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Sexism And Classism In Alice Walker's The Color Purple

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Alice Walker 's The Color Purple deals with the notion of sexism, racism and gender discrimination and their negative psychological effects on women 's mind. In this novel, Walker criticizes all kinds of discriminations. The characters, especially the main female characters: Celie, Shug Avery, Sofia, and Squeak, do not have stable identity, but their identity is fluid and dependent on their own language and desires and other characters speech and emotions. The characters are under the influence of their own thoughts and emotions; moreover, other characters’ desires and speech influence them too. Besides, the epistolary style of the novel helps the reader to comprehend the main characters fluid subjectivity. Different impressions prevent us from being confined to a single point …show more content…

Black women faced constant sexism in the Black Liberation Movement. The movement, though ostensibly for the liberation of the black race, was in word and deed for the liberation of the black male. Freedom was equated with manhood and the freedom of blacks with the redemption of black masculinity. The lives of African-American women have been critically affected by racism, sexism and classism, which are systems of societal and psychological restriction. The racist, sexist and classist structure the American society compartmentalizes its its various ethnic groups, denigrates the colored as inferior and characterizes males and females as center and margin respectively. Just as black as groups are relegated to an underclass by virtue of their race, women are related to a separate caste by virtue of their sex. Black women are related to a separate caste by virtue of their sex. A system of unequal power and privilege where humans are divided into groups or races with asocial rewards unevenly distributed to groups based on their racial classification. (Zare and Ataeiniya, , p 21). Variations of racism include institutionalized racism, scientific racism, and everyday racism. (Collins,

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