On The Quest For Female Identity In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

Alice Walker is one of the most influential black women writers in contemporary America.With the success of her novel The Color Purple in 1983,Walker made a name for herself in both black and American literature.The novel mainly tells how the female,represented by Celie,under an oppressive system,grow from submission to resistance,from inferiority to self-sufficiency,and finally realize their value and accept their female identity.In addition,as the founder of womanist theory,Alice Walker’s emphasis on mutual help among women and the ultimate goal of womanism,namely,the harmonious survival of men and women,are well reflected in the novel.Under the guidance of Alice Walker’s womanism,this paper will analyze how Celie and other female characters lose their female identity due to multiple kinds of oppression,then explore their identity with the help of other women,and finally realize female identity through their protracted and unremitting efforts.At first,this thesis analyzes how many women in the novel lose their female identity,and points out that physical abuse,patriarchal constraints and male dominance not only destroy women’s body and spirit,but also make them become accomplices to male supremacy.Then it discusses how women explore their female identity by completing their transformations through physical and spiritual awakening,and forming a female alliance to help other women realize their value.At last,it mainly expounds how women achieve the dual independence of body and spirit through economic independence and emotional maturity,and finally obtain female identity in the mutual understanding and respect with men,so as to realize the ultimate goal of womanism---survival and wholeness of entire people.The conclusion part emphasizes the significance of womanism and the novel’s ideological value in terms of female growth and gender ethics.It also points out that although the ending and the goal of womanism are idealistic or Utopian to some extent,it indicates a possible way to freedom and liberation for women.At the same time,it has a certain significance of reference for the construction of contemporary female identity and the harmonious gender relationship between modern men and women.Different from the while feminist novels whose heroin always chooses to end her life,such a happy ending not only indicate the right direction of struggle for women,but also forecasts an equal and bright future for the people all over the world.