Subjective Voice Of American Black Feminism: Narrative Strategy In The Color Purple

Alice Walker has long been noted for her black feminist view of pursuing subjective identity of American women, which is well expressed in The Color Purple. The African American women's double oppression is expressed through both the surface text and the subtext, which demonstrates the multiple voices of the fiction. This thesis aims to examine the narrative strategy of this novel, with the purpose of clarifying the subjective voice of the black feminism through multi-level structure and multiple voices.Chapter one deals with the multi-level structure that embodies in the subtext and the narrative feature of the black women's subjectivity. Combined with Bakhtin and other scholars' polyphonic theory, the novel reveals the polyphony of multiple voices.Chapter two analyses the subtexts in the discourse and exposes the black people's racial oppression implied in the surface text-the correspondence between two black sisters that reveals the black women's gender oppression. Four subtexts, namely Celie's father, Sophia, Squeak and Olinka world's stories in this fiction, are delineated to show the panorama of the heroine's story, in which specific social and cultural context deserves critical attention. Multiple voices realize the author's polyphonic intention in manifesting the theme of double oppression.Chapter three investigates Celie's black feminist voice with subjectivity. In the novel, the heroine's subjective voice is gained by marginalizing the men's. Sophia's challenge against racial discrimination and Shug's challenge against patriarchal authority have paved the way for the heroine's black feminist voice with subjectivity. Therefore the theme of double oppression in this novel is deepened through multiple voices and dialogism.The conclusion part draws readers'attention to Walker's persistent strain of attentive concern for the fate of the African American people and her black feminism. The Color Purple has a significant political and social meaning.