On The Third Life Of Grange Copeland From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

Alice Walker is one of the greatest writers in the contemporary American literature.She is awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award in 1983.The Third Life of Grange Copeland is her first novel published in 1970.Till now,lots of critics have made fruitful researches on many aspects of this novel,including the anti-racism theme,the controversial characterization,the violence-circled structural layout and so on.However,so far at least in China,few critics have analyzed this novel by using ethical literary criticism,which shows that the ethical thoughts and ethical appeal embodied in this novel has not got wide attention.Therefore,this paper uses the theory of ethical literary criticism including ethical identity,ethical environment and ethical consciousness to analyze the ethical implication in this novel.Through analyzing loss of ethical identity in a family,including irresponsible parent-child and indifferent husband-wife relationship,black people are inspired that it is possible for them to understand love better and bring love to their family members if only they take the unshakable duty courageously.Through analyzing ethical environment of the novel,including ethical unfairness of racism and ethical confinement of sexism and patriarchy,black people are encouraged that although they are suffering enormous physical and psychological harm under the oppression of such ethical environment,they do not give up pursuing justice.Through analyzing reconstruction of ethical consciousness of characters,including degeneration and regeneration,black people are enlightened that in order to recover their human nature and pursue goodness,they must do self-examination and self-reflection and admit the mistakes of their own bravely.The purpose of this paper is to reflect Walker's moral implication:pursuing love,pursuing justice and pursuing goodness,and finally realizing survival whole.