From Deconstruction To Reconstruction-A Critical Study Of The Color Purple

The Color Purple, the most influential work of Alice Walker, has aroused a wide range of high acclaims as well as severe criticisms among contemporary reviewers ever since its publication in 1982. It relates the life of a southern black woman named Celie who persistently struggles for freedom and equality and eventually breaks the pattern defined by sexism and racism. In order to distinguish from white feminism, Walker coined the word "womanism" to refer to black feminism. With her sensitivity to racial discrimination and patriarchal domination over black women, Alice Walker is widely recognized as one of the most preeminent Afro-American female writers.The novel adopts an epistolary form and depicts vivid and larger-than-life characters. Many critics have studied it from various standpoints. Some have adopted black feminist approach to it, and some have analyzed its dexterous use of black vernacular English. But so far, it seems that no one has studied it from the viewpoint of deconstruction. Therefore, this thesis intends to interpret The Color Purple from a deconstructive perspective. In The Color Purple, Walker subverts the double oppression imposed upon black women by the white patriarchal society. She depicts Afro-American women characters who distinguish themselves by opposing to and fighting against familial patriarchy as well as the white-dominated conventions. In the process of struggling, Afro-American women gain a keen insight into the roots of their suffering, namely, sexism and racism, and they exert themselves to subvert the fetters of white patriarchal hierarchy. In exposing and reversing the forced silences, Walker allows her female characters in The Color Purple to assert their claims to selfhood as they interrogate the restrictions imposed by the racist and patriarchal society. They rebelliously free themselves from the context of patriarchal norms by means of breaking through imposed stereotypes and boundaries as well as spiritual fetters.Compelled by women's unyielding fighting for freedom as well as independence, black men start to retrospect and make up for the wrongs they have done to women. Male and female, black and white embark on the journey to the reconstruction of an equal and harmonious relationship based on mutual respect and understanding. It is concluded that discarding misunderstanding and discrimination people may grow and develop themselves and enjoy freedom and life with love and forgiveness. Alice Walker not only sings highly of the courage and immense strength of black women but inscribes co-feeling in the male characters by way of development so as to expose and rewrite the phallocentric notions of self-definition. She broadens the scope of Afro-American literature by way of giving voice to silenced black women and inspires the entire human race to think about the meaning of life.