Afro-American women are doubly discriminated from their own community male as well as the white male and white women. They are considered to be the least living being in the world and the basic rights are regretted for them. Due to their marginalized nature, they are treated as slaves and labourers with low wages. They are not even allowed to merge with the white women society in US even though dwelling in the same land. Black women suffer a lot in the hands of both the men community and there is no one to uplift their hands. They undergo class, race, social and sexist oppression and can’t raise their voice against the odds of the society. Walker has portrayed the trials and tribulations undergone by her community in a lively manner in her …show more content…
Her writings too have reflected the marginalized discrimination which her community is facing. Her characters reveal the typical Afro-American society. Walker has written from her awareness of the pervasiveness of the violent racist system of the South and its impact on the black “Yet writing is more than an act of bringing ourselves into existence; it also determines the way we are shaped. Women’s self-creation is influenced, impeded, constrained by language that has embedded in it the codes of patriarchal culture. For the black woman writer, the search for voice-the rescue of her subjectivity from the sometimes subtle, yet always pervasive, dictates of the dominant white male culture- is even more problematic” ( Tucker, Lindsey. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple: Emergent Woman, Emergent Text, Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 22, No. 1, Black Women Writers Issue (Spring, 1988), p- 81-95, Published by St. Louis University, p- 81, l- 4-11). Walker’s award winning novel The Color Purple (1982) portrays the life of the Afro-Americans and their discrimination, suppression, oppression and the sexual harassment. “The Color Purple represents a more explicit turning toward the question of the making of a text by a black woman. With this work, Walker has created a truly modernist text; that is, a text that …show more content…
The story of Celie and Nettie narrates their struggle to escape the countless acts of violence in their lives. Celie, a young black woman struggle not only against racist white culture but patriarchal black culture as well. “You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy” (Walker, p- 3, l-1). Presumably spoken by Celie’s stepfather after he rapes her, this discursive prohibition against discourse intrudes in the place of Celie’s beginning self-representation through writing. “Another key to Walker’s technique can be found in an interview with Mary Helen Washington in which Walker describes three types of black woman: first, the suspended woman, characterized mostly by immobility; second, the assimilated woman, a woman ‘still thwarted’, ready to move, but without real space to move into; and third, the emergent woman, a woman ‘making the first tentative steps into an uncharted region” (Tucker, Lindsey. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple: Emergent Woman, Emergent Text, Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 22, No. 1, Black Women Writers Issue (Spring, 1988), p- 81-95, Published by St. Louis University, p- 83, l- 12-18). The novel begins with Celie writing a letter to God, what had happened to her. Celie’s letters are not written in Standard English but Black folk language.
I had the opportunity to read “The Color Purple” by Alice walker. Walker was able to illustrate neglect, abuse and oppression of a young black woman in the early 20th century. At the end, she shows how a woman must fight back to regain the self esteem and confidence lost way back in the early adolescent years. The Color Purple is a beautiful story about strength, growth, self-esteem, endurance, fight, all nurtured by love.
The Author of this book (On our own terms: race, class, and gender in the lives of African American Women) Leith Mullings seeks to explore the modern and historical lives of African American women on the issues of race, class and gender. Mullings does this in a very analytical way using a collection of essays written and collected over a twenty five year period. The author’s systematic format best explains her point of view. The book explores issues such as family, work and health comparing and contrasting between white and black women as well as between men and women of both races.
African-American women have often been an overlooked group with the larger context of American Society. Historically, oppression has been meted out to the African-American woman in two ways. Historically, everything afforded to African-American, from educational and employment opportunities to health care have been sub-par. As women they have been relegated even further in a patriarchal society that has always, invariably, held men in higher regard.
Anna Julia Cooper’s, Womanhood a Vital Element in the Regeneration and Progress, an excerpt from A Voice from the South, discusses the state of race and gender in America with an emphasis on African American women of the south. She contributes a number of things to the destitute state African American woman became accustom to and believe education and elevation of the black woman would change not only the state of the African American community but the nation as well. Cooper’s analysis is based around three concepts, the merging of the Barbaric with Christianity, the Feudal system, and the regeneration of the black woman.
There are numerous works of literature that recount a story- a story from which inspiration flourishes, providing a source of liberating motivation to its audience, or a story that simply aspires to touch the hearts and souls of all of those who read it. One of the most prevalent themes in historical types of literature is racism. In America specifically, African Americans endured racism heavily, especially in the South, and did not gain equal rights until the 1960s. In her renowned book The Color Purple, Alice Walker narrates the journey of an African American woman, Celie Johnson (Harris), who experiences racism, sexism, and enduring hardships throughout the course of her life; nonetheless, through the help of friends and family, she is able to overcome her obstacles and grow into a stronger, more self-assured individual. While there are numerous themes transpiring throughout the course of the novel, the symbolism is one of the strongest prospects for instigating the plot.
In the book “The Color Purple” the writer Alice Walker illustrates a story of bravery, struggle and oppression. The main character in the book, Celie, is shown as a submissive woman with no intention of changing. Celie turns into a strong independent woman at the end of the novel, but first she faces some very large obstacles. Walker, from the beginning, illustrates what the story will contain: “You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mommy.”
In 1982 Alice Walker titled her Pulitzer Prize Winning novel, The Color Purple, which is symbolically meant to reflect radiance and majesty (Columbia). It is a story, entirely conveyed through letters, of one young black girl’s struggle to escape the brutal and degrading treatment by men, which had become a constant part of her life. Instead of focusing on race throughout the novel Walker accords “greater importance to power, the power to be, to concretize one’s self, as to mold others” (Dieke 102). This completely unbalanced power ultimately leaves Celie feeling alone and controlled, which affects her relationships with men and influences her relationship with women, mainly Shug Avery. The horrifying effects of rape and what Celie thought was incest so greatly scarred her for the rest of her life that she lost the ability to love, became confused about her sexuality, and subconsciously denied her right to an identity.
Alice Walker’s writings were greatly influenced by the political and societal happenings around her during the 1960s and 1970s. She not only wrote about events that were taking place, she participated in them as well. Her devoted time and energy into society is very evident in her works. The Color Purple, one of Walker’s most prized novels, sends out a social message that concerns women’s struggle for freedom in a society where they are viewed as inferior to men. The events that happened during and previous to her writing of The Color Purple had a tremendous impact on the standpoint of the novel.
In today’s advanced societies, many laws require men and women to be treated equally. However, in many aspects of life they are still in a subordinated position. Women often do not have equal wages as the men in the same areas; they are still referred to as the “more vulnerable” sex and are highly influenced by men. Choosing my Extended Essay topic I wanted to investigate novels that depict stories in which we can see how exposed women are to the will of men surrounding them. I believe that as being woman I can learn from the way these characters overcome their limitations and become independent, fully liberated from their barriers. When I first saw the movie “Precious” (based on Sapphire’s “Push”) I was shocked at how unprotected the heroine, Precious, is towards society. She is an African-American teenage girl who struggles with accepting herself and her past, but the cruel “unwritten laws” of her time constantly prevent her rise until she becomes the part of a community that will empower her to triumph over her barriers. “The Color Purple” is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker which tells the story of a black woman’s, Celie’s, striving for emancipation. (Whitted, 2004) These novels share a similar focus, the self-actualization of a multi-disadvantaged character who with the help of her surrounding will be able to triumph over her original status. In both “The Color Purple” and “Push”, the main characters are exposed to the desire of the men surrounding them, and are doubly vulnerable in society because not only are they women but they also belong to the African-American race, which embodies another barrier for them to emancipate in a world where the white race is still superior to, and more desired as theirs.
Alice Walker pours events and conflicts from her life into her works, using her rural roots as settings and Ebonics she brings her stories to life. Everyday Use and The Color Purple reflected the negative views Alice walker took upon herself because of her deformity. While also showing how things were in the Jim Crow era; where African-Americans were not afforded the same opportunities of whites. These two works explore events from her entire family, not just events she faced solely on her own. While also having the same rural setting as Walker’s Georgia upbringing. In this paper, I will go into detail of Alice’s two works Everyday Use and The Color Purple and what events are reflected in these works.
Throughout The Color Purple, Alice Walker conveys the importance and the power of female friendship in all forms. It shapes and forms the strong bond of female companionship as means of refuge from oppression, male dominance and a world full of violence perpetrated against woman which the female protagonists wish to break free from. Walker constantly reminds the reader of the gruelling pursuit of identity that all are in search for, both in Africa and America; for females to gain equal recognition as individuals who deserve fair and just treatment in a patriarchal society where as Albert states “Men suppose to wear the pants" in soceity. In conclusion, not only leading Celies personal growth as independent woman but also to the extraordinary establishment of a female solidarity network within the novel. It is this network of female friends that wages a potent challenge to dominate over the patriarchal structure in the text.
The progression of civil rights for black women that existed throughout the twentieth century mirrors the development Celie makes from a verbally debilitated girl to an adamant young woman. The expression of racism and sexism that evidenced itself during the postmodern era presented Walker with an opportunity to compose a novel that reveals her strong animosity toward discrimination. Without these outlets, Walker would not have had the ability to create a novel with such in-depth insights into the lifestyle of an immensely oppressed woman. The novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the story of a poor, young black girl, growing up in rural Georgia in the early twentieth century.
African-American woman have had to deal with being black and female, a double-edged sword. In her novel, The Color Purple, author Alice Walker introduces southern black female characters that not only faced slavery, but sexism, racism and oppression. Through a series of letters, mostly addressed to god, by the main character Celie, we travel through a span of thirty to forty years in the early nineteenth century. Throughout the novel, Walker not only describes the injustices against African-Americans, but forces us to become a member of an oppressed race as we struggle to hear the rhythm and sway of Celie's mind. The Color Purple is an extraordinary account of a black women's plight as she strives towards acceptance, freedom and independence.
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple takes place in Georgia from 1910 to 1940. During this time racism was easily visible and apparent in society. Black people were seen as lesser beings in contrast to their white counterparts. However, not only are all of the colored characters within The Color Purple forced, by means of oppression, into their social positions because they are not white, but also because some of them are women, lesbian, and lower class. As Crenshaw explains, “[b]ecause of their intersectional identity as both women and of color within discourses that are shaped to respond to one or the other, women of color are marginalized within both” (Crenshaw 5). Celie, the main character in the novel, is given enormous adult responsibility from a young age. After the death of her mother, she is pulled out of school in order to...
One of the most popular works by Walker was, The Color Purple. In this Alice Walker story, the reader meets a girl named Celie. In this novel, Walker takes the reader on a journey through much of Celie’s life. While taking the reader through this tale, Walker draws attention to a number of social aspects during this time period. Through Cilie’s life, Walker brings to light the abuse and mistreatment of African American women from 1910 through the 1940’s. “Women were also regarded as less important than men-both Black and white Black women doubly disadvantage. Black women of the era were often treated as slaves or as property” (Tavormina page 2...