Women of African descent, who could afford to put their pen to paper, have challenged the status quo in the cultural, political, social, and spiritual realms of their community by using their craft to represent women who defy traditional roles and resist the strictures of oppression. They lend voice to women who have long been silenced and discriminated against, women who have the status of a mule, to say the least. Black women writers from around the globe have been relentlessly struggling against racism, exploitation, gender oppression, and other human rights violations. The psychological and physiological ramifications of globalization have been a major part of the subject matter of the contemporary African writers. With regard to Africa and African culture, the international slave trade and colonialism compelled significant and growing contact with globalization in its nascent manifestations. What black women writers want is to have their say in global decisions concerning survival and the future of humanity. They need access to and participation in the advancement of globalization. This paper critically examines The Color Purple, the highly acclaimed work of Alice Malsenior Walker, and celebrates the unflagging spirit of womanhood.

In a patriarchal society, men are encouraged to vent their frustrated aggression in the direction of those without power, i.e., women and children. White men and black men both abuse women. Beatrice Stegeman (Frank 1987, 17)1 defines the deplorable state of the African woman who is constantly at odds with the communal aspiration of her society. In an article on the new women in the male-authored African literature, she remarks, “Communalism implies a standard of value of submergence rather than self-realization. In traditional African societies, the role of each citizen is to perpetuate the status quo, to assume continuity of the clan, to work within tradition, and to maintain close society.” Sexual subordination is unique to an African woman as she experiences sexual subjugation not only at the hands of her own men but also colonial subjugation by the European colonizers. Frank (1987, 15), while discussing the novels written by women, comments, “Given the historically established and culturally sanctioned sexism of African society, there is no possibility of a compromise, or even truce with the enemy. Instead, women must spurn patriarchy in all its guises and create a safe, sane, supportive world of women: a world of mothers and daughters; sisters and friends.” The feeling of servility and subordination of women stems from a dependence on male support. Fatton (1989, 53) observes, “Not surprisingly, women have been victimized by the hegemony of the male vision of the world. It is a vision that has led women to accept many of the patterns and processes of their own subordination.”

Alice Walker, an African American, born on February 9, 1944 and raised in Georgia, has written at length on issues of race and gender. Her works typically focus on the struggles of black, particularly women, and their struggle against a racist, sexist, and violent society. Her writings focus on the role of women of color in culture and history. She became the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her critically acclaimed book The Color Purple and the first black woman to win the National Book Award. In The Color Purple, she designs the lifestyle of her protagonist as initially fragmented, disorganized, but ultimately whole and organized.

American Literature Journal, Amor in Pound, Classical European Literature, Homosexuality, Diastasis, Olga-Circe-Artemis, Heterosexual Love, Homosexual Love.