Author(s)

Linmei Hou ¹, Tingting Jiang ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Faculty of International Studies, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, China

Corresponding Author

Linmei Hou

ABSTRACT

Alice Walker (1944- ) is one of the remarkable contemporary African-American women writers in the United States. Her novel The Color Purple published in 1982 won widespread attention and acclaim from readers. Set in the rural of Southern United States in the early 20th century, The Color Purple describes the protagonist Celie who is cruelly abused by her stepfather and husband, and then suffers grievous psychological trauma leading to her traumatic symptoms, such as hyperarousal, intrusion and constriction. Later, with the help of other black women, Celie reestablishes the connection with herself and others, and restores autonomy, and then gradually gets rid of psychological trauma. Based on trauma theories of Sigmund Freud and Judith Herman, this paper mainly analyses Celie's traumatic symptoms to expose the physical and mental damage of male hegemony to female, and to manifest Walker's concern and sympathy for the tragic fate of black women. Besides, the exploration of Celie's recovery methods from trauma not only praises black women's dauntless spirit of fighting against inequity and oppression, but also provides feasible effective solutions for modern traumatized women to escape trauma. 

KEYWORDS

The Color Purple, Celie, Trauma, Symptoms, Recovery

CITE THIS PAPER

Linmei Hou, Tingting Jiang, A Study on Celie's Trauma in The Color Purple. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature (2024) Vol. 7: 27-33. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/langl.2024.070105.

REFERENCES

[1] Alice Walker. The Color Purple. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017.
[2] American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994.
[3] Cathy Caruth. Trauma: Explorations in Memory. Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
[4] Cathy Caruth. Unclaimed Experiences: Trauma, Narrative, and History. Baltimore & London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996.
[5] E. Ann Kaplan. Trauma Culture: The Politics of Terror and Loss in Media and Literature. New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London: Rutgers University Press, 2005.
[6] Harold Merskey. The Analysis of Hysteria. London: The Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995.
[7] Judith Herman. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books, 2015.
[8] Kate Millett. Sexual Politics. Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000.
[9] Peter A. Levine. Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past. California: North Atlantic Books, 2015.
[10] Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer. Studies on Hysteria. London: The Hogarth Press, 1955.
[11] Sigmund Freud. Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Trans. James Strachey. London: Penguin Books, 1991. 
[12] Susan R. Suleiman. "Judith Herman and Contemporary Trauma Theory." WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly 36.1 (2008): 276-281.
[13] William J. McGrath. Freud’s Discovery of Psychoanalysis. London: Cornell University Press, 1986.

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