Analysis Of In Love And Trouble By Alice Walker

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“All segments of the literary world—whether establishment, progressive, Black, female, or lesbian—do not know, or at least act as if they do not know, that Black women writers and Black lesbian writers exist.” During the 1970’s to 1980’s, African American studies of Black’s steep legacy was a dying trade. Alice walker stepped up in this time period as an influential writer of the recovery movement for African American studies. Three well respected works from Alice Walker are: The Color Purple, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, and Meridian. We will focus on Walker’s narrative, The Color Purple which details the story of a young eight year old girl named Celie who was sexually abused by her stepfather. Celie seeks help through her “letters to God”, which resulted from her stepfather’s deceit in barring Celie from outside help. Her other novel, In Love & Trouble, is a collection of short stories with similar trends and themes with her life. After researching Alice Walker, it is apparent that her struggle with self-identity coupled with Civil Equality Movement in the 1970’s has directed her into writing a novel about racial struggles in an unjust society.

Born in Eatonton, Georgia in 1944, Alice Walker was the youngest out of the eight children. Walker’s parents were sharecroppers in rural Georgia which allows her to later in life describe a complete and realistic setting in her novels and short stories. At the age of eight, Walker was accidently shot in the right eye with a BB gun while playing a game of “Cowboys and Indians” with her brother. Her right eye was rendered blind by the incident and was emotionally scarring as well. The injury to her eye resulted in a decline in self confidence at a young age. The scar tissue ...

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...ll’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement and how through the violence and many protests, not everyone is on your side about what you believe in.
Reflecting her beliefs, Walker states that “Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.” She suggests that womanism as a separate component from feminism and focuses more on the unique struggle of not only just black women but women of all colors. Womens are all the same, no matter what color they are and therefore this should also apply to men. In a deeper understanding, implications of black nationalism can be seen within womanist work and from this reason connections can be made to the female equality and feminism. After investigating Alice Walker, she conveys the story of racial inequality and the view of womanist due to her struggle with her own physical portrayal and the Civil Rights Movement in 1970’s.

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