Conversing with Self, Negotiating with the World—How Identity Empowers Celie’s Change in The Color Purple

Abstract

The Color Purple is one of the best-known novels written by Alice Walker, an African American writer. The narrative portrays an African American woman Celie who suffered the tyranny of patriarchal and racial oppression, overcame the shadow of the past, and eventually enjoyed a life of freedom, independence, and respect. This paper discusses how Celie’s self-identity developed in a dynamic pattern in a long temporal process. Celie’s psychological evolution of self-identity is vital to the shape of ideology and independence as well as to the world around her. It concludes that conversing with oneself entails an ongoing investigation of one’s self-identity, which is embodied in one’s interactions with the world and efforts to influence one’s circumstances. Only by developing a positive self-identity and conversing with oneself can one find peace and reconcile with the physical world.