Alice Walker's Home Complex—— A Study Of The Color Purple And By The Light Of My Father's Smile

Alice Walker, one of the most famous black female writers of America, has made great contribution to black literature and to American literature. Her care for the fate of the colored people, especially, black women can be manifested in many of her works. The sense of home plays an important role in helping colored people gain self-confidence. This thesis tries to explore Walker's home complex reflected in her two family fictions The Color Purple, By the Light of My Father's Smile.Chapter One is the introduction. Chapter Two focuses on development of Alice Walker's home complex. As an ordinary black woman, she loves home; as a black female writer, she calls for change in the big family of the world. Chapter Three discusses the loss of home by colored people. It is divided into the loss of physical home and the loss of spiritual home. Colored people are deprived of their land and house; in the course of their deprivation, they lose their own identity. They lose their own religious belief, turning to favor western products and become marginalized others. Chapter Four concentrates on the reconstruction of home for colored people. This chapter mainly deals with the reconstruction of physical home and spiritual home. Colored people regain their houses and resettle on their land to reestablish their physical home. But the more importantly they develop their sense of home by reestablishing their identities and by building up racial integration and harmony between two sexes. Chapter Five is the conclusion.It is concluded that, as a black female writer, Alice Walker has a special love of African culture and a strong sense of home consciousness which helps her develop a particular home complex. She cares not only for the growth of black women, the experiences of colored people, but also for the future of the whole world. Through the study of her home complex, it is not difficult to see Alice Walker's hope for harmony between men and women and her expectation of the peace among all the people on earth.