From Self-abnegation To Spiritual Survival

The Color Purple, one of the maturest and the most representative works of Alice Walker, probes into the thought and life of modern Afro-American women with a new visual angle, original conception and special writing skill. In this novel, black woman writer Alice Walker shapes a new womanist image-Celie, who arouses great interests of many critics.At different levels of historical, social and cultural background, this thesis gives a coherent and systematic analysis of the image of a woman who reaches self-affirmation and spiritual survival after undergoing self-abnegation in the American society, which is filled with problems of discrimination. The thesis falls into three parts: part one analyzes the influence of the traditional forces in real life upon Celie, which leads to her self-abnegation; Celie's discovery and affirmation of her physical and spiritual values makes up the second part; part three concludes the paper, illustrating the outcome of Celie's struggle, that is, after her unremitting efforts, Celie wins her spiritual survival based on her physical freedom and economic independence, achieves harmony with men and the world, and gains happiness and peace of mind in the established social environment.