Alienation in Alice Walker's the Color Purple

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Alienation and Integration in Alice Walker's The Color Purple EXPLORING Novels, 2003 ------------------------------------------------- Top of Form Bottom of Form [In the following excerpt, Shelton discusses how the characters in The Color Purple change from alienated to fulfilled, and do so without knowledge or benefit of political action. ] Respectful attention has been devoted to Walker since 1970, when she published her first novel, but perhaps now she will receive the consideration she deserves, for The Color Purple is the culmination of her work to date, bringing her concerns together in a very powerful and appealing way. She is one of the few contemporary black novelists—Ernest Gaines is another who comes to mind—to concentrate on Southern black folk and folkways. Though her most recent novel deals with Southern life from the 1920s to the 1940s and though racism is by implication present in all facets of the life of her black characters, it gets little direct attention in the novel, with the exception of Sophia's story. Whites are called "a miracle of affliction" and otherwise are virtually ignored. Essentially Walker focuses on blacks, particularly black women, and how they interact with one another. She has declared, "I am preoccupied with the spiritual survival, the survival whole of my people. But beyond that, I am committed to exploring the oppressions, the insanities, the loyalties, and the triumphs of black women."... Walker's major interest is whether or how change can occur in the lives of her black characters. Her first two novels suggest that change, while possible for an individual, involves a terrible price. The Color Purple is much more joyous and optimistic. Certainly change is painful for the characters, but nowhere in her works has the survival whole of her people been celebrated so completely. The change comes about virtually without

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