The male chauvinism and the thoughts of accepting fate are two main obstructions of Celie questing for h er identity. Under such circumstance, if Celie wants to liberate thoroughly from the op pression, she has to turn to the female. So Shug plays an important role for Celie in the process of seeking identity. With the help of Shug, Celie begins her transformation of life. It is love that rouse Celie’s awareness of defence. The characteristic in The Colo r Purple embodies the characteristics of black women. Black women go through the d ouble oppressions of racial and gender discrimination. They must put more effort and devote themselves to long-term hard work to quest for identity.In the writing Black women’ s breaking away from double--pressure to rebirth in the color purple, the writer Chen Hongli(2006) describes that the oppressions that bla ck women suffer from not only come from the black man,but also from the white people who have racial discrimination; not only come fro m family, but also from the society. I can’t agree more. Just like Sophia, although she breaks through the black family’s patriarchal despotism and gains a part of the rights o f the black women’s, she doesn’t escape from the oppression of the white people and t he society. She is sentenced to prison in consequence of replying defiantly to the may oress and raising a hand to her. We can see that the black women not only suffer the p hysical torture, also the spirit destroy. Black women are in the slave position of double oppressions, which indicate the difficulties they encounter are multiple when they fig ht against the prejudice which formed over a long period of time. That is to say, they h ave to get rid of the traditional patriarchal despotism and the discrimination of the soci ety. Only if they can make it, their identity can be approved. And The Color Purple vi gorously promotes the tenacious fighting spirit in the process of striving for independe nce. What we see in The Color Purple is how the black women face the reality to rous e the awakening of female consciousness, not merely the suffering and the oppression they experienced.Similar to Chen’s(2006) demonstration of the miserable life the blac k women have, Li Bing(2010) discusses the black women sufferings in another way in her writing: The Hard Journey of the Black Women: Body Narrative---in Alice Walke rs The Color Purple. In The Color Purple, closing is associated with Celie’s life. From simply covering the body from the cold, to make up the appearance to keep confident , to design her own clothing, clothing just like Celie’s another skin in a sense. It closel y related to her life, which shows the awakening of Celie’s subjective consciousness. I n fact, there are many narratives of body, which not only show that the discrimination s of racial and gender bring black women both physical and mental torment, also theybecome a tool to fight against the power and write black women’s identity. Walker affi rmed the meaning of the identity of black women through portraying women’s body. She also helps the black women find their self-identity. She fights back the patriarchal society, and encourages the black women to fight for building their own lives. Focus on the narratives of black women’s body, we can clear the road to soul redemption of black women, we can understand the misery they go through. In a word, The Color Pu rple encourages the black women to liberate themselves, and paves the road to self-ide ntity.Nearly all crirics who have ever written something about Celie’s famous work --- The Color Purple, get the conclusion that The Color Purple embodies the womanist theory. For example, in Chen Zhouxin’s(2011) thesis:An Analysis of The Color Purple from the Perspective of Womanism, he thinks t hat the four particular characteristics of walker’s womanism of The Color Purple is a s ubject worth of further study and development. Walker aims to grasp womanism’s spir it and power of thought as well as its social and historical significance. Walker points out that womanism is an unique ideological system which is used to resist racial oppre ssion and sexual discrimination for the black women and the women of colored race. I n 1960s and 1970s, with the development of movement for women’s rights, various fe minist schools emerged at one time. However, most of them only reflect the white wo men’s objection to the sexual discrimination in developed countries and ignore the wis hes and feelings of women in the Third World, especially the minority women. Just as the black women suffering so much from the double oppressions of racial and gender discrimination, can the black women like Celie want to liberate from oppressions, an d focus on the feminism.Bell Hooks once said:” Black men may be victimized by racism, but sexism allo wsthem to act as exploiters and oppressors of women; white women may be victimized b y sexism, but racism enables them to act as exploiters and oppressors of black people. Black women have no institutionalized ‘other’ to discriminate against, exploit, or oppr ess.” Black women were treated as nonpeople, the tool of abreacting, the slaves of the white people. Don’t believe the fate, because we can make our own fate; Respect ours elves, then we will gain others’ respect. The significance of womanist is to protect the black women’s human rights and emphasize the importance of getting rid of discrimination.As time goes by, the present author firmly believes that there will be numerous peop le do researches on The Color Purple. A large portion of them will still concentrate on the racial and gender discrimination. Others will focus on the womanism this novel co nveys. It is firmly believe that people have made a progress in the studying of black w omen questing for identity, but there still much to be improved. As the paper mentione d above, there are many aspects people can use to analysis The Color Purple: the wom anism, the changes of Celie’s attitude, the quest for identity, the double discrimination , the double liberation. What’s more, the miserable life Celie experienced can also be associated with black women's quest for identity. Apart from that, some authors take t he ground that, the Numbness and confused attitude also can pave the way to the ques t for identity. The weakness of the other people in analysis black women quest for ide ntity is that they just only focus on one or several aspects. The best way to portray the quest for identity is to combine all of these aspects, and then the way of description wi ll be irreproachable.。