엘리스 워커의 『더 컬러 퍼플』: 흑인 여성의 목소리 재현과 신식민적 상황에 대한 담론

Abstract

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple : Discourses on the Recovery of a Black Woman’s Voice and the Postcolonial Situation Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is told within the context of both a gendered and a racialized perspective through black women’s voices. The novel shows how the structures of power which oppress Celie, the downtrodden protagonist, are institutionalized and historicized. One of the remarkable aspects of the novel is the way which it contextualizes Celie’s suffering in terms of black woman’s voice. Celie has lost her voice because of violence, poverty, and brutalization which is forced by a paternal ideology. However, she recovers her own voice with help from Shug Avery who is her role model. Eventually, she creates a voice which attains fulfillment and sustains a sense of identity. The novel also includes a theme for the discourse of race. Nettie’s journey to Africa analyzes the issues of race. Nettie does not find Africa to be a kind of utopia for black people. In fact, slavery is a function of economics, and the violence of colonialism is still strong in the part of Africa that Nettie visits. In conclusion, the novel examines black woman’s voice and the postcolonial situation in Africa in relation to the discourses of gender and race.