An Analysis Of Men’s Awakening In The Color Purple From The Perspective Of Eco-feminism

The Color Purple is Alice Walker’s representative work, which has created a surprising sensation in American literature since its publication in 1982. The novel centers on the grown-up process of the women characters-Celie, Sofia and Agnes-who are depicted as typical black female characters earnestly searching for identity in the male-dominated community. But this novel stresses not only the growth of the black female, but also the awakening and transformation of the black men, although they’re abusers of the black women. Alice Walker also points out that men are also victims in the patriarchal society while exercising their violence on women and nature. Therefore, The mere emphasis on the harm of the patriarchal culture on women cannot provide power against patriarchy from the perspective of men. The mere understanding of the harm of the patriarchal culture on men can’t help us to understand the nature of the patriarchal culture and the fact that women are the severer victims. Hence, it is a barrier to establish the harmony between two genders. Therefore, my paper makes a research into the awakening and transformation of men from the perspective of eco-feminism.The paper consists of five parts.The first part of the thesis is Chapter One—Introduction. This part mainly presents a brief introduction to The Color Purple and its author Alice Walker. Additionally, existing research achievements for the novel is reviewed.The second part is Chapter Two—Theoretical Ground. The development of eco-feminist literary criticism is reviewed. In addition, I will introduce some theories of men study to lay the groundwork for the following contents, especially the men’s awakening and transformation in The Color Purple.The third part is Chapter Three—The Patriarchal System in The Color Purple--will first discuss women characters’ miserable fate oppressed by men and their struggles. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker depicts a group of women characters that struggle in their physical and spiritual trauma in order to disclose the men’s oppression on women and even the white’s domination over the black. Then it demonstrates the damage and revenge of nature, taking Olinka as an example. At last, I will talk about men’s different attitudes towards the patriarchal system--One is from the viewpoint of defenders and the other is from the standpoint of victims. This chapter lays the groundwork for the following chapter.Chapter Four will first discuss the inevitabilities of men’s awakening and transformation as victims in patriarchal society from two aspects. First is the inspiration from women’s struggle, which is the direct cause of men’s awakening. Second is pressure from patriarchy that men come to realize the patriarchal damage to them and begin to change ideas to respect and care for women. Then Albert and Harpo are taken as examples to introduce the process and expression of black men’s awakening and illustrate the importance of awakening of men to achieve the harmony between women and men. At last, we center on the harmony as a pursuing goal between man and women, human and nature. Mr.__ finally understands what is real life and the importance of respecting others. Harpo’s life has experienced several incidents, which taught him how to sustain a good family. People of Olinka finally chose to go to more distant large forest, which shows that the reconstruction of the harmonious relationship between man and nature.In the fifth part, we can draw the conclusion that we can read The Color Purple from a new perspective: the men’s awakening and transformation. Only in this way can women’s struggle against the patriarchy system attain the support and power from men. We can commit to the survival of all the people, both male and female, to found a harmonious community. In this work black men have changed from the faithful practitioners of patriarchy to the perfect vehicle for human harmony. We can see that if we are to realize the harmony and co-prosperity advocated by eco-feminism, men must abandon the dualistic system of thought and deeply understand that our ecological system is one part of the nature. Only in this way can we share a fine tomorrow with nature.