Leading To The Beautiful Garden

Alice Walker is one of the foremost influential black woman writers in America. She is also a poet and an activist. From the very beginning of her writing, she has been the spokesman for the voiceless black women. At the same time, Alice Walker has been developing her creative writing thoughts continuously, to be more specific, from The Color Purple to Now is the Time to Open Your Heart, in which her creative writing thoughts have been progressed to a higher level, which is from focusing on the racial survival to the development of whole human race and society. The researches at both home and abroad of The Color Purple are mainly in the characterization, relationship among women, theoretical aspect and writing strategy, etc. This thesis explored the evolution of Alice Walker's creative thoughts through five parts. The first part introduces the life and works of Alice Walker, and her womanism. The second part is on the thematic similarities in both novels from three aspects: the destiny of black women, the profound sisterhood and the self-improvement of males. The third part focuses on the thematic differences in both novels. Part four mainly talks about the factors that influenced Alice Walker, which are her personal development, influence of Toni Morrison, and the trend of time. The last part is conclusion, which reaffirms that the evolution of Alice Walker's creative thoughts is an indication of her growth in writing.