An Ecofeministic analysis of Alice Walker‘s ―The Color Purple‖

Abstract

The present research study aims to explore an English novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker from an ecofeminist perspective. Ecofeminism provides a new and broader vision for understanding the situation of human and nature by placing women‘s sufferings and environmental deterioration in systems of oppression. Alice Walker has a profound ecofeminist sense, which is displayed in her preoccupation with the plight of the black people, their relationship with the white people in a patriarchal and dualized society, and the bonds between human beings and nonhuman nature. Although, Walker uses the word ―Womanism‖ to show her unremitting concern with the lives and rights of black women; her efforts in revealing the oppression of the black and her love for nonhuman nature leads her further into disclosing the link between the destruction of nonhuman nature and oppression of women. The popularity of The Color Purple lies to a large extent in the ecofeminist sense that Walker demonstrates in her writing. An ecofeminist reading of this novel means a better understanding of the relationship between men and women as well as people of different races and backgrounds, and the relationship between humans and nonhuman nature. The present study explores the theme of woman domination and subjugation by the males of that society and the premise is being evaluated through textual examples from the novel derived through close reading technique.