Love And Salvation—an Analysis Of Womanism In The Color Purple

Since the late1970s, the African-American literature has not only opened a new field for American literature and culture, but also has formed some cutting-edge thoughts and theories with unique perspectives and thought-provoking theories and practice. The emergence and development of black feminist literature has long-term significance:it has greatly changed people's way of thinking, deepened people's understanding and exploration of black feminist literature. Alice Walker (1944-) is one of the most important African-American women writers in the contemporary period. She is the first black woman novelist who has ever been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her most famous novel The Color Purple (1982) in American history. Her identity and life experience both as a black and a woman make her become keenly aware the hard life of black women. This thesis attempts to analyze The Color Purple with the womanism theory advocated by Alice Walker, and it concludes that Alice Walker tries to figure out the way for the realization of the "whole survival" of black people in the novel.There are six chapters in this thesis. Chapter one is an introduction. The introduction part presents Alice Walker and the main story of her novel The Color Purple, the previous study abroad and at home and the outline of this thesis. Chapter two introduces feminism, black feminism and womanism, and emphasizes the differences between womanism and the other two theories. Chapter three concentrates on black woman's oppression in the context of sexism and racism, which together push the black women into the abyss of misery. It intends to reveal the causes of black woman's suffering and further points out that black woman's oppression is universal. Chapter four focuses on black women's awareness of challenge and resistance. By changing beliefs, black women start to rebel and call for their independence and to challenge the patriarchal system, fighting for identity and establishing women's enterprise. With the help of sisterhood, black women find their dignity and social status in their creative work. Chapter five analyzes the possibility of the change of black men, the process of their transformation, and the harmonious co-existence between black men and black women through love and salvation. The last chapter is the conclusion. It summarizes the main points that the preceding parts of the thesis have discussed and brings out the implications of the study itself. It also makes clear the limitations of this thesis and draws attention to the possible researches that can be made from other perspectives.The Color Purple is a successful literary practice of Alice Walker's womanism and is a development of feminism in regard to black feminism. A natural conclusion can be draw from the analysis of The Color purple, that is, only through love and salvation can women around the world break the rules of patriarchal society thus to establish a harmonious society.