The Coalition Of Saint And Devil On The Biblical Archetypes Of Shug As A "Womanist" In The Color Purple

Shug Avery in The Color Purple is a staunch"Womanist". Her personality or character has aroused some critical interest and provoked different comments. Some critics believe that Shug is a secondary character compared with Celie while others believe that she is one of the key female role models for Celie to find the way to redemption. She provides Celie with emotional fulfillment, spiritual guidance and familial connections. Besides, Shug is often associated with androgyny and lesbianism by some reviewers."Womanist"and"Womanism"are culture-specific and poetic synonyms for Black feminist and Black feminism. The term Womanist first appeared in Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose(Our Mothers' Gardens for short in the following chapter), in which the author attributes the word's origin to the black folk expression of mothers to female children, 'You acting womanish,' i.e. like a woman. It usually refers to the outrageous, audacious, courageous, or willful behavior. A Womanist is also a woman who loves other women sexually and/or nonsexually and who appreciates and prefers women's culture, women's strength and who commits to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Womanist is to feminist as Purple is to lavender"(qtd in Walker xi–xii). In conclusion, Shug Avery is the spokesman for Womanism advocated by Walker. Many features of Womanism are embodied in her.The present author holds that the above conclusion is quite reasonable. Shug Avery is an authentic"Womanist"who has possessed almost all the qualities of Womanism advocated by Walker. She is a black songstress who has played a vital role in the formation of sisterhood and female bonding. She is outrageous, audacious and is noted for her willful behavior. She is of an androgyny who loves both man and women. The present author opens a new road for herself who combines all the qualities of Shug as a"Womanist"with the Biblical archetypes. A sizable portion of the discussion focuses on the analysis of such Biblical archetypes as Moses, Adam, Black Madonna and Satan. Each archetype corresponds to certain characteristics of Womanism while these characteristics are their juncture.Following the completely new presentation and analysis of the character of Shug, The author adopts the Womanism with its key concepts as a way to compare the protagonist Shug with the Biblical archetype.Based on the above analysis, the paper finally arrives at the conclusion that her characters have borne many similarities with these Biblical archetypes. Shug is not only the embodiment of Womanism but the incarnation of these four Biblical archetypes. The character of Shug thus is clearly presented before the readers. Shug possesses the features of these four archetypes—Moses, Adam, Black Madonna and Satan. On the one hand, she is a changeable figure and on the other hand these four archetypes have one thing in common—all of them reflect the distinctive image of Shug as a"Womanist".