A Lacanian Reading Of Celie's Selfhood In The Color Purple

Alice Walker is one of the most renowned and remarkable Afro-American women writers since the twentieth century. A Pulitzer Prize winner, a warrior of Civil Rights Movement and an advocator of the liberation of women, Walker has been exploring various dimensions of Afro-American experience through her works.A milestone in Afro-American literature, The Color Purple has inevitably become Walker's most influential and reviewed work. The novel receives high praise for its profound theme, mature narrative strategies and multi-points of view. One of the most reviewed themes of the novel is the development of Celie's selfhood. It has been explored in different critical approaches home and abroad, but few critics use Lacanian theory to analyze Celie's formation of selfhood.This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of Celie's formation of selfhood in The Color Purple in the light of Jacques Lacan's theory of Identity:the Mirror Stage theory. The best-known aspect of Lacanian work, the Mirror Stage is used to describe the period of pre-linguistic formation of the imaginary identity. Despite the pessimistic parts, Lacanian theory of the Mirror Stage can effectively illuminate the psychology of people in complex relationship with others around. Celie's psychic development depicted by Walker in her novel The Color Purple bears an amazing resemblance to Lacan's theory of mirror stage. Basing on the resemblance, this paper attempts to arrive at the conclusion that the role of Other is of great significance in one's self-recognition and acceptation. Black women should not only bond each other together to strengthen their power, but also should become the reliable Other for men. Therefore, the final solution for the society to move on is to bond women and men together to form a reliable community.The thesis is divided into four chapters:Chapter One "The Pre-mirror Stage of Celie" attempts to explore Celie's physical and physiological conditions in the pre-mirror stage. At this stage, Celie is fragmented in terms of her un-coordinated and broken body. Her frustration in speech is also a sign of the pre-mirror stage. However, her developed eye-sight and judgment on positive things prepare her for the next period, the mirror stage.Chapter Two "Celie Trapped in the Mirror Stage" deals with Celie's experiences and sufferings in the mirror stage, where she is trapped for decades. Those male characters such as Alphonso and Mr._ are the causes of Celie's trap. The relationship with them reflects the image of an ugly and weak girl who Celie cannot identify with. The absence of the mother figure also lands Celie in a chaotic mirror stage, undermining the construction of connection between her and her imaginary self.Chapter Three "Going Through Mirror Stage" focuses on how the mother-and-child bonding between Shug and Celie help Celie establish her image in the mirror. With the discovery of her body as a whole, Celie is able to see the positive image of self in the mirror, which contributes to the initiation of selfhood.Chapter Four "The Post-mirror Stage of Celie" further discusses Celie's development of selfhood in her post-mirror stage. With the recognition of Other, a controlling over aggressivity and a good command of language, Celie's formation of selfhood is completed. Celie finally grows into a "womanist" who is committed to the accomplishment of wholeness in Black Community.