American Women Liberation Movement and Women Literature——An Analysis of The Color Purple

1、 美国女权运动与女性文学american women liberation movement and women literaturecontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction to wlm and the womens literature.2ii. an introduction to alice walker.2iii. an introduction to the color purple.4iv. celies independence from the oppression.51. the hell like life of celie

2、.52. sexual oppression upon celie.5v. the self-exploration of independence.71. the awakening of celies self-awakening.72. celies familial independence.83. celies social independence.9vi. conclusion.9references.10american women liberation movement and women literaturean analysis of the color purpleab

3、stract：the literature of a nation is closely linked with its social and cultural changes, which is especially true in terms of american womens literature. the womens literature is greatly affected by the womens liberation movement(wml). this paper will present the womens literature in the wml by pre

4、senting some women writers works and especially by the novel the color purple written by alice walker . the novle describes the hard process of celie, the heroine s independence and liberation from the male-dominant society. this thesis analyzes the process of the heroines striving for familial and

5、social independence, and the womanisms awakening of celie. the thesis also intends to examine how alice walker, a great feminist/womanist embodies her womanism ideas through the characterization of her fictional woman in the color purple. in the novel alice walker not only criticizes the racial oppr

6、ession, but more importantly, she focuses on the sexual oppression inside the black community and further depicts black womens struggle for freedom, equality and independence in the male-dominated patriarchal society .key words: wlm; womens literature ; the color purple; alice walker ; womanism摘 要：社

7、会和文化的变革往往与文学紧密相连，美国女性文学的发展正体现了这一观点。美国女性文学的发展与美国女权运动息息相关。本文旨在通过介绍美国女权文学作品杰作艾利斯沃克的紫色讨论美国女权运动和女性文学之间的关系。该小说描述了女主人公西丽试图从男权社会中独立和解放的艰难过程。本文探讨了艾利斯.沃克如何把自己的妇女主义思想具体贯穿到小说紫色中女性人物的性格刻画中。艾利斯.沃克并不仅仅批评种族歧视，作者更关注黑人女性受到的性别歧视，以及黑人女性对于自由,平等和独立的追求。关键词：女权运动；女性文学；紫色；艾利斯沃克i. introduction to the wlm and women literature

8、in a sense, social changes and literature are interactive.that is to say, the literature of a nation is closely linked with its social and cultural changes,which is especially true in terms of american womens literature.the womens literature is greatly affected by the womens liberation movement(wml)

9、. the womens liberation movement is a social movement that seeks equal rights for women, giving them equal status with men and freedom to decide their own careers and life patterns. contemporary wlm rose from the civil movement in the 1960s. in the white men dominating society, women had no rights,

10、the subordinate position was more or less the same as the black people. they were, in another sense, the second citizens. in this period, the rapid development of the wlm greatly promoted the womens literature process. many outstanding feminist works appear in the period, and womens literature began

11、 to flourish and got attention from the literature circle. feminism became a main topic in the womens literature works. take some for example, mary wollstonecrafts a vindication of the rights of woman published in england in 1792; in 1963, the feminine mystique, written by betty freidan, caused a gr

12、eat sensation. the author gives an investigation of the american womens traditional ideas. freidan spent 5 years investigating why women are satisfied with being wives, mothers, and housewives. she believes that these are totally left by the history. this book is a declaration, and it is regarded as

13、 a classical work of the wlm. freidan said that women want more than husbands, children and families. among the new writers, afro-american women writers play a vital role the wlm process, and their works became the characteristics of literature in that period of time. this paper will introduce one o

14、f the most outstanding afro-american women writers, alice walker and her most important work the color purple. this novel calls for love among all men and women based on equality, understanding and respect.ii. an introduction to alice walker alice walker was born on february 9, 1944, in eatonton, ge

15、orgia, the eighth and last child of willie lee and minnie lou grant walker, who were sharecroppers. when alice walker was eight years old, she lost sight of one eye when one of her older brothers shot her with a bb gun by accident. in high school, alice walker was valedictorian of her class. that ac

16、hievement and a scholarship made it possible for her to go to spelman, a college for black women in atlanta, georgia. after spending two years at spelman, she transferred to sarah lawrence college in new york, and during her junior year she traveled to africa as an exchange student. she received her

17、 bachelor of arts degree from sarah lawrence college in 1965. after finishing college, walker lived for a short time in new york, then from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s, she lived in tougaloo, mississippi, during which time she had a daughter, rebecca, in 1969. alice walker was active in the civil

18、 rights movement of the 1960s, and in the 1990s she is still an involved activist. she has spoken for the womens movement, the anti-apartheid movement, for the anti-nuclear movement, and against female genital mutilation. alice walker started her own publishing company, wild trees press, in 1984. sh

19、e currently lives in northern california with her dog, marley. in 1967, she married mel laventhal, a jewish civil rights a in new york. in the ten years of walkers marriage life, she was the most prolific in her creative career. she wrote her first novel, the third life of george copeland (1970), he

20、r second poetry collection, revolutionary petunias and other poems (1973), her first collection of short stories and in love and trouble, stories of black women (1973) .she received the pulitzer prize in 1983 for the color purple. among her numerous awards and honors are the lillian smith award from

21、 the national endowment for the arts, the rosenthal award from the national institute of arts & letters, a nomination for the national book award, a radcliffe institute fellowship, a merrill fellowship, a guggenheim fellowship, and the front page award for best magazine criticism from the newswomans

22、 club of new york. she also has received the townsend prize and a lyndhurst prize. alice walker writes powerful, expressive fiction depicting the black womens struggle towards self-realization in an inimical environment. for walker, the black american women is a universal symbol representing hope an

23、d resurrection, through her female characters, she advocates the importance of bonds between women who contend with negative social mechanism. “i am preoccupied with the spiritual survival, the survival of my whole people.” she explains her thematic concerns to an interviewer “but beyond that, i am

24、committed to exploring the oppressions, the insanities, the loyalties and the triumphs of black women. for me, black women are the most fascinating creations in the world. next to them, i place the old people male and female who persist in their beauty in spite of everything.”in 1983, in search of o

25、ur mothers gardens, a womanist prose, walker defines a womanist as a feminist of color or a black feminist, who seeks not only liberation from male dominance but also the collective cultural recovery of their ethnic identities. alice walker explains that a womanist appreciates and prefers womens cul

26、ture, womens emotional flexibilities, and womens strength. a womanist is committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. a womanist is outrageous, courageous, willful and responsible.most of walkers works are known for their portrayals of the afro-american womens life. she dep

27、icts vividly the sexism, racism and poverty that make the life often a struggle, but she also portrays them as part of the life, the strength of family, community, self-worth and spirituality and creates strong women characters with heroic achievement as the new images of afro-american women.iii. an

28、 introduction to the color purple the setting of the novel is southern american village roughly between 1916 and 1942a period during which the status of black remained unaltered in the deep south. the novel is presented in an epistolary style. from the first letter celie writes to god, we can guess

29、what is happening to the little girl, celie. giving birth to so many children, her mother is falling her health and cant satisfy her husbands sexual appetite. when her mother is ill, her father rapes her and warns her not to tell nobody but god, especially the girls mother, because, according to him

30、 “itd kill your mammy.”(walker:3) celie keeps silent, but this does not stop bad things happening on her. her mother dies. celies two children are taken away, leaving her alone wondering whether they have been sold or even killed by his father. she is also worrying about her sister nettie, “i see hi

31、m looking at my little sister. she scared, but i say i will care of you with god help.”(walker:5) celie has no choice but to choose to write to god to express her confusion, shame and suffering. then a few years later, “he act like he can not stand me no more, say i am evil an always up to do good.”

32、 (walker:5) when the widower, albert comes to propose marriage with nettie, celies father does not agree.celie then is passed like a slave, like a piece of property from one cruel black male into the hands of another. in fact, the life with albert is the continuity of her nightmare. on the wedding d

33、ay, harpo, the oldest son of albert welcomes celie with a rock laying her head open and the blood runs all down between her breasts. his daddy tells him not to do that, but that is all, he rapes celie with her head blooding. actually, albert marries celie not out of love. despite the fact that celie

34、 is an ideal housekeeper, cook, labor, good stepmother and wife, she still wins no care and love from mr_ and his children. celie is continually physically and sexually abused by albert. “staying alive” seems the best thing that celie can hope for. she keeps silent, like a tree, as mr_beats her. the

35、n sofia, harpos wife comes. she is a woman utterly different from celie and has great effect on celie. celie is very submissive and stoical because she puts up with mr_and doesnt say anything back, whereas sofia has a voice and uses it because she wants to be in a fair relationship with harpo and do

36、esnt want him to control her.sofia tells celie, “all my life i had to fight. i had to fight my cousins and my uncles. a girl child aint safe in a family of men, but i never thought id have to fight in my own house. i love harpo, god knows i do. but ill kill him dead before i left him beat me.”(walke

37、r:38)iv. celies independence from oppression 1. the hell-like life of celiein her teens, celies stepfather raped her. as a result her mother becomes mad. since her mother becomes too ill from constant childbearing. the fourteen-year-old celie has been raped by the stepfather for years and borne him

38、two children and she has no idea whether they have been killed or sold. under the threat of her stepfather, celie bears all her hurts, fears in complete silence, with cold eyes from people, including her mother who curses her fiercely on her deathbed. moreover her stepfather makes her do all the hou

39、sehold chores, deprives her of the property of the family, forces her to drop out of school and finally makes her lose child-bearing capability.at twelve when she is thought to be too cold, celie is exhibited by the stepfather as a private property and then handed over like a beast to black male-alb

40、ert, a widower with four children, who is in great need of a tool to take care of his house. in their slave-like deal the stepfather recommends to albert only celies usefulness, such as how convenient a sexual tool she can be, how hard she can work, how kind she is to children and how little she wil

41、l spend, as the stepfather says, “you can do everything just like you want to and she aint gonna make you feed it or clothe.” (walker:10)celie is spiritually abused as well. she is forbidden to tell out the truth, which results in the distortion of her outspoken and lively nature. both the stepfathe

42、r and her husband greatly hurt celies spirit. the step-father keeps on convincing celie that she is evil an always up to no good. mr_ hates to see her laugh and satirizes her to be laughing like a fool, he refuses to pay for her red clothes for it is too happy looking.2. sexual oppression upon celie

43、alice walker says in an interview, “ black women are called in the folklore that so aptly identifies ones status in society the mule of the world, because we have been handed the burdens that everyone else refuse to carry.”in the color purple, the only choice for a young girl like nettie to make is

44、“either to marry somebody like mr_ or wind up in some white ladys kitchen”. in a patriarchy family, women are the main labor force both in the house and in the fields. in the house, they are used as maid. they have to cook foods, wash clothes, clean houses, feed cattle, and do all the things around

45、the house. in the fields, they have to work all day long. in the novel, when mr_s sister kate asks harpo to help celie to bring in water, he answers, “women work. i am a man.” when celie sweats, chopping and plowing in the field, her skin turning into “roasted coffee bean color”, her husband is “sit

46、ting on the porch, looking out at nothing. “sometimes he looks at the trees our front the house. look at the butterfly if it light on the rail.drink a little water in the day, a little wine in the evening. but mostly never move.”(walker:23) although the black women are the main labor forces in the b

47、lack families, they enjoy no rights or privilege they deserve. on the contrary, they are constantly beaten by their men. mr_ instructs his son, “wives are like children, you have to let them know who get the upper hand. nothing can do better than a good sound beating.” (walker:5) except for the heav

48、y burden and physical hurts, black women are sexually abused. afro-american womens lives are described by alice walker like “they stumbled blindly through their lives, creatures so abused and mutilated in body, so dimmed and confused by pain that they consider themselves unworthy even of hope.” (wal

49、ker:65) in black mens eyes, black women are only the tools for them to give vent to their sexual desires. they just enjoy their own happiness and the only thing left for women is the pain and indifference. moreover, this attitude towards marriage is descended from generation to generation, from fath

50、er to son.celies mother suffers the most during her pas sexual abuse. he tries to demand sex of her mother even when she just finished giving birth to a child, paying no attention to her bad health condition.the cruel treatment leads to her early death. afterwards, he remarries a girl who is only ce

51、lies age. because he demands sex of the girl so often that she appears dazed wooden and walks around like “she doesnt know what hit her.”(walker:17)black women are dehumanized not only physically but also spiritually .in the second sex simons de besuvoir says;“ one is not born but rather becomes a w

52、oman .no biological, psychological or economic fate determines the figure that he human female presents in the society ; it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature, intermediate between male and female ;which is described as feminine.”(simons de besuvoir: 21)simons de besuvoir argues

53、that women have been forced by social tradition to make their choices from a secondary or inferior position in relation to men. this is the reason why women are called the “second sex”.in the color purple, in order to control women under their dominance of power, black men constantly impose an infer

54、ior sex concept upon black women. celie has always been a good girl. she is so good-natured even his stepfather has to admit that “she is good with children.” she selflessly helps to take care of shug when shug is seriously ill, although she is her husbands mistress; she is also a smart and diligent

55、 student in school praised by her teacher miss beasley. but her stepfather always abuses her. he introduces celie to mr_ “she aint fresh, she ains smart, she spoiled, she ugly, she tells lies” etc. in his eyes, celie is evil and always up to no good.celie is also a good woman. she follows one of the

56、 few professions open to black women, a blue singer. she is independent economically by hard working, she safeguards her selfhood, she asserts her own values, and she displayed the wisdom that she learns from her working life. but even such an excellent woman is abused by black men as a “whore”.more

57、over, black women in the color purple are deprived of the rights for education, being deprived of the human dignity of both professional and intellectual equality with men. in africa, men even some women dont think girls need to be educated. when nettie asks her mother why she thinks so, she said, “

58、a girl is nothing to herself, only to her husband can she become something.” in addition, women are deprived of the rights to choose the ways of their lives from their own free will. in the novel, it is celies stepfather who chooses husband for celie. he is her owner. celie is passed like a piece of property from one cruel and domineering man into t