Subordination of African women in the novel The Color Purple

Abstract

Alice Walker's The Color Purple is a novel written in an epistolary form in the year 1982. The novel is about the coming of age of an African woman in a repressive and hostile environment of South America. The story is about women's struggle against the dominant ideology of patriarchy in America as well as Africa. Women in the novel live in a male-dominated society, which is both racist and sexist in nature. Female characters are subject to all forms of oppression in the novel, which finally leads to their mental and physical subordination. Black women in the novel are triply oppressed as they are subjugated because of their colour, class and gender. However, the novel not only brings the struggle of women in this patriarchal society alive but also depicts how their inner strength to fight these evils in the society.  These acts of courage ultimately help them in carving their their own identities and leading them to the path of self-discovery and self-realization.