A Study Of Alice Walker's Possessing The Secret Of Joy From The Perspective Of Womanism

Alice Walker is one of the most important black women writers in American literary circle. Throughout her writing career, she has devoted herself to helping African American women and women of color to break silence in their history and culture.Walker raises womanism in her collection of essays In Search of Our Mothers'Gardens in 1983. In her opinion, womanism's ultimate goal is to realize survival and wholeness of entire people. It not only encourages black women who once lived in shadows of oppression to pursue a complete self, but also expresses an expectation that one day all human beings can walk from confrontation to coexistence, and achieve the wholeness.Possessing the Secret of Joy is Walker's fifth novel published in 1992. It describes the life story of an African American woman who named Tashi. In this novel, Tashi bravely protests against the colonial invasion and the cruel female mutilation. Through these resistances, she rescues herself from misery and puzzles, and grows into a typical womanist who loves herself and loves spirit. Apart from that, Walker also depicts the growing paths of other supporting characters, as well as their relationships with Tashi from hostility to mutual appreciation. In the end, Walker emphasizes her philosophical stance again. She believes the entire people, including male and female, white and the colored, could achieve wholeness and live together peacefully.