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Black Feminism: Treatment of Women in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

Dr. Rakhee Rani

Abstract: Alice Walker is one of the prominent Afro-American writers. Her novel The Color Purple (1982)
deals with the sufferings of black women. Time and again, numerous writers have written about male's
dominance over women. However, the fiction of Walker presents a feminist perspective. The present paper
highlights the issues of characters from a womanist perspective. It also focuses on the females' struggle
who belong to the black society. The present paper questions the class struggle among the black society
and the utopian female world. It also throws light on the racism and sexism that work together to disgrace
women’s role and existence. The journey of the protagonist in the novel shows the dominance of the
traditional gender roles. As a black woman herself, Alice Walker brings to light the hardships of black
women in the current novel, The Color Purple.
Keywords: black feminism, gender biasness, black movement, sufferings.
Alice Walker (b.1944) is a renowned Afro-American novelist. She portrays the experiences of black women
in a sexist and racist society in most of her works. One of her prominent novels, The Color Purple (1982)
won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for fiction in 1983. Walker has depicted the plight
of black women in this novel as well as many others. She projects how black women are exploited and
maltreated not only by the males but also by the white women. Walker has, without a doubt, provided a
voice to the voiceless females. She makes these females conscious of their identity crisis. Walker
has, in a way, taught her female characters to be audacious by making them autonomous. Walker describes
herself as, “A rather ardent feminist myself, I would like to spend a lot of time on the subjects of black
woman and women’s liberation” (Walker, In Search 150). Furthermore, Pamela A. Smith writes about
Walker, “From the beginning of her writing life, it seems Walker has seen her role as voice for the
voiceless” (Smith 05). The same notion can be observed through the character of Celie in The Color Purple.
The women’s movements of the nineteen sixties were altogether different than the previous ones.
These were a renewal of an old tradition of thought and action. Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the
Rights of Women (1792) talks about the right to education to women just like the men in any society.
Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own (1929) portrays the unequal treatment given to women in regard
to their education, marriage and motherhood. However, the feminism after the second wave of feminism
changed drastically. It was no more limited to the rights of education, vote etc. women challenged
everything that tried to place them secondary in the society. The Color Purple, written in epistolary form,
presents the sufferings and struggle of black women through the character of Celie. In that century, women
were suffering both physically and mentally. They were dominated by the male members in their family. It
is because of all these things that the is century was also called a black century of all the African-American
women. The fiction of Alice Walker has projected how the black people are neglected by the white people.
Walker considers that there should be harmony between all the genders in the society. In an interview with
blackfilm.com by Monikka Stallworth in March 2003, Alice Walker answered the questions related to the
present novel. One such question was , “Do you ever consider The Color Purple somewhat a voice for those
who have shared a similar experience?” (Stallworth 02) Walker replied to it by saying: “Absolutely.

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Definitely – I mean, it is totally that. It’s a way to support men and women who are in abusive relationships,
you know? Who are trying to figure out how we got into this positions, where after you know, 400 years of
slavery, we’re still treating each other like slaves. You know it’s very much that kind of supportive art”
(Stallworth 02).
Many drastic changes took place in the America of nineteen twenties. During this time, Americans
enjoyed a flourishing economy. They had peace on both national and international levels. However, the
same period brought many problems for the African-Americans such as economic struggle, racial
prejudices, and gender stereotypes. In Walker‘s The Color Purple, the main character Celie experiences
many sort of struggles. She finds life extremely difficult in the prejudiced 1920‘s South. Alice Walker
seems to portrays her familial bonds and childhood lessons through Celie‘s personal struggles, aspirations
and accomplishments. It brings to light the negative stereotypes of the 1920s against women and
particularly black women. Black women writers analyze the complicated social issues because of being
black and women. They project the immeasurable and fathomless pain, injustice and horror of slavery.
Ironically, the white female writers deliberately excluded the works of black women writers from literacy
anthologies. Patricia Meyer Spack‘s book The Female Imagination presents the definite apathy and
complacence for black female writers. Still, there are novelists who have presented the pitiable condition
of black women and one such novelist is Alice Walker. She discusses about abortion, rape, love, lesbian
relation, nature, god and ancestors in her novels. Needless to say that most of her works project the role of
women of color in culture and history. She says, “I am preoccupied with the spiritual survival, the survival
whole of my people. But beyond that, I am committed to exploring the oppression, the insanities, the
loyalties and the triumphs of black women” (Walker, In Search 250).
The current novel, The Color Purple, presents a story where the female characters bear various
brutalities due to patriarchal system. However, these characters finally get out of the oppression and liberate
themselves through self-empowerment and self-identity. A daughter has always been controlled by the
father in a male dominated society. Similarly, a wife has been dominated by the husband. It is how the
society has been formed from the time immemorial. The woman in such society is bound to be oppressed,
exploited and silenced. Alice Walker has presented the same exploitation and oppression in her novel The
Color Purple. This novel shows patriarchal domination in both the black and the white society. The female
protagonist of the novel is Celie who is completely an alienated, dominated and suppressed character. The
novel begins with the suppressing statement of Celie’s father, Alfonso. He says to her, “You better not
never tell nobody but God. It’d Kill your mammy” (03). Here, Alfonso attempts to threat and silence Celie
after raping her. Celie addresses Alfonso as ‘Pa’ in the novel still it does not stop him from raping her.
Alfonso silences her by saying that her act of speaking and revealing her inner self will literally kill her
mother. Celie cannot raise her voice to tell her mother the truth about her father’s sexual abuse to her. This
sexual abuse results into pregnancy, that too twice. Surprisingly, Celie’s mother dies cursing her and not
her father. Additionally, Celie’s children are forcefully taken away from her by her father. Alfonso wants
that the truth about his raping of his daughter could be buried away. “He took it. He took it while I was
sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods. Kill this one too, if he can”(04).
According to Walker, ‘womanism’ is a “consciousness that incorporates racial, cultural, sexual,
national, economic, and political considerations" (Brown, 04). The fiction of Walker does not represent one
woman in particular. Her protagonist represents every woman in every society. Walker rebels against the
topics and the themes which are far away from her reserved culture. She is not only concerned with political
or civil rights but also with ethnic and cultural rights. She also discusses about the female sensibility. Her

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protagonist in The Color Purple breaks her silence. She refuses to accept her oppression. In fact, she
influences other female characters in the novel. Walker points out that it is the result of slavery which causes
the sufferings for black women more than the white women in the society. Celie as Carolyn Heilbrun
describes her is "outsider twice over" (Williams, 37). Celie feels twice outsider once because she is a woman
and the other one because she is black. She has to handle the penalty of sexism throughout the novel.
Showalter justly says in this matter that black woman is both “the other woman, the silenced partner”
(Showalter, 214). The Color Purple presents a protagonist who speaks and writes Black English as a
language that she uses to express herself. Ironically, American white people don't count it as a language
itself. Still, Walker uses her own black diction and inspires everyone with the beauty of the language which
leads to appreciate the beauty of the black culture generated in this language. Walker distinguishes her
culture from the culture of the whites. She proves that her heritage and origin as black is completely
different from the white one still she expresses her thoughts for both whites and blacks.
Walker’s views on critical issues such as culture, race, gender and ethnicity can be clearly seen
through her works. She classifies the black female characters and divides her women characters into three
categories of women. The first type of female characters are known as the "suspended Woman”. These
women are oppressed by the males in particular and as well as by the society. These female characters can't
do anything to defend or protect themselves. Such characters are found largely in the literature of nineteenth
and early twentieth century. The second type is called "assimilated woman". These women try hard to
identify themselves with the white society. They tolerate the physical violence. They also suffer from a
psychological need to be accepted. This type of female characters can be seen in the 1940s and 1950s
literature. The last type is "emergent woman". Women who belong to this category have the necessary
awareness of her needs and abilities. They lead their lives depending on their choices. They share their
experiences with others. They are also aware of their oppression by males and try to get rid of it. This type
is typical of the 1960s. After 1970s, critics introduced a new category that is known as "liberated woman".
The liberated woman knows her desires. She works hard to discover her abilities and goes with it. (Tyson,
394)
In the patriarchal society, a man beats a woman to give her the idea about him being the superior
one in the relationship whether it is his daughter, his wife or his daughter-in-law. Celie works hard day and
night yet she is beaten repeatedly by her father. Usually, her father does not even need a reason to beat her
: “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church…I may have got something in my eye but I
didn’t wink” (07). She is again beaten by her father for dressing up in a way which he considers is other
than the normal clother: “He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway” (9). Women are beaten
not only by their husbands but also by their sons. In the present novel, when Harpo stoned Celie “He pick
up a rock and laid my head open” (14). Mr.-- does not punish his son for such inhuman action because he
himself had been beating Celie and when Harpo ask his father why he beats her Mr.--replies “Cause she
my wife” (23). Celie’s sufferings continue to surround her. Mr.-- too beats Celie. He does not find in her
anything like Shug Avery whom he loves. Shug asks Celie the reason behind it: “What he beat you for?”
(72), Celie replies, “For being me and not you” (72). Mel Watkins observes, “To Albert, who is in love
with vivacious and determinedly independent blues singer named Shug Avery, Celie is merely as servant
and an occasional sexual convenience” (01).
It goes without saying that marriage plays an important role in everyone’s life. In any patriarchal
society, a girl gets married as per her parent’s decision. Similarly, in the present novel, Celie was just
handed over by her father to Mr.--so that he could get rid of her. Mr.-- agrees to marry Celie when her Pa

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tells him that “She ain’t no stranger to hard work. And she is clean. And God done fixed her. You can do
everything just like you want to and she ain’tgonna make you feed it or clothe it . . . She can work like a
man” (10). Moreover, Mr.-- marries Celie as he needs someone to look after his children. Celie remarks:
“Mr.-- marry me to take care of his children. I marry him cause my daddy made me. I don’t love Mr.--- and
he don’t love me” (61). After her marriage, Celie continuously suppresses her anger when she is tortured
by her husband, Mr.-- . Celie once states: “He beat me like he beat the children…. He say, Celie, git the
belt . . . It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how come
I know trees fear man” (23).
Walker reveals the discriminatory practices within black society. Surprisingly, there is intra-racial
racism inside the black society. In her novels and stories, Walker discusses the internalized racism and
shows how people in color believe in their inferiority to whites. She also presents the way institutionalized
racism is being practiced. The protagonist in The Color Purple speaks and writes Black English as a
language. Celie uses this language to express herself. Walker seems eager to distinguish her culture from
the culture of the whites. She even attempts to prove her heritage and origin as black. Through her works,
Walker expresses her thoughts about both whites and black. Celie's life changes when she meets Shug
Avery (once love interest of Mr.--) and Sofia (daughter-in-law of Mr.--).
Another example of burdened relationships can be seen through the relationship of Alfonso and his
new wife. Celie’s father gets married once again and brings a new mum. Celie thinks that she will rescue
her from the tortures of her father however her new mother never utters a word about it to her husband. On
the contrary, she remains quiet and only cries in her room. Surprisingly, Alfonso doesn't beat his new wife
and never treats her badly. Still, she never says anything at all. Probably, it's her inner fear of the male's
power. It is also a possibility that she knows that her words do not make any difference. She is aware of the
fact that she will not be heard.
The novelist has portrayed two female characters in this novel who consider themselves to be strong
women and question everything and challenge all the patriarchal notions about women. One such character
is Shug. Celie describes her as: "Shug Avery standing upside a piano, elbow crook, hand on her hip. She
wearing a hat like Indian chiefs. Her mouth open showing all her teef and don’t nothing seem to be troubling
her mind” (07). Shug’s character is contradictory to that of Celie’s character. She is comfortable with her
body and sexuality. She is beautiful woman who knows how to "domesticate" Mr.-- . it is also a fact that
people around her , don't respect her. They talk all sorts of things behind her back. The father of Mr.--
refuses to let his son marry her because “his daddy tol him I’m trash, my mama trash before me, His brother
say the same” (109). People around her call her "Queen honeybee" and while her father calls her "Tramp".
Nobody comes to help her when she falls ill and she is all alone in the farm. This is another face of silencing.
Since silence doesn't only mean to ban someone from the verbal speaking. It is the social and the cultural
pressures which lead to stop speaking or to hesitate about speaking her mind. Shug determines to get back
her power by acting like a man. She begins to use the male diction in order to enter the male's area. Celie
observes: “Shug say, girl you look like a good time, you do. That when I notice how Shug talk and act
sometimes like a man. Men say stuff like that to women, Girl you look like a good time…. how some
woman they hugging on look like a good time” (72).
To put it briefly, it can be said that the current novel projects various female characters and ot is
through these characters that Walker has shown how the men or the society behaves with women, for their
being women and foe being both black and women. Black feminism became popular in the Western
countries in the 1960s and 1970s. In the United States, the most popular black feminist movement was

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abolitionist movement. This movement focused on putting an end to slavery in the country. It also tried to
ensure the equality of all citizens. Black feminism does not talk about dismantling the social constructions
of the dominant communities only. It also attempts to promote the economic and social development of
black women. The fiction of Walker is replete with the examples of black feminism. She shows the
oppression of black women. The protagonist of the novel, Celie, symbolizes a good house wife who looks
after her husband and his children. Simone de Beauvoir mentions in The Second Sex: "one is not born a
woman; rather one becomes a woman" (03) and the character of Celie justices the same point.

WORKS CITED
• Brown, E.L. Womanist Consciousness: Maggie Lena Walker and The Independent order of Saint
Luke, 1989. (On- line), available: drum.lib.umd.edu/.../barkleybrown_womanist%20consc.
• De Beauvior, S.I. The Second Sex. England: Penguin Books. 1994.
• Showalter, E. A Criticism of Our Own. Autonomy and Assimilation in Afro-American and Feminist
Literary Theory. New Jersey: Rutgers UP. 1997.
• Smith, Pamela A. “Green lap, brown embrace, blue body: the eco spirituality of Alice
• Walker-Afro-American author.” Cross Currents (1998): 1-12. Find Article.com. 21 Jan
• 2011 <http:/findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2096/is_4_48/ai_54064296/?t>.
• Stallworth, Monikka. “An Interview with Alice Walker.” Blackfilm.com(2003).:1-5. 3 Jan. 2011.
<http://www.blackfilm.com/20030321/features/alicewalker.shtml>.
• Tyson, L. Critical Theory Today : a user –friendly guide. New York and London: Garland
Publishing, Inc.,2006.
• Watkins, Mel. “Some Letters Went to God.” The New York Times: 01 Jan. 2011
<http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/04/specials/walker-color.html >.
• Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. London: Orien Books Ltd, 1982.

About Author
Dr. Rakhee Rani
Assistant Professor
C.R.M. Jat College, Hisar.
[email protected]

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