浅析《紫色》中的女性主义(英文论文)

浅析《紫色》中的女性主义摘要：二十世纪美国黑人作家对美国文学的发展做出了不可磨灭的贡献，他们的作品极大地丰富了美国文学，同时也对世界文学的创作产生了巨大的影响。

进入七十年代以后，黑人女作家领导文学潮流，掀起了第三次美国黑人文学高潮。

艾丽丝•沃克是当代美国最杰出和最具影响力的黑人女性作家之一。

她对黑人命运问题的研究探讨，引起文坛瞩目，被认为是美国黑人作家中的后起之秀，有“女才子”之誉。

小说《紫色》是她文学创作的最高成就。

本文主旨意在分析《紫色》中的女性主义。

第一章简要地介绍了爱丽丝•沃克的个人经历及作品《紫色》。

第二章论文的理论基础—女性主义的含义和它的发展阶段。

第三章是本文的主体，以小说的主旨及其写作技巧—书信体形式两方面为切入点来分析《紫色》中所体现的女性主义。

最后本文得出女性如果要独立、自尊、自强，需通过自己不懈的努力，战胜重重困难，最终才能取得与男性平等的社会地位与权力的结论。

这也正是爱丽丝·沃克想要表达的女性主义的真正内涵。

关键词：《紫色》美国黑人女性女权主义双重压迫寻求独立An Analysis of Feminism in The Color PurpleLi YixuanAbstract: Afro—American writers have made great contribution to American literature in the 20th century. Their works have enormously enriched American literature and exerted great influence on literary creation in the world. Black women writers have set off a new upsurge of literature since the 1970s. This is called the third Renaissance of Afro—American literature. Alice Walker is one of the most remarkable and influential Afro—Americanwriters in contemporary American literary world. Her famous novel The Color Purple is the summit of her literary achievements. The thesis is intended to explore the Feminism in the novel The Color Purple. Chapter one gives a brief introduction to Alice Walker’s personal experience and her novel The Color Purple. Chapter two shows the theoretical foundation of the thesis—Feminism, the definition and the development of it. Chapter three, is the main body of the thesis, deals with the analysis of Feminism in this novel and its writing technique—epistolary style，use these two aspects as a starting point to analysis the feminist which embodied in this novel. The end of this paper which concluded if women want to gain independence, self—esteem and self—reliance, the only thing they can do is to try every effort and to overcome the numerous difficulties to gain these things. And finally they can get the social status and social rights which is equal to men. This is exactly what Alice Walker wants to express the true meaning of the Feminism.Keywords:The Color Purple; Afro—American women; Feminism; double oppression;independenceContents承诺保证书 (I)摘要 (II)Abstract (III)Introduction (1)I. A Brief Introduction of Alice Walker and Her Novel —The Color Purple (2)1.1 A Brief Introduction of Alice Walker (2)1.2 Alice Walker’s Literary Work—The Color Purple (3)II. Theoretical Foundation (5)2.1The Definition of Feminism (5)2.2The Development of Feminism (5)III. An Analysis of Feminism in the Novel—The Color Purple (8)3.1 The Theme of the Novel (8)3.1.1 Sex ual Oppression upon Black Women (8)3.1.2 Fighting for Independence (11)3.2 The Writing Technique and Rhetoric Method of the Novel (14)3.2.1 Epistolary Style (14)3.2.2 Metaphor (15)Conclusion (17)References (18)IntroductionThe Afro-American literature is one of the important parts of the American literature and it undergoes a very long development and different periods of development. In the earlier stage of the 20th century, Afro-American literature expresses the praise for black nationalities and the longings for equality and freedom. "Fictions of protest" by middle stage writers focus on the exposure of racism and the poverty of Afro-Americans and reveal the writers’anxiety about the American dream. In the later stage, female writers represented by Walker have been turned over a new leaf. This thesis is a brief analysis of Alice Walker and her famous work The Color Purple. In this novel Walker mainly discussed the contradiction between men and women. Disclose the oppression inside the black community. Though telling the story of Celie—an ordinary black woman in the southern village in American—from insensitive to bear the oppression from the black males to realize the reality and fright for herself. The author deeply disclose the life which Afro—American women were suffered and exquisite depicted the Celie’s sufferings. Use Walker’s words:This novel describes the emotion of social oppression and the spirit’s substances are all told by a black woman who suffered a frustrated life. While she—Celie finally found a way out. She finally found a job, got her friendship, her own love and dignity.” The great place of this novel is that it not only disclose the misery of Afro—American women, but also discussed how to help those women to get rid of the “the problem of recover oneself” traditionally.I. A Brief Introduction of Alice Walker and Her Novel —The Color Purple1.1 A Brief Introduction of Alice WalkerAlice Walker is one of the most important contemporary Afro—American women writers, born in 1944. She is a novelist, a short fiction writer, a poet, a critic all at once. She is the eighth child of a sharecropper family in Eatonton, Georgia, where the tenant farmer system kept most black families perpetually in debt. She always lived a very poor life and at that time education was not taken very seriously. But Walker’s mother insisted that her children should go to school. After her trying Walker started school at four years old and proved to be an excellent child.In 1961 Walker was awarded a scholarship to Spelman College, a small black women school in Atlanta. In the following years she was selected to attend the Youth World Peace Festival in Finland. It was also when she first heard about Dr. Marin Luther King in her freshman year at Spelman.In 1964, she transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxvile, New York where she majored in literature and has a deep study in Latin poetry and history. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence with a bachelor’s degree, Walker returned to the South and was actively to participate in the Civil Rights Movement. Her work in Georgia put her closely linked to the poorest and lowest educated Afro—Americans and allowed her to have an attention to the impact of poverty on the relationships between black men and women.In 1970, she wrote her first novel, The Third Life of George Copeland; her second collection of poems, Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems (1973); her first short stories collection,In Love and Trouble: Stories of Black Women (1973). Walker became a leader of spokesperson for the black feminism.By 1979, her next novel began forming in her mind. She thought she must to write the novel in which the characters are trying to contact her, to speak through her. So she sold her house and moved to California, settling in the countryside of San Francisco, a place that “looked a lot like the town in Georgia most of the characters were from”. And there the things which in her mind came freely and the novel The Color Purple flowed.Alice Walker was a civil rights advocator and actively to take part in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. She was a spokeswoman for the women’s movement. The honors and awards which she gained include Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Scholar in 1966, Merrill Writing Fellow in 1966—1967, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Rosenthal Award in 1974 for In Love and Trouble, the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1982 for The Color Purple, and so on. She is claimed to be one of the most famous black women writers in the American literary history.1.2 Alice Walker’s Literary Work—The Color PurpleThe background of the novel is in a southern American village roughly between 1916 and 1942, a period during the status of blacks remained unaltered in the Deep South. The protagonist Celie suffered a miserable life, at first she keeps silent about what happened on her, but this doesn’t stop bad things happening on her. H er mother dies, her two children are taken away, leaving her alone wondering whether they have been sold or even killed. Celie is victimized physically and mentally by her father. Utterly alone and out of desperation, she has no choice but to write to God to express her sufferings and feelings.Celie lives like a slave. In fact, the life with Albert, her husband, is the continuous of her nightmare. In the wedding day, Harpo, the oldest son of Albert welcomes Celiewith a rock laying her head open and the blood runs. He tortured her. His dad tells him not to do that. And he rapes Celie with her head blooding. Actually, Albert marries Celie not for love, just because he is in need of a servant to take good care of his three children and Celie just fit this.To Celie, the most desperate thing is that she never gets love and care from her mother, instead, her mother who doesn’t know the truth always screams and torture her. After she dies, Nettie, the most intimate woman in Celie’s life, is separated from Celie by Mr. Albert. Since then, Celie gets no message from her and thought she has died. Reading through the old letters, Celie knows Mr. Albert’s evil deeds with Nettie and her family’s truth. S he knows that her father, who rapes her, isn’t her natural father; her natural father has been dead because he is succeeding in the financial business in the white business world. Celie is angered by all that God has allowed to happen to her. She writes her last letter to God retelling her sufferings and accusing God of being silence. She is totally desperate to what has happened on her.As Celie curses on Mr. Albert for what he has done to her, she finds something which she has never been aware of. She has learned that the quality of life must not depend on the outside world; to be survived; to find one’s value; is what color purple means for. Celie can surround herself in purple, for she is in control of Kingdom.II. Theoretical Foundation2.1 The Definition of FeminismFeminism refers to a major woman’s experiences as the source and motivation of social theory and political movement. Critique of social relations, many supporters of feminism also focus on the analysis of gender inequality and promote women's rights, interests and issues. It also refers to a social theory and political movement with the female experience for its source in the social relations outside criticism, many women socialist supporters also focuses on the analysis of the gender inequality and promote women's rights and interests issues of feminist theory aims to understand the nature of the inequality, emphasis on gender, political power relations and sex consciousness (sexuality) on the theme of feminist inquiry, including discrimination stereotype materialized (especially about sex and chemical) body housework distribution oppressions and the oppression form the patriarchy. And in my opinion, the Feminism which Alice Walker discussed has a deeper meaning. It is a comprehensive protest to all kinds of oppression system (sexual oppression and racial oppression).2.2 The Development of FeminismFeminism in the nineteenth century gradually changed to the organized social movement because more and more people believe that women in a patriarchal society should treated equally. The feminist movement is rooted in the Western progressive, especially the nineteenth Century reform movement.Early feminists and early feminist movement is often called the first wave, and after 1960 feminist called the second wave. There is also the so-called the third-wave, but feminists for its existence necessity, contribution and concept disagree. The reason why these periods are called is because they like the waves, one after another; never discontinuous, later used the former Walker's contribution and resources.The Western Feminism can be mainly divided into three generations:The first generation of Western Feminism: Western Feminism originated in France bourgeois revolution and enlightenment movement, the second half of the nineteenth Century the emergence of the first generation, and the industrial revolution in Europe, is the representative of the British Harriet Tyler Mill. French female writer Gore in 1790 issued a “Declaration on the Rights of Women”, 17 women's rights. Declaration later became a programmatic document of the feminist movement. M. Wollstonecraft, British writer, published a book “Defense for Women's Rights”, in 1792, proposed that women should enjoy equal treatment with men in education, employment and politics. Until 1920, the United States passed a bill to protect women the right to vote. The initial appeal of women in education and legislation should be equal. In the United States, Elizabeth Cady Stanton National Woman Suffrage Association represented (NWSA) repeatedly requested the federal Congress to allow women to participate in political polling repeatedly refused to encounter, eventually in the Nineteenth Amendment (1920). During this period, feminism is not elevated to the level of theory, is mainly a number of practical activities and “March 8. International Women's Day "was born.The second generation of Western Feminism: The second stage is the most important phase of feminism in the West stage. The feminists found that although the women in the field of political and economic fight for equality and efforts to achieve significant results, but the unequal status of women in social life has not been fundamentally improved. For example, groups of women get the right to vote in politics is still in a low position , occupational segregation and career development prospects of poor highlights, the case of equal pay for equal work , equal employment basically guaranteed. This contradiction prompted feminist thinking in depth, forming a unique feminist theory. From early 20th until 1960s, the world experienced two world wars. During this period, Afro—American woman still under the control of themale society. The challenge which they faced is the patriarchal society, challenges the "class" system.The third generation of Western Feminism: Postmodern Feminism.Postmodern Feminism began in the last century 60-80 age, her resulting presumably and two factors, one is, since 60's "liberation" and the men and women in opposition to the feminist thought, has brought numerous family breakdown, single mothers and the AIDS epidemic, so people began to reflect: especially in the elimination of binary opposition between men and women, forming “Gentle Feminist”, "Green Feminists”. While recognizing the achievements of the feminist movement to protect women's rights, it also questioned the other hand; feminists have tried to subvert the traditional family model. Post-modern feminism is still a growth stage. Trying to eliminate inequality between men and women on the basis of the recognition of gender differences, emphasizing the social nature of gender roles, the idea of equality between men and women as a product of patriarchy .Thus, postmodern feminist emerge as the times require.III. An Analysis of Feminism in the Novel—The Color Purple3.1 The Theme of the NovelThe color purple is a feminist Bildungsroman. It tells how Afro—American women find themselves and fight for themselves though describing the sufferings of what Celie had experienced.While revealing patriarchy’s oppression upon Afro—American women, feminists point out that while disclosing the oppressions, what Afro—American men done had consequently deepens Afro—American women’s suffering. As Hruston states in Their Eyes were Watching God: “So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man thus pick it up. He picks it up because he has to, but he doesn’t tote it. He hand it to his woman folks. De nigger woman is de mule of the worlds so far as ah can see.” Alice Walker tries to disclose these oppressions in her novels. In The Color Purple, Walker also shows us how racism exacerbates these oppressions in Afro—American family. Black feminist writers reveal racial, gender oppressions between the sexes to improve the gender binary opposition between men and women, longing for an ideal, gender relation.Throughout these oppressions that the Afro—American women suffers, the main oppressions were racial oppression and sexual oppression.3.1.1 Sexual Oppression upon Black WomenSexual oppression has a great influence to the Afro—American women. The black has consciously in the face of modern society of sexual discrimination. Compared with men, blac k women’s statuses are lower. Their marginalized status is not only caused by racial discrimination, but also from male social gender discrimination.Alice Walker writes: “Black women are called in the folklore that so aptly identifies one’s 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 girl like Nettie to make is “either to marry somebody like her husband or wind up in some white lady kitc hen.”(CP 1987:17) In a patriarchy society, women are the main labor force both at home and in the fields.Although black women are the main labor force of the black family, they have no rights they deserve. On the contrary, they are constantly beaten by their husband. Mr. X—Celie’s husband, instructs his son: “Wives is like children. You have o let them know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do better th an a good sound beating.”(CP 1997:34) Mr. X beats Celie “like her beat the children. Cept he cont eve r hardly beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the crack…”(CP 1987:22) The men who exploit and oppress women are acting out what Diana E.H.Russell terms the “masculinity mystique”—“To win, to be superior, to conquer, and to control demonstrate masculinity to those who subscribe to common cultural notions of masculinity.” Since Harpo is confused by the perfect control that his father exerts over Celie, he feels less than a man because of his inability to control his wife Sofia. Following his father’s instruction, Harpo keeps on beat ing Sofia and this finally leads to their separation.Except for the heavy burden and physical hurts, black women are sexually abused. In black men’s eyes, black women are only t he instruments for them to release their bad mood. They just enjoy their own happiness and the only thing left for women is the untold sufferings.In the Color Purple, in order to control women under their power, black men constantly impose their own con cept upon black women. Celie has “always been a good girl.”(CP 1987:3) She is so good—natured even his stepfather has to admit that “she good with children… Never heard her say a hard word to one of them.”(CP1987:12) She selflessly helps to take care of Shug when she is seriously ill, although she is he r husband’s mistress; she is also a clever student in school praised by her teacher, she says that: “long as she been a teacher she never know nobody want to learn bad” as her. But her stepfather always abus es her. He introduces Celie to Mr. X : “She ain’t fresh… She spoiled. She ugly… She is too old to be living her at home. And she has a bad influence on my other girls… She ain’t smart either… And another thing—she tell lies.”(CP1987:10) In his eyes, Celie is “evil and always up to no good” and “he can’t stand” hr no more. (CP 1987:5)Shug is also a good woman. She follows one of the few professions open to black women: blues singer; she is independent economically by hard working; she safeguards her selfhood; she asserts her own value; she displays a wisdom learned in her working lives to teach the girls she loves not to allow others to use or revile their individuality and tells the men what she thinks of their weaknesses. One thing that we can figure out is that one of the strategies the black men employ to take women under their control is to decry their reputation and deprive them of their confidence. They try all the means to let the women believe that they themselves are bad in nature and inborn, so they deserve any kind of ill—treatments black men exert on them.In Africa, men, even some women, don’ think girl need to be educated. When Nettie asks a mother why she thinks so, she said, “A girl is nothing to herself, only to hr husband can she become s omething.”(CP 1987:132) When Tashi, a little girlfriend of Olivia, Celie’s daughter in Africa, learns some knowledge from Olivia and becomes quiet and thoughtful, her patents even get upset for being afraid that she will not fit into village life. In addition, women are deprived of the right to choose the ways of their lives from their own free will. In the novel, it is Celie’s stepfather who chooses husband for Celie. He is her owner. In a scene reminiscent of a slave action, Celie is passed like a piece of property from one creel and domineering black male into the hands of another:The Color Purple is to expose the double oppression endured by the black women so that the solution to this problem existing in the black community can push forward the develo pment of black people’s unity. The most significant for Alice Walker is that she advances her tentative solution—feminism in the hope of curing the social diseases of racism and sexism and promoting the development of society.Walker through the description of a black woman seeking her dual identity reveals to us that only if black women in the United States integrated black blood, do the masters of their own destiny, he creates his own, can they get rid of edge position, and obtain their own identity.3.1.2 Fighting for IndependenceAlthough the Afro—American women under the control of the patriarchal social, they never give up struggling for their own independence. Their independence can be discussed mainly from these two aspects: familial independence and social independence.In the patriarchal family, women are the labor force both inside the house and outside in the field. However they didn’t get what they deserve to get, such as equality, love and respect. On the contrary, they suffered pain and mental torture. What they had experienced also sowed the seeds for the future of their resistance.Social independence implies black women’s independence in the society, including economical and political independence. In America, many Afro—American women have to depend on black men mainly due to their main status in economy. They are generally degraded to objects and became the secondary gender in the society. So exploration for social independence is very significant for black women to change their social status. In the Color Purple, the feminist explores to gain social independence mainly by using the Afro—American woman’s potential ability, whichalso discloses the feministic viewpoint—to make full use of black women’s strong viewpoints and realizing the importance of gaining their own social independence.Number one is Celie’s self-identity and women's socialist mental health.Identity, is one of the major contents in western literary criticism, it advocates accented literature classic, the thorough analysis colonial hegemony and male central cultural rewriting history between men and women in colonial conflict story.If Celie continue to maintain a callous life, resigned, muddy disturbance to spend her life go, then, then the characters will fall into the traditional literature's misconduct. However, Walker doesn’t want to fall into formality. She, in an interview said: "people not only to live, to prosperity but also to love life. She gave her life to the love and life " Live unremitting pursuit, pour into to literary works, Celie from decayed traditional thought to emancipate herself, helped herself to set up the life of optimism attitude, to break the traditional literature in the description of black women "" False image, namely and the reality of black women did not fit with the image, Shaping a new black women's image.Number two is Celie’s exploration: from the rebellious to rebirth.In Ceie’s mind God is omniscient and omnipotent. After these sufferings, God is the only listener and savior to her, however, after sent 55 letters to God and without any answers back to her, Celie could no longer bear it, she even said: “ What did God do for me?—He is a big devil, his behavior is just like any other man I know: frivolous, forgetful and contemptible.” This sentence represents the first leap of her character’s development. She not only challenges the authority of God’s but also challenges the patriarchy’s thought.Independent women, who run away from her family and then return to it again, will have a different feeling. After the success, she forgives her husband whom once abused her, and then they become very good friends. Although she don’t want to rebuild her family, but in her opinion, her husband was not as disgusting as before. Her concern about personal destiny cares about group destiny, from the thinking about the individual value, personal survival significance to all mankind pain and liberation exploration. She stood at the height of the human life, overlooking human life and rethinks the life. This humanity spirit and highly responsibility really make us to rethink on and take example by.Number three is from Celie’s heart journey to see Walker’s women socialist connotationCelie’s self identity and women's socialist spirit is meaningful; it ha s the ideal womanism of the author. The Color Purple describes a group of black women whom representative is Celie, they pursue for equal rights and personal identity, struggle to enlarge the attention range. Walker wrote the black woman whom in the lowest social level, what’s more important, on the basis of racial and sexual oppression; Walker added to the natural element and combines them together. Committed to achieve interpersonal, man and natural’s harmonious survival mode.Moreover, Celie's tolerant and mind is universal love is what Walker’s Socialist soul places. In the process of difficult self-identity construction, pursue women's spirit use the spirit of tolerance to forgive those black men who had abused them; Black male also abandoned the original great man's doctrine thought, through the self-improvement, they not only realize the spirit of their own survival, but also promoted other characters in the novel (especially the female character) complete live, thus bring the black community to a rebirth.In economy, the womanist quests for self—realization form black feminine household activities, which are usually belittled by black males or even females themselves by relating to revelations of black women as the weak sex in the society. The womanist realizes her limitless potential as a black woman in her daily work—the wisdom and artistic creativity, by which she gains self—confidence and self—support, and thus actualizes her independence in the society.In culture, the womanist quests for social independence by her own black feminine tradition. She persists in presenting her creative artistic charm as a black woman, in her feminine creative activities, such as quilting, designing nd making pants. While questing for black woman’s beauty and dign ity in these artistic activities, she gets her cultural independence. Moreover, Celie sticks to speaking her native language instead of the Standard English, which also indicates her persistent exploration for her own cultural tradition and her cultural independence.At the end of the novel, Celie achieves great economical success; she sets up her own company to produce all kinds of pants designed by her. By making pants, Celie creates a new way to make her living and completely frees herself from subordinate status in economy and realizes her self—independence in the society. She is no longer the oppressed, exploitative, abusive object. She can say what she wants to say. She founded her female subjectivity, and eventually became the woman who has full of confidence, dignity, and personality. From the reverse to stand on her own, Celie produced very big change, after awakening has more strong resistance. She insisted on using their own language to express them, express her anger, her joy and her song.3.2 The Writing Technique and Rhetoric Method of the Novel3.2.1 Epistolary StyleEpistolary novel is a type of novel in which the author is carry on by means of series of letters. It is a traditional feminine genre associated with women’s voice, feelings。