Sexism In The Color Purple

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Black women writers may be understood to present at least, in a structural or generalized imaginary sense, the identities of black diasporic women throughout their texts. Writing becomes another form of coalition that eliminates borders and focuses mainly on what unites these women. Toni Morrison and Alice Walker encourage serious and mutual commitment among black women in order to heal wounds linked to oppression related to race, class and patriarchal constraint. The paper is an attempt to show how Alice Walker and Toni Morrison employ female bonding and solidarity to overcome sexual, racial and class oppression. Key Words: Race, gender, sexuality, lesbianism, oppression. FULL PAPER African American women were in a difficult…show more content…
The plight of women who suffer different forms of oppression and female bonding as a strategy for fighting back against prejudice are portrayed in the works. They also highlight how female bonding extends to female solidarity and in effect reaches to more women and participates in nation building. Walker brings the race issues that also coincide with the abuse that African American Women experience. Alice Walker’s epistolary novel, The Color Purple, is one of the best literary works that vividly depict the sufferings of African-American women from patriarchy, sexism and racism. In fact, Alice Walker’s true intention from writing this novel is not only to give voice to black women but also to provide them with a path to follow in order to emancipate and get their freedom. Walker draws our attention to the oppression of not only African American people, but specifically women and queer people of color. She acknowledges that racial relations are intertwined with gender discrimination and homophobia. Alice Walker's The Color Purple explores and exposes the different obstacles of queer women of color from sexual abuse by family, to physical abuse by husbands, to the relationship of matriarchy and patriarchy, to sexual orientation, and to sex and race relations. These concepts of queer, race, gender, and sexual orientation revolve around the creation of a person's…show more content…
Although Celie, the main character, suffers deeply from the effects of sexism and racism, she does not give up and even ends triumphant and victorious. Celie a black, poor and uneducated woman is able to free herself from the evils of patriarchy and interacts with women around her, a sisterhood relationship then develops between them. In The Color Purple, women bonding and lesbian relationship play an important role in Celie‘s emancipation process. Ranging from her sister Nettie to her daughter in law Sofia and to her husband‘s mistress Shug, Celie is able to transform her life and free herself both physically and spiritually with the help of these women. The unifying bond between black women is through their friendships, their love, and their shared oppression that they collectively gain the strength to separate themselves from the bondage of their past and piece together a free and equal existence for themselves and for those they
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