摘 要

女性主义是研究人类社会发展的一个重要方面。在如今这个提倡男女平等的新世纪，女性拥有了更多的自由。她们有自己的理想，并为之不懈奋斗；她们可以养活自己，实现了经济独立；她们注重精神层面的享受，使生活变得丰富多彩。然而，黑人女性主义作家爱丽丝·沃克笔下的女性却过着一种截然不同的生活。她们被当作男性的附属品，饱受压迫，像牲口一样被卖来卖去。爱丽丝在自己的作品中表达了她对黑人女性的同情，同时号召女性奋起反抗，争做自己命运的主宰。《紫颜色》是她的杰作之一，这部作品以黑人女性为写作主体，生动形象地讲述了19世纪中期黑人女性所遭受的苦难，展现了黑人女性在性别歧视和种族歧视的双重压迫下实现自我觉醒的历程。本文结合女性主义运动与爱丽丝·沃克的创作背景，论述了《紫颜色》中黑人女性从屈服于命运到觉醒继而重生的经过，同时也揭露了白人对黑人的压迫。文中所体现的团结互助、反对歧视、争取男女平等的思想，在改变当今社会尚存的歧视女性以及提升女性地位、消除种族歧视等方面有着积极的影响。

关键词：爱丽丝·沃克；《紫颜色》；女性主义；意识觉醒

Abstract

Feminism is a vital part of studying the development of human society. During the new 21st century, people make active efforts to promote gender equality and women have more freedom to make their own decisions. They have dreams, and struggle untiringly to achieve those dreams. Women make a living by having jobs, and they win economic independence. They live wonderful lives, and place great emphasis on spiritual enjoyment. However, the lifestyle of black females in Alice Walker’s works is totally different. In the description of Alice Walker, females are suffering the double oppression coming from the white people and the black males. Women can’t speak for themselves, and they could even be sold just like animals. Alice Walker expresses her great sympathy for black females and calls on women to rebel and be the masters of their lives. The Color Purple is one of the representative works of Alice Walker, which greatly exposes the sufferings the black females, in the mid-19th century, bear and the awakening of their feminist consciousness. Combined feminist movement with the background of Alice Walker, this paper discusses the process of black women from resigning to fate to awakening and then fighting. At the same time, it also reveals the dark side of racial discrimination. The ideas of unity and mutual help, anti-discrimination and promoting gender equality have a positive impact on eliminating the discrimination against females and improving female position.

Key Words: Alice Walker; The Color Purple; feminism; the awakening of feminist consciousness

Contents

摘要 I

Abstract II

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 Feminist consciousness 3

2.1.1 Feminism 3

2.1.2 Development of feminist consciousness 4

2.2 Previous Study on Alice Walker and her works 5

3 The Awakening of Feminist Consciousness in The Color Purple 7

3.1 The Awakening of Sofia 7

3.1.1 Self-determination in Marriage 7

3.1.2 Conflict with Racial Discrimination 8

3.2 The Awakening of Celie 9

3.2.1 Self-independence in Marriage 9

3.2.2 Self-independence in Economy 10

3.3 The Awakening of All the Other Women 11

3.3.1 Unity and Mutual Help 11

3.3.2 Educational Freedom of Black Women 12

4 Rebirth of Black Women 14

5 Conclusion 16

References 17

Acknowledgements 18

Study on the Awakening of Feminist Consciousness in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

1 Introduction

With the development of the society, people pay more and more attention to human rights. Everyone is created equally. No matter what color and gender people are, they should all be treated equally. Racial discrimination and gender discrimination are the most basic denials of equal chances, and many people become the victims of those unjust phenomena. People all over the world are trying to deal with those hot potatoes.

Alice Walker is an excellent black woman writer, and she tries to use her works to help women. In the United States, people regard Alice Walker as the spokesperson of black women. Alice Walker always sides with black women. She thinks about the road for black women to be their own masters. If something doing harm to black women’s rights happens, she would point out that and protect those women. The major purpose of her writing is to struggle for females’ emancipation. The reason why Alice Walker cares so much about the rights, belonging to black women, is that she has experience about gender discrimination. She knows how the society treats women unjustly.