Loss, Leaving, Returning

Alice Walker, as one of the most well-known black feminist writers, her works actually reflect black people’s struggle for their equality, freedom and spiritual resurrection. She pays much attention to black women’s fighting in the circumstance of patriarchy and hegemony, representing their desire for changing the miserable life. The Color Purple, as her masterpiece, commendably shows her boldness and creativity in content and form. Because of the content’s diversity and profoundness, it is a fine material to study as it contains characters’ growth, gender identity, gender relationship, racial conflict and so on. This thesis will analyze two genders’ initiation process, including psychological progress and cognitive evolution, by the combination of textual analysis and relevant theories of initiation story and psychological progress. Considering Walker’s attention to unify women and men in unique consolidation and to build a whole community and society, the characters’ experiences in life and questing for their identities will be in the scope of this study. By analyzing the pattern and reason of growth, this thesis also explores characters’ loss of self-identities in the journey, questing for self-identities after leaving home, successfully returning home after experiencing innumerable trials and hardships. Meanwhile, the characters’ change and growth with introspection or others’assistance will be presented from the aspects of spirit, culture, economy.This thesis contains three parts. The first part is introduction, which introduces some general information, research situation at home and abroad, the focal point and methods of this study, relative theories of initiation story and cognition. The second part is the main body with three chapters. Chapter One mainly analyzes those characters’ intersectional oppression and perplexity in patriarchal and racial community, including women’s loss of selves under double oppression and men’s dilemma and distortion for their failed marriage, which hinders their growth in the beginning. Celie, Sofia, and Mary are the most typical victims. Chapter Two presents characters’struggle and conscious awakening in predicament. They realize the necessity of leaving home with the help of companions to achieve self-perception, self-actualization. Meanwhile, men’s growth mainly comes from self-examination, self-guidance. Chapter Three probes the characters’returning home after psychological maturity and also explores the significance of questing for cognition. The final part is the conclusion, which summarizes two genders’ co-existence and their harmonious relationship.