Abstract and Key Words

Abstract: The Color Purple, written by the famous Afro-American writer Alice Walker, successfully depicts a fourteen-year old black girl’s growth which shows black women’s arduous struggle for independence. At first, Celie is numb to the racial and sexual oppressoions upon her. Later she awakens and fights for her future with the help of her black sisters. In the end, she gains both economic and spiritual independence. This thesis analyzes the process of Celie’s growth by dividing it into three stages: under oppressions, awakening and rebellion, and independence. Through the analysis of each stage, this thesis aims to make it easier for the readers to understand Celie’s metamorphosis.

Key words: The Color Purple; Celie; growth

摘要： 著名的非裔美国作家艾丽斯•沃克的《紫色》成功描写了一个十四岁的黑人女孩西丽的成长过程，展示了黑人妇女走向独立之路的艰难的奋斗历程。最初西丽只是麻木的忍受着种族压迫和性别歧视，后来在黑人姐妹的帮助下她觉醒了，并且为自己的命运斗争，最终获得了经济上和精神上的独立。本文旨在通过分析并归纳西丽的成长为三个阶段：受压迫，觉醒与反抗，取得独立，来让读者能更易理解西丽的成长变化。

关键词：《紫色》； 西丽； 成长

1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction to Alice Walker
Alice Walker, a contemporary Afro-American novelist, critic, essayist, poet, short-story writer, is recongnized as one of the most important black women writers in American literature. At the age of 9, Walker’s right eye was blinded by her brother’s gun bullet. She was an activist in civil rights movement and feminist movement. Many of her works, which are about the black women’s fate under the domination of racism and sexism, are inseparable from her miserable experiences that made Walker turn to writing as a natural outlet for her distress. Through the vivid description of the black women’s life and the female characters in her works, she emphasizes the importance of the bond and harmony between black women and black men. As a black female writer, Walker’s concerns about today’s American women issues and treats the struggle for racial equality and emancipation of women as her lifelong career.
1.2 Introduction to The Color Purple
The Color Purple, Alice Walker’s award-winning and best-selling novel, was brought into the world in 1982. The novel won both the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award, and was adapted into a popular movie, which received several Academy Award nominations. Peter S. Prescott even finds the work “an American novel of permanent importance, that rare sort of book which amounts to a diversion in the fields of dread”.