Voices And Communication——a Womanist Reading Of The Color Purple

Alice Walker (1944-), one of the most remarkable Afro-American female writers in the American literary circles, shows her concern for the living conditions of black people, especially the destiny of black women. Her work, The Color Purple, is a successful novel about the growth of black women. Being at the bottom of the society, they suffer a lot from the dual oppression of sexism and racism, their voices have been marginalized by male-dominated patriarchal society and they have been forced to silence.Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as a black female literary classic, attracting more and more researchers both at home and abroad. They have focused on Walker’s womanism, illustrating it from the novel’s characters, epistolary structure, symbolism or language characteristics, while few people choose female voices as the theme to elucidate womanism reflected in the work. However, according to the representative figure in the field of feminist narratology. Susan Lanser,"voice" is a form of expression of ideology. Women’s voice, resonant as it is, is an important symbol which can indicate that women own their social status. And peoples of color, particularly as the marginalized and silenced communities, have spoken about the urgency of coming to voice. In The Color Purple, Walker fully displays the importance of obtaining voice in the process of the realization of the female characters’self-liberation and self-identity.Choosing female voices as a cut-in, together with the textual analysis of the voices of the black female characters in the novel, this thesis aims to penetrate Walker’s womanism reflected in The Color Purple. The thesis points out that Walker’s The Color Purple is a typical work of black women’s searching and finding their voice, which is not only a voice of black women against patriarchy but also a voice showing their efforts to seek self-esteem and self-identity and harmonious relationship between black males and females and finally the realization of the core of Walker’s womanism-the wholeness of survival of the entire people.,meanwhile, it proves that the communication based on the equal right of speech can help to enhance the relationship between two sexes.Apart from the introduction and conclusion part, this thesis falls into two chapters:Chapter two is the most important part of the thesis, mainly focusing on the ideology of womanism reflected in The Color Purple through analysing the thematic meanings of female voices in the work. First, it analyses the transformation of the protagonist Celie, who grows from a silent submissive girl to an independent woman who makes her voice heard. And the application of epistolary in the novel is to emphasize the power of her voice. It also analyses the significance of the "singing" image and the cause of Sofia’s temporary aphasis. Chapter three points out the relationship between voices and communication, exploring the power of communication between two sexes through the evolution of the relationships between Celie and Albert, as well as between Sofia and Harpo.The present study will manifest its own value since it attempts to carry out the connotations of womanism from the new perspective of voices, and at the same time proves that "voice" plays a crucial role in the communication. Unless women have their own discourse power, it is not possible for women and men to communicate with each other. Hopefully, the study will help the readers understand Walker’s works and the connotations of her womanism better.