Quest For Identity:A Comparative Study Of Two Female Characters In Ladder Of Years And The Color Purple

Ladder of Years,as one of the most classic works of the contemporary American woman writer Anne Tyler,once published,was respectively named by Time and New York Times as one of the top ten books of 1995 and Notable Book.This novel centers on a middle-aged woman Delia who is marginalized by her family members and community members,narrating her life orbit from being trapped in loss of identity to walking away from home for her identity quest.The Color Purple,the masterpiece of the contemporary African American female writer Alice Walker,was ever adapted into a film and musical.Owing to the publication of The Color Purple,Walker was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the American National Book Award.This novel,in the form of letter,portrays a black female image Celie oppressed and maltreated by male family members,presenting her efforts for stepping out from inferiority and achieving spiritual and economic independence.The female characters in the above two novels,although under different cultural backgrounds,were confronted with the similar problem of loss of identity and setting foot on the parallel journey of identity quest—from leaving home to returning home in the brand new images and reconciling with family members and community.Created after the second wave of women's liberation movement,these two novels have attracted many scholars to interpret them in various perspectives.This thesis,through the close-reading of the texts,makes a comparative study of the two female characters' roads of identity quest.The whole structure of this thesis is governed by the theme of “quest for identity”,consisting of altogether 5 chapters.The first chapter briefly introduces Anne Tyler and Alice Walker,and their works Ladder of Years and The Color Purple,the definition of identity,as well as the significance and layout of the thesis.The next three chapters make up the main body of the thesis.Chapter Two,the initial quest for identity,aims to present the two female characters' condition of loss of identity,and their similar choice — — escaping from home and heading for their thorough transformation.Chapter Three,the formative period of identity,probes into the ordeals the two females encounter during their identity quest,and discusses their tireless efforts for their identity formation.Chapter Four,the realization of identity,represents the new images of the two females at home and in community after their returning home.The last chapter summaries the similarities in the identity quest process of the two female protagonists Delia and Celie,reveals females' similar predicament and quest,provides references for modern women of how to deal with relationships between self and family,between self and community,and draws a lasting attention to the female's living plight;at the same time,briefly states the limitations of the research and makes a tentative prediction of the future study on the two works.