从妇女主义的角度解析《紫色》这本毕业

从妇女主义的角度解析《紫色》这本毕业X X 师范学院毕业论文An Analysis of The Color Purple from the Perspectiveof Wamanism从妇女主义的角度解析《紫色》这本书外国语学院英语教育专业 09 级 1 班学生姓名黄XX 学号 090201013指导教师丁XX 职称教授完成日期 2013年3月15日Abstract: Alice Walker is not only the first black woman writer in American history who won the Pulitzer Prize，but also is one of the most influential writers of contemporary American literature. Her novel The Color Purple is known as a timeless classic, which directly explores the contradictions and conflicts between black men and women, describes the hard course of black women’s growth, points out a feasible road of two sexes’ harmony, and further shows the e ssence of the “w omanism”.This thesis is divided into five parts. The first part gives a brief overview of Alice Walker and her masterpiece The Color Purple. The second part deals with the theoretical framework, and includes the theory of womanism. The third part gives an analysis of the four female characters in the Color Purple from the perspective of womanism. The forth part mainly deals with three unique features of womanist reflected in The Color Purple. Then naturally the fifth part makes a conclu sion. In all, Alice Walker‘s womannism overcomes the shortcomings of the feminism and provides a new angle of view to liberate black women.Key Words: Alice Walker; womanism; The Color Purple; Harmony【摘要】艾丽丝·沃克是美国历史上第一位获得普利策文学奖的黑人女作家,也是当代美国文坛最有影响的作家之一。

她的小说《紫色》直接探讨了黑人男女之间的矛盾和冲突，以及黑人妇女的艰难成长之路，提出了两性之间和谐相处的可行之道，并从多个角度展现了“妇女主义”的要旨，是沃克的妇女主义思想的完美体现，被誉为永恒的经典。

本文共分五个部分。

第一部分简要介绍艾丽丝·沃克以及她的代表作《紫色》。

第二部分是理论基础。

第三部分从妇女主义的角度分析《紫色》中的四个女性。

第四部分探讨了《紫颜色》中的三个典型文化特征。

第五部分为总结。

综上，爱丽丝•沃克提出的妇女主义不仅克服了传统女权主义的缺点，而且也为解放广大黑人妇女提供了一个新的视角，使她们能更勇敢的面对自己的人生，也更有勇气实现男女之间的和谐。

【关键词】艾丽斯·沃克；妇女主义；《紫色》；和谐Contents Introduction (1)0.1 An Introduction to Alice Walker (1)0.2 An Introduction to The Color Purple (1)1.Theoretical Framework (3)1.1 The Theory of Womanism (3)1.1.1 Advocating the Braveness and Confidence of black women 31.1.2 Praising the Sisterhood of Black Women (3)1.1.3 Pursuing the Harmony of Two Sexes (4)1.2 Summry (4)2.Four Female Characters of Womanism in The Color Purple (5)2.1 Celie (5)2.2 Shug (5)2.3 Sophia (5)2.4 Nettie (6)2.5 Summary (6)3.Unique Features of Womanist Culture Reflected in The Color Purple (7)3.1 Blues music (7)3.2 Sewing (8)3.2.1 Sewing Clothes for the Family (8)3.2.2 Co-Sewing with the Mr. Johnson (9)3.2.3 Quilt-Sewing (9)3.3 Pants- Making (10)Conclusion (12)Bibliography (1)3Acknowledgement (14).Introduction0.1 An Introduction to Alice WalkerIn the latter half of the 20th century, with the development of feminist movement, the rise of African-American writers became particularly striking. Especially in 1983, a black writer—Alice Walker won three U.S. literary awards: the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and the National Book Association Award. As a practitioner and theory explorer of the black feminist literature, Alice Walker revealed the tragic fate and poor living conditions of the black women with her unique perspectives, studied the humanity of the Blacks beyond the boundaries of race and gender. She discovered the problem of the universal human nature: living conditions, social relations and weaknesses, and the pursuit of the human spirit.Alice Walker’s literary creation closely related to cultural traditions, the contemporary social environment, and her life experiences and family background. So it is necessary to understand Alice Walker’s life background before analyzes the text. Alice Walker was born in a black family who were sharecroppers in Southern America. She witnessed and experienced the unfair social status and sufferings of the blacks. From her mother and grandmother, Alice Walker learned much about the oppression and abuse of the tragic fate of black women. At the same time, Alice Walker understood the preciousness of the black’s cultural heritage. She set the faith for the preservation and promotion of the traditional culture. The tragic childhood made Alice Walker indrawn, so she only focused on reading. When Alice Walker wanted to devote herself to literary tradition and historical artistic creativity of the black women, her mothe r’s gardening skills and the other black women’s ar tistic creativities inspired her greatly. The impact of Alice Walker’s mother also reflects on that she valued children’s education. Although they lived in a village where without a school, but her mother tried her best to provide her eight children with educational opportunities. Before Alice Walker gone to get college education, her mother had already given her three things: a sewing machine, a typewriter and a suitcase. Walker explained the meaning of these three gifts: the sewing machine means independence, the typewriter means that writing will be her life, and the suitcase means enlarging her vision.Alice Walker is a black writer who has rich life experience, profound thought and clear political ideas. Alice Walker shoulders social responsibility and historic mission of this vulnerable group —black women writers. She is fully aware of the touching power of the literature that depends on the deep meaning of the subject and ultimate concern for the destiny of mankind. Alice Walker makes a huge contribution to contemporary American literature.0.2 An Introduction to The Color PurpleThe Color Purple was published in 1982 and won the Pulitzer Prize and theAmerican Book Award. This novel tells the life journey of the protagonist—Celie’s growth from a vulnerable girl to an independent woman. By emphasising on Celie and the other black women’s pursue for equality, independence and fulfillment, Alice Walker demonstrates her ideas of womanism best.In The Color Purple, there are three sets of letters. The first letter is Celie’s letters which were written to God about Celie’s misery because she could not write or speak to anyone else. The second is Nettie’s letter to Celie, about her various experiences in Africa. The third is Celie’s letter to Nettie, which exposes the theme of The Color Purple.The Color Purple began with Celie’s letter to God. When Celie was fourteen years old, she was raped by her stepfather. Then she gave birth to two children who were taken away by her father later. Celie felt extremely painful and torturous, except God, she was forbidden to tell others. Later, Celie married to Albert, whom she called “Mr. Johnson”.As Mr. Johnson’s wife, Celie worke d hard in his fields, took care of his children and bore his violence. Celie’s sister Nettie, who escaped from her own home because of her stepfather’s mistreatment, was adopted by a black missionary couple and went to Africa with them. At first, Sofia had great influence on Celie. Sofia was a brave woman, who fought against her husband’s abuse. And Sofia refused to be the maid of the white mayor’s wife. Shug Avery is a blues singer and Mr. Johnson’s lover. Some ideas of Shug’ s songs are considered as sinful for the Christians．but they inspire people．Even Celie is encouraged and comforted by Shug’s songs．It is the blues songs that convey black women’s aspiration for freedom and selfhood．Moreover, Shag’s pursuit of the blues reflects the appreciation of the African culture．Although the plot is simple, this novel is far from being simple. L.S Robinson claimes that “Like a skillfully crafted quilt, The Color Purple incorporates recognizable pieces of literary traditions into its own pattern, including slave narrative, domestic novel, epistolary novel, bildungsroman, fairy-tale, romance, and even existential novel.”(L.S Robinson, 1996:32). Maroula Joannou acclaims that “the influence of The Color Purple in progressive academic circles was unprecedented” (Maroula Joannou, 2000:101).1. Theoretical Framework1.1 The Theory of WomanismIn 1983, Alice Walker creatively put forward the concepts of “womanist” and “womanism” to replace “feminist” and “feminism” in her important collection of essays--In Search of our Mothers’Gardens. In this book, Alice Walker makes a concrete and vivid illustration of the black women’s ideal state, and defines the term “womanism” as follows:1. A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folkexpression of mothers to female children “You actingw omanish” that means you act like a woman, usually referring tooutrageous, audacious, courageous, or willful behavior. Wanting toknow more and in greater depth than is considered “good for one”. Sheis responsible. She is in charge. She is serious.2. A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually,appreciates and prefers women’s culture. Committed to survival andwholeness of entire people, male and female.3. A woman who loves music and dance. She loves the moon. She lovesthe spirit. She loves the food and roundness. She loves struggle. She lovesthe folk. She loves herself. She is regardless.4. Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender. (Walker, 1983: xi-xii)Walker creates the term “womanist” to show the differences with white feminists. Womanism is a unity oanti-sexism,anti-racialism, Africa centralism and humanism, which is regared ed as the core of Walker’s spiritual world.Alice Walker stresses that the womanist “Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female” (Walker, 1983:77). Survival whole is the core of womanism. Walker’s womanism is not only against the gender discrimination, but also against the inequality of race and class. Alice Walker calls for all people of different races, colors and genders coexist equally and peacefully to achieve human’s survival whole.1.1.1 Advocating the Braveness and Confidence of black womenAlice Walker gives the origin of the womanism in the first interpretation. Hence a womanist must have some characters w hich the word “womanish” implies, such as brave, courageous, responsible, self-confident, and grown-up and so on. As a womanist, Alice Walker shows these characters completely. When Alice Walker was young, she was very confident. She dared to cry out “I’m the prettiest” in front of her brothers (Walker 1983, 385). Alice Walker actively tookpart in the Civil Rights Movement and Black Women’s Movement, When she studied in college. What’s more, she was the pioneer who opens black women literature course in college.1.1.2 Praising the Sisterhood of Black WomenIn Alice Walker’s work s, we can find that the good relationship among women can be found everywhere. For instance, In The Color Purple, the mutual love and support among Celie, Sofia, Nettie, Shug, and Squeak, demonstrates the important influence of sisterhood on the liberation of black women. Alice Walker also emphasizes women’s emotion and wom en’s culture, one of which is making quilts. When Alice Walker wrote The Color Purple, she lived a very simple life in a mountain village, but she still did not forget to make the quilt. “I bought […] a quilt pattern my mama swore was easy,[…].I worked on my quilt […].My quilt began to grow” (Walker 1983, 358). To some extent, making quilts help her to finish the novel. In The Color Purple, Celie, Sophie and Shug also made a quilt named “sister’s choice”, which symbolizes their precious friendships.1.1.3 Pursuing the Harmony of Two SexeAlice Walker never forgets black men. The womanist should commit themselves to the entire things of the world, whether they are male or female, human beings or nature. Sometimes, Alice Walker is criticized by her negative depiction of men, especially black men, but she is not a separatist. Alice Walker only wants to show human beings a fact that black woman is suffering unfair treatments and great hurt. Therefore, great hurt hopes that black men can realize and rectify their problem. And they can become friends of black women. At the end of The Color Purple, the change of Albert and Harpo is a good illustration of Walker’s wish of achieving the harmony of two sexes.The American Heritage Dictionary defines womanist as: “Having or expressing a belief in or respect for women and their talents and abilities beyond the boundaries of race and class; exhibiting a feminism that is inclusive esp. of Black American culture” (Harcouri, 2000:312)1.2 SummaryWalker’s womanist theories provide s a new theoretical perspective to American black women’s movement, feminist criticism and even American literature. There is no doubt that as a prolific writer and daring practical thinker, Walker is the greatest African-American womanist in the 20th century.2. Four Female Characters of Womanism in The Color Purple2.1 CelieCelie is the main character, who has been oppressed by men her whole life. Celie is treated as“the mule of the world”(walker,1983) and suffer from both racial discrimination and sexual abuse．At the beginning of The Color Purple，Celie’s father says，“you better not never tell nobody but God．”(Walker,1982：1)Being deprived of the speech fight，Celie turns her inner feelings to letters where she can express herself freely．At the start of the novel, Celie views God as completely separate from her world. She writes to God because she has no other way to express her feelings. She tells Shug that she sees God as a white man. Celie has this belief because everyone she knows has said God is white and a male. The ugly men Albert and he step father hardly destroy her whole life. Luckily, Shug tells her God has no race or gender. This enables Celie to see God in a different way. She realizes that you cannot place qualities on God because God is a part of the unknown. Her faith is now based on her interpretation of God, not one she learned from someone else. With the help of Shug, Celie found out letters written to her from Africa by her sister Nettie, a missionary. These letters, full of educated, firsthand observation of African life, form a moving counterpoint to Celie's life. They reveal that in Africa, just as in America, women are persistently oppressed by men.2.2 ShugShug is a charming and rebellious character“in short skirt，smoking cigarettes，drinking gin，music for money and talking about slut，hussy，heifer and street cleaner”(walker，1982：49)．According to Alice Walker, womanists are who loves dance，loves music，loves the spirit，loves love and loves herself. It appears that Shug is a womanist who expresses her real feelings in the music and firmly believes the blues themes of love，sexuality and freedom．Shug is a very extroverted and transcendental character. She is Albert's ex-girlfriend, the one who always got away. When she comes back to visit Albert, she shakes up not only his feelings, but also those of Celie. She influences Albert to the point that he ends up treating Celie better than he ever had. By showing Celie the wonders of life and her body, she helps Celie develop herself emotionally and spiritually. Shug also helps Celie discoverthe long lost letters that her sister Nettie had written to her. In allowing Celie to view these letters, Shug is supplying her with even more hope and inspiration, letting Celie see that in the end, everything works out for the best.2.3 SophiaSofia is one of the strong personalities in the story. She marries Albert’s son Harpo. Harpo tries to dominate and beat her as he’s seen his father treat women, but she fights back by giving him a bruise on one occasion. One day she runs into the mayor and Miss Millie, the mayor’s wife. She finds Sofia’s children very “clean” and asks Sofia to be her maid. Of course Sofia refuses her because she would never dream of it. Being offended, Miss Millie slaps Sofia. Sofia hits back and for this she is beaten by a mob of whites and sent to jail for 8 years, which almost breaks he spirit.“All my life I had to fight．I had to fight my daddy．I had to fight my brothers．I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. Girl child are not safe in a family of men．But I never thought. I’d have to fight in my own house! But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me．”(Walker,1982：401)Sofia is a strong and feisty character, and cannot be controlled by men. She is an independent woman who takes pride for what she does. Sofia has the courage to challenge the patriarchy or the authority of men．2.4 NettieNettie is the ideal female character with knowledge, sense of responsibility and humanitarian spirit．Nettie uses the weapon of knowledge to fight agianst the darkness of different oppressions．Once Afro-Americans entered the United States，they lost their identity．They have no relatives，no friends，and no culture in the new land．Thus，womanists advocate Afracentrism which implies the review of Afro-American history and culture，especially slavery culture and regression to African culture and tradition，according to Alice Walker．Apparently，Nettle’s journey to Africa indicates her search of the lost black identity and culture．Nettie told Celie that at the sight of the land where their mothers and fathers cried and lived and died，something struck in her soul like a large bell．“They are so black，Celie，they shine⋯try to imagine a city full of these shining，blue black people wearing brilliant blue rubes with designs like fancy quilt patterns．”(Walker,1982：126)She is excited to find her root and is proud of the black and the black culture，just as all the womanists．2.5 SummaryTo sum up, despite that they have different personalities and different ways of emancipation，the four female characters share the spirit of womanism since they are“committed to survival and wholeness of entire people，male and female”and their sisterhood builds up strength and courage to fight for a better future for all black women and seek a harmonious coexistence between men andwomen．Even in modern times，the spirit of womanism reflected by the four females is of great importance and significance for women still in suffering, especially for those of color, for this spirit conveys hope，enhances strength and inspires action for a better life．3. Unique Features of Womanist Culture Reflected in The Color Purple3.1 Blues musicThe blues music is black women’s tradition which manifests their creativity. It arrived in America approximately around 1900. It is another integral part of the African American culture, especially of the rural south on the 1920s. Blues usually expresses the real concerns of the women who sing them and those who regularly listen to them. The blues is rooted in religious songs, field hollers, shouts, and work songs. Its subject matter bears similarities to songs found in Africa, indicating a close kinship to traditional African songs. In form, the blues music follows the call and response pattern of the African tradition, which is based on the experience of the collective. It is an “individual style presented in an interactive performance.” (quoted in Walker 1982:71) Blues theme contains every kind of life experience, including love and hate, sex and death, sufferings and happiness.The blues singer intends to create a mood, a sense of togetherness among the people. Basing on the collective’s shared knowledge, a blues singer builds a strong bond with her audience and gives voice to the spirit of the blues in order to bring relief to the suffers. Contrast to the abstract Christianity, the blues is concrete, like the African music. Africans do not divide the world into spiritual and secular domains. The spiritual domain of the blues is different from the conventional Christian preaching. The blues begins a new relationship between the individual and the world. It is a profound transformation of the individual. Meanwhile, the blues sustains a fundamental African world view. It can be considered as a follower of African culture, which opens to the spiritual world and provides opportunities for the social and psychological growth of the individual.In The Color Purple, Shug’s music helps Celie to negotiate a new relationship with the world, one based on an understanding of the holiness of all living things. She teaches Celie to think of God in a new way, as a force that all people carry inside them. Black women’s songs have been a particularly radical site of feminist and African American resistance and self-affirmation, a discoursethat articulates a cultural and political struggle over sexual relations. In the novel, Shug and Mary Agnes are blues singers. By performing the blues, they “bring together the transformative powers of feminist politics and the African American blues matrix.” (quoted in Winter 1997:53) They articulate a struggle that is directed against the objectification of female sexuality within a patriarchal order, and try to reclaim women’s bodies as the sexual and sensuous subjects of women’s songs.The blues’ theme of love, sexuality and freedom of expression is central to Shug. She crosses the boundaries which usually separate the sacred, by bringing the spiritual power of music to her secular performance. She is always sticking to her basic idea that God wants people to appreciate the good things of the world, including sexual pleasure, music and dancing, the wonders of nature, and “the color purple in a field”. She extends the realm of sacred to include all creations.Obviously, the blues music forms clear clues in The Color Purple. We can also take the whole article as a piece of blue music. It expresses how the black women struggle against the unfair society with their intelligence. On the one hand, the blues music gives the major character in the novel more excellent space to live happily. On the other hand, the blues music becomes a signal of cultural transmission.3.2 SewingSewing is a daily matter for housewives. The thread, shuttle and cloth are not only a kind of handcraft, and it‘s more like an art media for people to express thoughts and emotion. What‘more, sewing is a symbol of African American creativity. The critic Waters Dowson Emme once said. In The Color Purple , the black women defeats the racism and sexism by sewing pants and quilts.( Emme,1991:240-259) Alice Walker thinks highly of the African American‘s creativity in her prose In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose. In the eyes of Walker, the daily behavior such as garden, sewing, cooking, telling stories is very important for black women. These are the ways to express themselves and achieve themselves, at the same time, these are the ways to liberate themselves. That‘s why Walker links the growth of black women with sewing. And they succeed at last.3.2.1 Sewing Clothes for the FamilyThe critic M.Teresa Tavormina says: “sewing clothes can help people in the community establish the relationship, especially the family relationship.” （Tavormina，1986：220-300）Celie‘s sewing quilts plays an important role in establishing and keeping the relationship between her sister and her daughter. For Celie, it is a way to express love for her daughter Olivia. Owing to the incest, Olivia is sold to others after her birth. Celie is deprived of the rights of mother. Several years later, Celie comes across a woman with a girl .The intuition tells her that this girl is hers, but she isn‘t su re. So she remembers that she once embroidered Olivia in the seat of all her daidies. The sewing is the key to confirmthe mother-daughter relationship.Besides establishing with her lost-daughter, Celie builds the mental and emotional relationship in Africa through sewing. Celie has a deep feeling with her sister Nettie. After her marriage, Nettie walks away from home and moves into Celie‘s home. Mr. Johnson falls into love with Nettie. In order to avoid Mr. Johnson, Nettie leaves for Africa. Thus Celie loses the only comfort and dependence. What‘s worse, Mr. Johnson hides all the letters that Nettie writes to Celie. The family love is cut off by the bully men. Although she has no message from Nettie, she keeps in mind that her sister Nettie is alive. She sews pants for Nettie to express her love and miss for her sister. Celie‘s careful sewing is in fact a kind of love language. Through sewing pants for her sister, Celie can communicate with Celie in mind. Even she is told that her sister Nettie is dead, Celie insists on that Nettie is alive. She depends on Nettie mentally. Celie is proved to be right. Nettie comes back and brings back Celie‘s children. Celie‘s family love changes from crush to wholeness.3.2.2 Co-Sewing with the Mr. JohnsonM.Teresa Tavormina says ": Sewing with others is a friendly behavior. During the process, you can talk and can company with each other, and support each other.”( Tavormina，1986：220-300）Through sewing, Celie gradually forgives Mr. Johnson and they communicate with each other. Before this, their marriage is just like a trade. She is Mr. Johnson servant, cook, babysitter and so on. They have not passion on each other. With the help of Shug, she gives up the helpless love. Then she gains economic and mental independence which surprises Mr. Johnson. The first topic they talked is about the sewing. From then on, they begin to sew their relationship through sewing. What‘s more, Celie teach Mr. Johnson how to sew.The process can make them have a deeper understanding. And Celie can talk with Albert freely. What‘s more, Mr. Johnson begins to respect Celie . Therefore, Co-sewing becomes a new way to link the person who has hatred with each other. At last, Celie forgives Mr. Johnson from the heart. At the same time, Mr. Johnson gradually changes her bad habit. When Mr. Johnson wants to marry her again, she says peacefully to Mr. Johnson that they can be friends not the couple. The posture shows she has achieved a new perfection. And she becomes a whole woman: smart, considerate, inductive, which conform to the theme ―”wholeness”.3.2.3 Quilt-SewingQuilt-sewing plays an important role in The Color Purple which is one of black women's daily activities which comes from the African tradition centuries ago. A patchwork quilt is made of many pieces of worthless clothes in different sizes, textures and shapes. In a long time, the black people live a miserable life and can‘t afford to buy the quilt. They have no choices but to make it on their own. Then the black women make the quilts year after year, and it graduallybecomes a practice .Quilt-sewing is a creative activity which requires black women to fight all the unfair society and create all the beautiful things that they like. In an unfair and opposed society, the patchwork quilt gives the black women a new way to unite together and share their emotions as well as knowledge and support .what‘s more, the quilting-making provides a way for women to tell stories and an area to record domestic things and so on. Through the sewing, the tiny and ugly small pieces become the beautiful and useful quilt-sewing. It is similar to the black women who has powerless rights and can not change their fate. And it is the quilt-sewing that unit black women together and encourage them to fight for the patriarch society. To Walker, the quilt-sewing not only represents the traditional culture but also reflects her womanism.In the novel, the repeated image of quilt is in fact a symbol of sisterhood and unification. The quilt-sewing makes black people unite together and becomes braver. It helps Celie to unite other black women just like her and gives them much courage to resist the patriarchy society full of maltreatment and violence. It‘s the quilt-sewing that Celie and Sofia remove the misunderstanding. Out of jealousy and ignorant, Celie ferments Harpo to beat Sofia. When she knows that, Sofia feels betrayed and sad. After removing their misunderstanding, Sofia suggested they should make a quilt, ―Let‘s make quilt pieces out of these messed up curtains .she say. And I run git my pattern book. I sleep like a baby now. (Walker, 1982:181).During a long time, Celie has a poor sleep and feels a guilty for Sophia .when they reconcile each other, Celie relieved .Through sewing with Sophia, Celie finds a friend and feels no longer lonely. The quilt is in fact a symbol of trust and security. They bond each other to face all the difficulties. They start to form a sisterhood relationship .Later Celie names the sewing with her sister‘s choice which cures her heart. Pants-making i s a symbol of women‘s awaking consciousness.3.3 Pants- MakingIt‘s generally believed that the pants are the symbol of the patriarchal society .Everyone takes it granted that only men can wear pants. However, Alice Walker thinks that women have the rights to wear pants like men and should not be laughed at. In America, the black women should wear skirts. In The Color Purple, the character Celie gains economic independence by making pants. And Sofia often wears her husband‘s pants .At last Mr. Johnson helps Celie to design pants. All these indicate that women are blended into the men‘s world and begin to have the conscious of them. The thing that they wear pants is a challenge to the patriarchal society. When Celie knows what her husband does to her, she feels very angry and wants to kill him. It is Shug who stops her. She tells Celie that she used to wear Mr. Johnson‘s pants .This shocked Celie a lot. Shug advised Celie to make pants to perfect her . ―A needle and n ot a razor in my hand, I think. (Walker, 1982: 137). Celie begins to make her living by making pants. Through Nettie‘s letter, Celie knows that the fact of her family .And she。