On The Narrative Form And Features Of The Color Purple

Alice Walker (1944-), the first black female Pulitzer winner, is one of the most influential writers in contemporary America literature. As her representative work, Walker’s epistolary novel The Color Purple, based on the black cultural tradition, tells the story of a black female’s psychological wakeup.Starting from its epistolary form and with reference to its theme, this thesis discusses the narrative features of this novel and their significance. The study begins with the history of the epistolary novel in western countries, followed by an analysis of Walker’s inheritance and development of this narrative mode in The Color Purple from the aspects of its use of a first-person perspective and polyphony. Then the thesis investigates the use of blanks in the novel and points out that it signifies the heroine’s final wakeup and growth. Finally, a comparative analysis of black vernacular and Standard English is made to display the change of narrative perspective and show the differences of living environment and background of the different characters in the novel.These narrative techniques intensify the real effect as well as dexterously display the heroine’s psychological characteristics, which affords the readers aesthetic enjoyment and enlightenment.