An Archetypal Reading Of Alice Walker’s By The Light Of My Father’s Smile

Alice Walker is one of the most talented black women writers in contemporary American literature.By the Light of My Father’s Smile,published in 1998,depicts the conflict between father and daughters,expressing the idea of love and sex and revealing the hypocrisy and evil in white men patriarchal society.But Alice Walker let us see hope and the possibility of regeneration of men.With its fascinating perspectives shifting from the dead and the living and vivid portray of sexuality,this novel is,however,poorly received by the critics.But this do not diminish the significance and the brilliance of it.Based on archetypal criticism,this dissertation attempts to interpret and analyze the archetypes in characters,imageries and themes of By the Light of My Father’s Smile.Through the analysis,this dissertation tries to give a new perspective to studies of this novel,help readers to grasp the deeper connotation and correct the misunderstandings about Alice Walker.To start with,six important characters are analyzed:Susannah,Magdalena Mr.Robinson,Langley,Pauline,Manuelito.Then this dissertation deals with the imagery of Mundo,the imagery of beating and the imagery of looking to further explore the deep meaning of employing these archetypes.The theme of death,the theme of individuation and the theme of bisexuality are mainly concerned in the last part.Through above analysis we can draw a conclusion that Alice Walker believes that not only black women but also black men are victims of white patriarchal society.The problem of black women is on both women and men.What she really concerns is black women should love each other in whatever way,gain their deserved rights and,at the same time,rebuild the relationship between black men and them to realize peaceful coexistence.Free female society should be opened to men,see their possibility of regeneration and establish a new interpersonal relationship.