UNIVERSITATEA „ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA” IAȘI
FACULTATEA DE LITERE
DEPARTAMENTUL DE LIMBI STRĂINE
Specializarea Engleză – Germană
LUCRARE DE LICENŢĂ
Coordonator ştiinţific: Absolventă:
Lector dr. Irina Chirica Acornicesei Petronela-Anca
The African American Woman in the novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Iulie, 2017
Table of contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………… 4
I. Slavery, Race and African tradition ……………………………….. 8
I.1. The roots of slavery ……………………………………………… 8
I.1.1. The slave trade ………………………………………… 8
I.1.2 The condition of slaves ………………………………… 11
I.1.3 The abolition of slavery ……………………………….. 14
I.2. Racism and its consequences ……………………………………. 17
I.2.1. The oppression of blacks ………………………………. 17
I.2.2. The evolution of the black woman’s image …………… 21
I.2.3. Black woman vs. white woman ………………………… 24
I.3. The African tradition in The Color Purple by Alice Walker …… 27
I.3.1. Family and lifestyle ……………………………………. 27
I.3.2. Customs and traditions …………………………………. 29
II. Walker’s womanist voice in In search of Our Mothers’ Gardens …… 31
II.1. Alice Walker’s biography ………………………………… 31
II.2. A short approach of In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.. 33
III. The status of the black woman in The Color Purple …………………. 41
III.1. Celie ………………………………………………………. 41
III.2. Shug Avery ………………………………………………. 51
III.3. Sofia Butler ………………………………………………. 55
III.4. Nettie ……………………………………………………… 59
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….. 62
Bibliography…………………………………………………………….. 64
Introduction
Racism represents the starting point of the most significant conflicts in United States history. It has deep roots in the American past, laying at the basis of slavery; but, what started as a minor episode, had turned, during decades, into a strong tendency that had many effects upon a whole culture and society. The African-American nation arouse as a consequence of the Trans-Atlantic-Slave Trade, a business that provided a strong income to the southern states of America. From the oppression suffered during the slavery era till the racial discrimination of the twentieth century, the colored people had always been forced to face many difficulties in order to survive. While slavery was abolished and, later on, blacks got equal rights with whites, certain shades of racism are still present among the nowadays Americans. Although times changed and people evolved, sometimes there are still issues between the two races. While white supremacy succeeded to control the blacks and even make them feel inferior, there were no choices concerning the question “who is right?” Therefore the African-American people had been reduced to silence for a long time, a silence that could secure their safety. Even the black writers’ literature was ignored for racial reasons, regardless the quality of the works.
One of the few black writers who succeeded to excel the prejudices was Alice Walker. The author represents an iconic figure of the African-American literature, being the first black woman who received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Her famous novel, The Color Purple, helped Walker in winning both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1983, and in becoming “the voice” of the “voiceless”. The author has a great importance for the black people, because her literature mirrors the real climate existent in the black communities of the twentieth century. Her works express authenticity because she took her inspiration from her childhood and from real stories written or told by ordinary women; she also included a detailed depiction of the African world in her works, information gathered from her voyage in Africa. Alice Walker’s merit is more related to women, both in literature and in the real life, placing women as main characters in her works, being a strong advocate of womanism and even getting involved in the Civil Rights movement.
The purpose of my paper is to make the readers see the world through the eyes of a black woman. I intend to follow the roots of the African-American history, in order to discover how everything started and watch how everything gradually evolved. Moreover, I want to analyze the women’ struggles, as a background for the study of the female characters from The Color Purple. Both racial and gender oppression are still encountered in some societies and families, women being usually, the most affected. The stories exposed by Walker in her novels or in her collection of essays, entitled In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, are stories in which many black women can find themselves; thus they can get an outside perspective and they can change their mentality and even life, by noticing certain mistakes made by them too, or certain acts and their consequences. These books illustrate women that changed their status and became stronger through sisterhood, a practice which has its origins in the African tribes. Therefore, they represent important examples that suggest that things can be changed, for every colored woman confronted with similar problems. The study of the African-American literature is essential for the understanding of the black people’s history, consisting in struggles and sacrifices, a fate which was not deserved. The Color Purple represents an essential reference in this case, depicting the effects of the patriarchal power in a marriage, and a complex image of the African-American woman, illustrated through various characters. Through this novel, Alice Walker succeeds to trace a connection between the black Americans and their origins, by introducing them to a world that they have never had the chance to know; secondly, she can also inspire in forming sisterhoods among the female readers, who could get the courage to change their destiny and be free.
In spite of all these efforts and merits, why is the voice of a female still not worthy to be listened to, mostly if it happens to be black too? This was the question present in every black woman writer’s mind that confronted with male domination, stereotyping, misjudgments and rejection of her writings. Often confronted with negative reviews, Walker succeeded to prove that her voice is worthy to be listened to and that her fiction and poetry are more important than her private life. Through her characters and her own life story, Alice Walker embodies the woman who gave an ideal to every African-American female that had similar stories, fears and internal conflicts. Therefore, my paper will firstly present how central historical issues like slavery, racism and sexism were viewed from a womanist perspective; secondly, I want to demonstrate how Walker became a valuable person, both for the black fiction and the African-American history.
The sources I have chosen to use in this respect are the novel The Color Purple and the collection of essays In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens by Alice Walker and various historical writings, concerning topics like slavery, racism or the image of the black woman and her status in the society and in the private life. The first chapter is the most complex one, containing three subchapters, which assure the historical background for the analysis of the African-American characters. I intend to explore the Negro’s history from the origins and to follow the evolution of events in a chronological way. Thus, in the first subchapter I will deal with the arrival of the Africans in America through the slave trade, their weak condition under slavery, their several escaping attempts and the long-expected abolition of slavery. In the second subchapter, I will focus on the several means by which colored people were discriminated by the white society. I will concentrate mainly on the feminist side, by analyzing the black woman’s image from different perspectives; moreover, I will try to shape black women’s characteristics through the comparison with the white women. The third subchapter is dedicated to the presentation of the African culture, topic which is present in Walker’s novel and which creates a strong bond between the African-Americans and their ancestors. The African experience belongs to Nettie, one of the main characters of The Color Purple; thus every detail about the African culture and traditions, the resemblances between the lifestyle of the tribe and the discrimination existent in the United States are depicted from a womanist perspective.
The second chapter deals with Alice Walker’s biography and her implication in every event that had to do with black women’s fight for their rights and for their acknowledgment in the literary world. As a child, Walker was marked by an accident that had terrible consequences upon her personality, but she also passed through different difficult moments during her adulthood. An unexpected pregnancy and an abortion, the suicidal thoughts, her struggles in facing the preconceptions and earning the public’s appreciation, or her divorce are just a few of her hard times. Alice Walker is one of the writers who inspire themselves from their own lives and, for this reason, it is essential to know details from her private life in order to understand some of her characters. The second part of this chapter explores Alice Walker as a womanist voice, using as a reference her volume of essays, In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens. This book is very significant for the black literature, because it includes many authentic stories gathered from the African-American women. Brought together, they shape a clear image of the black female’s identity and life struggles. The volume also represents a tribute to her ancestors that Alice perceives as models, for their strength, creativity and courage of moving on, despite any type of obstacle. Walker associates all these authors and all the creative spirits with the image of “the mother”, because she appreciates them and feels indebted to acknowledge their merits, when the society ignored them. The collection of essays also includes pieces of Walker’s autobiography, the focus being on the events that marked her in some way and on her interior conflicts and contradictory feelings. In this book, the author also depicts the circumstances in which she wrote her famous novel, placing a great importance on her characters:
“Eventually we found a place in northern California we could afford and that my characters liked. And no wonder: it looked a lot like the town in Georgia most of them were from, only it was more beautiful and the local swimming hole was not segregated. It also bore a slight resemblance to the African village in which one of them, Nettie, was a missionary”
The third chapter is entirely dedicated to the analysis of the main female characters from The Color Purple. My aim is to expose different types of black women and to analyze, in detail, their thoughts, internal conflicts, fears and expectations through their relationships with the other characters. Black women have always been the target of the stereotyping, being classified in certain categories, according to their personality and physical appearance. Following the chronological evolution of events, I will focus on the way in which these characters dealt with some issues and changed their initial status.
I. Slavery, Race and African tradition
I.1 The roots of slavery
I.1.1 The slave trade
The African American people’s history traces its roots to hundreds of years ago, when Africans were sold in great numbers to the European traders, in order to be turned into slaves for the white buyers of the “New World”. The fact that the slaves represented a source of free labor led to the flourishing of the slave market and to the development of the economy. The enslavement of the African people also led to the appearance of the concept of “race”, as a justification for all the injustices and the mistreatments endured by them. Having a darker skin, no education, different religion, culture and odd rites, the dark people were classified as the black race, which was obviously inferior to the white one. Seeing the black people more closed to apes than to human beings, the traders and the slave owners treated them as such.
In fact, the concept of “slave” existed before the apparition of the European merchants in Africa, since some of the Africans were themselves slaves of the chiefs of their communities. Unlike the financial reasons for which the Negroes were taken to Europe or America, the Africans enslaved in their own country were punished like that as a consequence of being war prisoners, of seducing married women or of being responsible for different crimes. What was different in this case, was the status of the black people, who were still considered human beings and, moreover, parts of the community. Their value laid in the reputation and the respect of their owner and they were treated very well, in contrast with the slaves sold to the white buyers, whose value decreased to the status of objects or animals. The oppression of the black people began actually before the process of being turned into slaves, because the demand for them was very big and the traders tried more methods for catching them than just waiting for them on the coast. Therefore, the slavers attacked villages, generating the death of many innocent people and the separation of the families by taking prisoners. They also organized multiple shore attacks, or they even turned some coast tribes against each other’s, in order to take advantage of their fights and to procure hundreds of slaves. The process of chasing and kidnapping the natives represented a real slaughter because many of them died and mostly because of the harsh treatment: “The raids in Africa were carried a score of leagues inland, untold and unspeakable atrocities were perpetrated upon the natives in thousands of cases. No end of cruelty, no end of bloodshed, no end of diabolical torture was the order of the day. Although growing side by side with America’s maiden efforts in a humane civilization, and the introduction of all manner of anti-cruel methods, the treatment of the African slave, nevertheless, from start to finish has simply been a picture long drawn out of hellish brutality, unbridled sensuality, and demoniacal practices. No other kind of cattle have ever been thus dealt with in the world’s history.”
The massacre continued on the ships, during their transportation to the new continent. Not only the poor food and the unsuitable conditions in which the natives were transported represented the reasons of their death, but also the cruelty of the ship crew, who behaved like beasts with the savages. In some cases, the slaves tried, in different ways, to kill themselves, as an English captain depicts: “We had about 12 negroes did wilfully drown themselves, and others starv’d themselves to death; for ’tis their belief that when they die they return home to their own country and friends again.” In other cases, they started a rebellion, but with no success. Instead they caused additional deaths, the instigators being harshly punished in front of them, as a lesson that was to be taken into account. In The Negro a menace to American civilization, by Robert W. Shufeldt, a case of rebellion and its consequences is shortly illustrated: “They were in the hold and packed together as usual, chained two and two. The mutiny was quickly suppressed, but the captain decided to make an example of the ringleaders, so he shot and hanged 46 of the men and a negress. When they were hung, a rope was put round their necks and they draw up to the yardarm clear of the sail. This did not kill them, but only chocked or strangled them. They were then shot in the breast and the bodies thrown overboard. If only one of two that were ironed together was to be hung, the rope was put around his neck and he was drawn up clear of the deck, and his leg laid across the rail and chopped off to save the irons and release him from his companion, who at the same time lifted up his leg till the other was chopped off as aforesaid, and he released.”
The interval between the mid of the 15th century and the 19th century consisted of dozens of atrocities against the enslaved people, most of them ending up with violent deaths. The progression of the slave trade was not due just to the registered income, but also to the influential people who contributed at the maintenance of the institution of slavery. This system was built up on basis of violence, inhumanity and lack of compassion and all the laws concerning the slaves were formed against them. It was very difficult for a slave to defend himself and to make justice, given the fact that he had no rights, he was not allowed to bring proves against the white oppressor or to be fairly judged in a trial. Punishments were very harsh too, even for minor deeds, speaking here about whipping, burning or chopping certain parts of the body. But this was not an impediment for the slaves, because they have always tried to gain their freedom. From the hunger strikes on the vessels to different forms of resistance on the plantations like “working slowly, sabotaging crops or machinery, running away, armed resistance and even suicide” , the natives have tried everything in order to escape and be free. What is more is that actually, the numerous attempts of escape and mostly the successful ones led to Civil War (1861-1865), because the runaway blacks headed to North in order to be free. The Republicans’ intention of prohibiting slavery in the whole country was taken as a threaten by the Southern States, which based their economy mostly on the slavery institution.
If on the one side, the slave trade was associated with cruelty and murders and was interpreted as a sin against humanity, on the other side, the slave trade represented a helpful way for the improvement of the whites’ economy. Therefore, many people got involved in this business, working as carpenters, shipbuilders, traders or seamen. Moreover, the slaves working on the plantations signified an important source of money, on the basis of which the slave owners financed other businesses and increased their income considerably. Beside these investments, the white people used the money for political power; some institutions, like banks, were also founded thanks to the slave trade. Thus most of the government members or the individuals of the high rank in the society were involved in the slave trade in a way or another, ensuring its continuity as a normal event, for several decades. All of these terrible acts of oppression were disguised under masks full of lies and racist comments. Everything started from the statement that classified blacks as barbaric creatures lower than human beings, as heathens who practice sacrifice and other strange rituals, as beings with low intellect, but with well-developed sexual instincts. Another lie that advocates the above preconceptions was that the Negros didn’t cohabit as a society and it was a relief for them to be taken out of Africa and to start a new life in a civilized world. Moreover, the institution of slavery was considered beneficial, because it was the only way through which the natives could be civilized. The religious side of this cultivation process had a major contribution, because the Africans were taught the Word of God, belief that promotes love and forgiveness as man’s main virtues. Hence, the Negros had to understand that their pagan practices as “exorcism, witchcraft, Obi worship, spells and blood sacrifices” were not appropriate to their new status and they had to resign. Under these reasons, the slaves could be easily oppressed and killed, their lives having only a monetary value.
I.1.2. The condition of slaves
From the perspective of the enslaved Negro, all these series of events that had to do with his life signify a traumatic period that truly affected him. Being taken by force from his home, being separated from his family, hungered, beaten, bound to work on harsh conditions without even being paid, the slave lost his whole human condition: “One day, when all our people were gone out to their works….and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both; and without giving us time to cry out, or to make our resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood. Here they tied our hands and continued to carry us as far as they could, till night came on, when we reached a small house, were the robbers halted for refreshment, and spent the night…. The next day proved of greater sorrow….for my sister and I were separated.” The whites considered the slaves inferior, and then they didn’t even allow them to be educated, to lose their barbaric status and wild behavior: “In slavery times they were taught many things-but book-learning was not included- comparatively few negroes could read and write and fewer still had even an inkling of a higher education”. In some states, like North Carolina, there were specific laws that prohibited the blacks’ nurture: “any free person, who shall hereafter teach, or attempt to teach, any slave within the State to read or write, the use of figures excepted, or shall give or sell to such slave or slaves any books or pamphlets, shall be liable to indictment in any court of record in this State having jurisdiction thereof, and upon conviction, shall, at the discretion of the court, if a white man or woman, be fined not less than one hundred dollars, nor more than two hundred dollars, or imprisoned; and if a free person of color, shall be fined, imprisoned, or whipped at the discretion of the court, not exceeding thirty nine lashes, nor less than twenty lashes.” Instead, the slave owners preferred to make themselves clear and to keep the slaves under control by any means of violent acts and cruel punishments. In a capitalist world that they weren’t able to understand, the most important thing was the profit made on their behalf. Well-known myths about the inferiority of the blacks in relation with their color, their incapacity to learn, their pagan beliefs, or the fact that enslavement represented their chance to redemption, had an important role in the expansion of the capitalism: “For capitalism the Negro is a dull ignorant fool at one time and place and a highly cultured and brilliant individual at another- so long as by using this sort of propaganda and diplomacy capitalism can reap a profit”
The slave era was not a dark period just for the Africans brought to America through the Trans-Atlantic-Slave Trade, but also for other races that were enslaved, like the Native Americans. Unlike the Negro slaves, who were taken away from their land, the indigenous inhabitants were chased away from their land. The territory has always been a worthy thing to fight for and this happened in the case of the Native American tribes too, because they fought against the invaders, in order to keep their own ancestral land. Being defeated most of the time, the indigenous people had to make certain agreements concerning the land and their rights on it, but not even in this case, the settlers didn’t entirely respect the treaties made. This thing happened primarily because they always claimed that the tribes were nomadic and had no constant settlements or cultivated terrain that could prove their ownership of the land. Even so, the slaves brought from the African continent were the most oppressed, their color being a strong reason for their inferiority. This belief attracted so many unjust laws, whose aim was just the harm against the blacks and the expansion of enslaved people. Therefore, a white woman was not allowed to have a relationship with a slave, because through their marriage, she would lose her freedom and become a slave too; another case would be that of a child of an enslaved woman and a white slave owner, who would naturally inherit the status of his mother. In terms of slaves’ lives on the plantations, there is so much to talk about given the fact they were exploited in such an inhuman way.
First of all, the slave trade was so requested because the slaves’ life expectancy and the rate of reproduction were very low and many of them died at young ages. The most popular cause of death was the fact that they were overworked, hungered and bad treated by their masters. In contrast with other territories that imported slaves, like Brazil, Barbados, the English and French West Indies, the United States registered a higher rate of reproduction, but many deaths as well: “American slaves were over-worked to a degree that shortened life. In Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, slaves on sugar plantations were driven so hard that they had to be replaced every seven years.”
Second of all, the treatment of the slave owners was so cruel that it erased any shades of African ancestry from the black people’s body and spirit as well. Under slavery, the natives were given new names, being forced to forget their former ones that had so much to do with their national and cultural identity, their religious beliefs, and their family heritage. The whites saw themselves to be in condition to decide upon the lives of their slaves, as if they had new accessories. As regarding the body, the slaves were branded or marked in certain ways in order to prove their ownership and to be easily identified in case of escape : “In an advertisement in the Raleigh “Standard” on July 18, 1838, Micajah Ricks stated “Ranaway, a negro woman and two children; a few days before she went off, I burnt her with a hot iron on the left side of her face, I tried to make the letter M.”60 R.P. Carney stated in an advertisement, on December 22, 1832, in the “Mobile Register” the following: “One hundred dollars reward for a negro fellow Pompey, 40 years old, he is branded on his left jaw.”
Many declarations of former slaves prove the brutality and the cynical attitude of their owners, who were capable, for instance, to demand their slaves to “go on their knees and thank their owners” or to have them say “God bless you” after being beaten, to feed them with their left-overs, or to rape the female slaves. But beside these acts of atrocity, the several types of torture that they used on blacks go beyond any imagination. Theodore Weldin, one of the abolitionists of slavery depicts a series of cruelties that led to slow and very painful deaths: “frequently flogged with terrible severity, have red pepper rubbed into their lacerated flesh, and hot brine, spirits of turpentine (…) that they are often stripped naked, their backs and limbs cut with knives, bruised and mangled by scores and hundreds of blows with the paddle, and terribly torn by the claws of cats drawn over them by their tormenters; that they are often hunted with blood hounds and shot down like beasts, or torn in pieces by dogs; that they are often s