1。1 Research Background

1。1。1 The Information of Alice Walker来自优Y尔L论W文Q网wWw.YouERw.com 加QQ7520~18766

    Alice Walker (1944-), an American-African novelist, essayist and poet, is one of the most influential American writers and is also one of the most representative black feminists。 The Color Purple (1982), for which she wins the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and she is the first black women novelist to win this prize, is the representative work of black feminism。

Alice’s attitude towards race, gender, class issue and her writing originate from her life experience。 In 1961, Walker went to Spelman College in Atlanta on a full scholarship。 In that time, it was the upsurge in Civil Rights Movement。 She dedicated herself to the movement which fought for racial equality。 In 1963, she took part in the March on Washington, and listened the famous speech I have a dream with thousands of black people。 During that time, the consciousness of nation began to sprout and grow roots in Walker’s heart。

  Continuing the activism during her college years, Walker returned the South to struggle for voter registration drives。 At the same time, the second-wave feminism happened。 Some radical feminists ostracized all men and suggested to solve women’ s problems through lesbian。 Compared with these feminists’ thoughts, other feminists held the view that women must build a new self-identity for gaining total liberation。 At that time, Walker began to build up the consciousness of feminism and became a black feminist。 In her later works, especially The Color Purple, people often can see the theme of lesbian and searching self-identity。 During the drives, Walker had a miscarriage unfortunately due to extreme grief when she attended the funeral of Martin Luther King。 The pain of losing her baby fully appeared in the image of Celie, the heroine of The Color Purple。论文网

  In 1972, Alice Walker taught in Wellesley College and established the course of women literature, which was the first course of the study of women literature in American universities。 In the process of teaching, Alice introduced many black women writers to her students。 At the same time, the marriage between Walker and Leventhal ended。 In her following works, we can find some painful memory in her early life and her reflect on this marriage。 After porce, Walker submitted her resignation and became a full-time writer。 In 1982, she published her best-known work, The Color Purple, which helped her to gain Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award for Fiction in 2003。 In the following years, Walker wrote several other novels, including The Temple of My Familiar(1989) and Possessing the Secret of Joy(1992), which is featured some characters from The Color Purple。 According to her works, we can find that Walker pays attention to the struggle of black people, particularly women, and their life conditions。

1。1。2 The Information of The Color Purple

    After going through African-American Civil Rights Movement and second-wave feminism, Alice Walker published her best-known novel The Color Purple in 1982。 It is awarded Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award for Fiction in 2003, and is adopted into film of the same name。 The Color Purple focuses on the life of African-American women in the southern United States between 1916 and 1942, a period that black women’ s status remains unaltered in the south。 The novel puts emphasis on the process of Celie’s and a few other black women’ s searching for independence and self-identity, after suffering the double oppression, racism and sexism。 

  The novel contains three sets of letters: Celie’s letters to God, about the abuse and suffering which she could not tell or write to anyone else; Nettie’s letters to Celie, about her experience in Africa; and Celie’s letters to Nettie, to tell the theme of sisterhood。