Smile In The Firm Resistance

By the Light of My Father’s Smile is the representative works of Alice Walker, an AfricanAmerican women writer. This fiction becomes a high-profile work, because of its profoundtheme, unique form, especially of its criticism against patriarchy, backlash against discriminationand revelation of Christian hypocrisy.Firstly, Alice Walker went through ups and downs and this work is not only a portrayal ofthe writer’s own life experience but also a reflection of the times. Alice Walker, as a blackwoman, her experience of growing up is pretty tough. She uses those experiences as the materialand look toward the same situation her fellow black women go through, then using her sharpstrokes to describe the struggle and salvation of black women, who suffer double oppressions ofracism and sexism.Secondly, this fiction has profound theme and unique stance. It covers a relatively broadtheme and can be interpreted in many ways. This paper mainly interprets it from three aspects ofrace, gender and religion. In terms of race, Walker not only mentions the oppression on the blackby the white, but also mentions the oppression on the Gypsy, reflecting deep critique of whitesupremacy. In terms of gender, Walker not only mentions the oppression on black women, butalso mentions the oppression on the Third World women, reflecting deep critique of patriarchy.In terms of religion, by comparing Mundo primitive beliefs with Christianity, exposes thehypocrisy of Christianity, in order to resist the centrality of Christianity.Thirdly, this fiction creates a series of vivid characters. Characters are not only blacks andwhites, but also Indians, Greeks, Gypsies, European immigrants in the US, dwarfs from Africanrainforest and so on. These Characters can be divided into several categories in terms of skin,color, gender, class, religion, etc. And each category can select representative figures.Lastly, this fiction has unique narrative structure and perspective. Alice Walker is an expert innarrative of post-modernity, using fragmented narrative structure and multiple narrativeperspectives, in order to increase psychological complexity and hierarchy of the characters andto expand the narrative space of the fiction.By the Light of My Father’s Smile, of which rebellious content and unique form togetherconstitute a masterpiece with ideological significance and aesthetic value. Interpretation andresearch of By the Light of My Father’s Smile, has great significance in understanding the socialculture and black women literature.