On Afro-American Women's Identity Problem In Alice Walker's Stories

As an outstanding Afro-American woman writer,Alice Walker (1944--) is alwaysinterested in the identity problem of black women.All her works represent her celeberation ofblack women who have had the wherewithal to discover inside them selves from which todraw strength,and have thus survived whole ,as Walker herself has done.Part I: Afro-American women's pain.Some of Walker's fictional women ,especially herearly ones,have not found their inner sources of strength and thus prove too willing to letothers determine their definitions of self. They deny themselves out of misplaced loyalty toblack men or adherence to social codes that dictate confining gender roles. Racism andsexism, not only make black women into slaves, but also let them become their ownsupervision.Part II: Afro-American women's rebellion. In this part,I have tried to show that Walker'sfemale characters grow as they from positions of vulnerability to positions of relativestrength.Her women achieve psychological wholeness only when they are able to fightoppression,whether its source is white racism,their own black men,or their own self righteousanger.Diffrent from white feminists'separatism ,Walker puts forward womanism.She thinksthat Womanist should commit to survival and wholeness of entire people,male and female.InWalker's opinion,though under the oppression of black men and white,black women shouldstill love life and enjoy life.They must find strength from their inside ,and love otherwomen.Walker also believe that Africa black culture is very important. As a pacifist, Walkerdon't like violent,no matter what kind violent. She wants to construct a new world that isnonviolent,equal and freedom.Part III : Alice Walker's social ideal. Walker's overwhelming concern is with thesurvival,whole,of a people.Although that remains a priority,but Alice Walker also concernsthe unity between and among people and peoples and ultimately for unity with the universeitself.In the end,Alice Walker's characters acknowledge that there is something of the divinein everyone and everything in the universe.And the characters in her works assume anandrogynous blend of the best of both male and female characteristics.They finally winsurvival whole.A new socity that is different from the patriarchal society is coming.