Female Submissiveness In Alice Walker's The Color Purple And Lewis Carroll

Introduction

This essay explores the various ways in which female submissiveness is overcome by the central protagonists of Alice Walker’s “The colour purple” and Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in wonderland”. And how such progress is presented both literally and figuratively. A specific reference is made to gender consciousness, the difference between gender and sex and how stereotypes affect women in the society.

Gender consciousness

According to Susan (2008:1) gender consciousness is the recognition of how ones physical sex shapes ones relationship to the political. Similar to other forms of consciousness, it entails identification with others like oneself, a positive affect toward them and a sense of connectedness with the group and its wellbeing.

Feminism politicizes gender consciousness and inserts it into a systematic analysis of histories and structures of domination and privilege. Therefor it can be said that by gender consciousness, the society is moving towards a journey of feminism.

The colour purple

Alice walker was born in February 1944 in Georgia. She grew up witnessed her parents experience oppressive share cropping system and the racism of South America, most of her writing in “the colour purple” is influenced by it. “The colour purple” explores the struggle of several black women of the rural Georgia in the beginning of the twentieth century.

Walker uses Celie as her central protagonist, and narrator of The Color Purple. She is a poor, uninformed, fourteen-year-old black girl living in rural Georgia. Celie starts writing letters to God because her father, Alphonso, hits and rapes her. Alphonso has already impregnated Celie once. Celie gave birth to a girl, whom her father clothing and seemingly killed in the woods. Celie has another child, a boy, whom her father also takes. Celie’s mother becomes very ill and dies. Alphonso brings home a new wife but continues to taking advantage of