Analysis of Beloved and The Color Purple - Research Paper Example

Analysis of Beloved and The Color Purple This paper shall seek to look at two works of literature that speaks of the conditions of the African American community after the civil war but before the movement for desegregation had begun. The paper shall look at the process of Reconstruction that was put in place in America so that the two warring factions of the federation would be able to come back together to form a unified nation. These novels, Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, speak of issues of racism and sexism that persisted in the American South despite the abolition of slavery. The novels point attention to this period in history despite being removed from them in time to remind the American readership of the history of slavery that had given rise to racism, a reality that was relevant even in the 1980. These novels address the need for women to write their own narratives, understand their own woes and act accordingly. They emphasize the importance of sisterly feelings amongst women and the need for women to understand the issues that are specific to women of the African American community. The novels speak of how women of the African American community are discriminated against and oppressed on two counts- their race and their gender. In The Color Purple, walker speaks of the innumerable difficulties that black Americans had to undergo as a result of the problems posed by slavery. She undertakes the venture of narrating some such lives, notably Celie’s. Celie is a character who has undergone physical and mental torture at the hands of her father and later, her husband who is referred to by name only late into the novel. The novel portrays the inferior or subordinate status that women of color were made to endure at the hands of not just white men but also men of color. This is the irony of the situation that Walker seeks to present in her novel. Despite the fact that Albert and Celie are both marginalized on the basis of their color, Celie is doubly marginalized as a result of the fact that she is a woman. The public act of abolition, thus, does not help Celie attain freedom of any kind in her private sphere. What walker effectively achieves in this novel is a repudiation of the claims that the American Civil War brought an end to racism or sexism. The manner in which Morrison goes about this is then, interesting as her character Sethe, was one who had rebelled in her own manner against white oppression. She has killed one of her own children in order to send them to a better place, one that is free, unlike the American society that she is a part of. The indication here is that women are left to fend for themselves in a world that is racist and also sexist. For this act of hers, Sethe is ostracized by a community which feels that she had not adhered to the code of ethics that are to be followed by mothers. One finds the pervasive influence of the Anglo-Saxon model of the family on the African American community as well in this marginalization that the African American woman faced. This is again a situation of irony as the African American woman never really had an opportunity to choose a model of a family that was to her liking. Despite this, Paul D deserts her at a crucial point of time. Here too, the need for solidarity is what is expressed by Morrison. History is another important factor in both the novels. The idea of slavery being an important factor in the shaping of African American women and the lives they led during the post-Civil War era is something that Morrison and Walker speak of. In both the novels, one of the most important strains is also the avowed need to remember this history. The fact that forgetting the past is not an option is something that both Morrison and Walker remind their readership of. The return of the past in Beloved is symbolized by the return of Beloved and the persistence of a supernatural presence throughout the novel. According to Morrison, a knowledge and awareness of this history is necessary in order to understand one’s position in society. This is the reason why this novel is significant even today. Walker reminds one of one’s position in history through speaking of the constraints that were placed in the path of African American women in their pursuit of attaining respect for themselves. The occasions on which Sofia is chastised by white American society is proof of the inferior position that they were supposed to accept as a result of their history of slavery which passed into a present of racist stereotypes. Morrison, in a conversation with another African American writer Gloria Naylor, speaks of the need for women to speak their own stories. She argues that this is all the more important in the case of African American women as feminists from white America have often neglected the concerns of the African American women (Morrison 194). In the case of Beloved, the denouement of the novel suggests that Sethe would have to write her own story along with Paul D, liberating herself from living others’ lives. In the case of The Color Purple, Celie’s relationship with Shug Avery suggests the same. Both of them begin a relationship which is for themselves. The narrative of their relationship is the narrative of themselves whereby they seek to assert their individuality. This is different from the narratives of race solidarity that erased the specificities of gender-based oppression in the lives of African American women. Both these novels speak of the need for the Civil Rights Movement at a point of time when the benefits of the movement had already started to be visible. The African American community had begun to acquire a certain amount of power owing to the movements led by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in the sixties. The importance of history at such a juncture was important as it would enable the middle classes to not be taken up by the benefits of the affirmative action programs and forget their cultural histories. The development of the black bourgeoisie was looked upon with great suspicion even by the intellectuals from the African American community. E. Franklin Frazier in his landmark publication Black Bourgeoisie spoke of the cultural dissociation that the black bourgeoisie was seeking to cultivate. This, he argued, was based on racial self-hatred and was the result of the history of racism and slavery that the African American community had come through (Frazier 20). The marginalization that the African American woman undergoes in both these novels also gives them a curious variety of independence. They are able to dissociate themselves from traditional structures of gender hierarchies and structures as a result of their status as outsiders. This outsideness grants them the ability to lead more independent lives. The fact that Sethe is able to build a life for herself without the support of men is because she is marginalized in any case. She does not feel the need to adhere to certain notions of femininity herself. Similar is the case of Sofia, who believes in not letting go of her self-esteem for anybody. This enables her to stand up to her husband and the whites. According to the authors, this is a necessary trait for women of the African American community if they have to make progress in a society that is racist. The two novels discussed in this paper speak of the need for solidarity amongst women of the African American community. A large part of the reason for this is the fact that they shared similar histories. The history of racism and slavery was something that these women underwent as a part of their race is coupled with the sexism and abuse that they underwent as a community of women. This specific history is what these two authors attempt to focus on. Walker spells this out in greater detail while Morrison focuses more on the larger effects of this history. Walker speaks of the economic and physical deprivations that African American women were made to undergo while Morrison looks at the psychological effects of slavery. The fact that many of the woman characters in these novels do not display a sense of inferiority in relation to men of any race indicates the struggles that they had to put up merely in order to survive. The two novels area a celebration of these struggles. They highlight the position that these women were able to carve out for themselves in the American society as a result of their strife. It is also an indication of the progress that they had made following the initiation of the Reconstruction of the American federation. More than anything, one may look at these novels as a reminder of these histories in an era when it was becoming increasingly easy for the black middle classes to forget them. Works Cited Frazier, E. Franklin. Black Bourgeoisie. New York: Free Press, 1990. Print. Morrison, Toni. “A Conversation: Gloria Naylor and Toni Morrison”. Conversations with Toni Morrison. Ed. Danille Taylor-Guthrie. Mississippi: UP of Mississippi, 1994. Web. 20 Oct. 2013. ---. Beloved. New York: Random House, 2000. Print. Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Penguin, 2002. Print. Read More