| Alice Walker is one of the greatest black female writers in contemporary America.Her works mainly reflect the hard life of the black and the oppression of black women by race,gender and class.Walker’s “Womanism” expresses Walker’s determination to awaken black men and women to resist oppression and find themselves.The novel By the Light of My Father’s Smile is different from other works written by Alice Walker.It not only deepens the idea of black women’s pursuit of freedom and independence,but also discusses the lives of other ethnic groups and the growth of black men.This thesis aims to explore the unbalanced gender relationship shown by Alice Walker in the novel.By studying the causes and effects of the unbalanced gender relationship,the thesis shows the struggle and confusion of men and women under various kinds of oppression and the ways to regain their identities and freedom.The novel presents three types of unbalanced gender relationship,including male-centered gender relationship,white-assimilated gender relationship,and possessive and plundering gender relationship.In the male-centered gender relationship,men control women through sexual oppression,reproductive oppression,and domestic violence.Women are regarded as the other,owing to the unfair setting of the gender roles in traditional culture and the identity of women as family labor in the patriarchal social system.In the end,the identities of men and women are transformed under the oppression of patriarchy.In the white-assimilated gender relationship,the black and ethnic groups are materially and spiritually affected by the white assimilation.They cannot maintain a long-term marriage relationship because they have lost their cultural roots and cultural beliefs.Black men and women and other ethnic groups can return to traditional culture and find themselves to fight against racial discrimination.The homosexual relationship between Pauline and Susannah in the novel reflects the possessive and plundering gender relationship caused by class differences and coercive heterosexuality.Susannah loses herself under Pauline’s possession and plunder,and finally finds herself with Irene’s help.Black women can get help by establishing close sisterhood.Black women and women from other ethnic groups can regain their subjectivity and self-identity through knowledge,tradition,economic independence and sisterhood.At the same time,black women can unite with black men to create harmonious gender relationship,because black men are also victims of oppression.Under the guidance of Womanism,this thesis explores the process of awakening and resistance of black men and women through the study of the oppressed states and reasons in the novel,and finally demonstrates the concept of harmonious coexistence between men and women advocated by Walker. |
