Analysis on White Cultural Hegemony in The Color Purple

鄭超凡

【Abstract】The paper gives a brief introduction to Alice Walker and her masterpiece The Color Purple， and further details analyses on the influence of while cultural hegemony on the African Americans. Whats more， it attempts to probe into the factors and forces that can make the oppressed take part in their own oppression from three aspects： religion， knowledge and value system. It calls people to focus on the long-ignored group， black women， through detailed descriptions on their miserable lives.

【Key words】The Color Purple； white cultural hegemony； value system

1. Introduction

Alice Walker is an important African-American female writer， whose masterpiece The Color Purple won both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award in 1983. The novel was also adapted for film in 1985 by Steven Spielberg and this adaptation brought Walker a worldwide fame and popularity. It is considered as one of postcolonial classics. The book depicts lives of two black women born in the South of America， Celie and her sister Nettie， through a series of letters by them. The letters not only describes miserable life of Celie in America， white-central society， but also life of African people colonized by whites. In The Color Purple， Walker has attempted to examine the forces that can make the oppressed take part in their own oppression： how an old black man would think that white women are prettier than blacks， why a black woman would so deeply believe in God， and so on.

In this sense， it is better for us to analyze the book by postcolonial study. Postcolonial study is also a kind of cultural study. It generally studies the extent to which the aggressive culture， West， has influenced the Third World， East. In the light of Said， the relationship between East and West is “a relationship of power， domination， of varying degrees of complex hegemony” （Said， 1978：5）. The ruling class exploits other classes， nations and minorities politically and economically ensuing with their powerlessness in life and illegitimacy in history. Whats more， it also controls the “others” mentally through the cultural policy at an enormous scale. Those culture complex networks： schools， churches， mass media and civil organizations integrated the ideologies of different classes， colors， and sexes， and dominate the whole society. In this way the whole society is easy to reach a consensus with white culture and values， and in turn， the white authority assumes the leading role.

As early as the period of colonization， the black slaves sold to America had no rights about themselves and lost their connection with their ancestral homeland and the support of the original society， thus leading to the loss of their cultural identity and subjectivity.

2. Christianity

Christianity plays an irreplaceable role in the western world. During the colonial period， the slave owner attempted to civilize the salves by using western religion. Then afterwards， the white try to utilize the Bible to spiritually enslave the black and colored people. Although Christianity has once provided black people with consolation， it is actually just a tool for the western cultural imperialism to propagate the doctrine of compliance and endurance. Celie writes to God for confiding her misery， but she never thinks about resistance against her husband， even her step-father. The omnipotent God of the white image in the Bible serves as an instrument to prescribe the white people's superiority and authority.

According to the Bible， pious belief in God can guide people to heaven after death， thus the present life is in vain. In The Color Purple， Celie has a strong reliance on religion at first. She believes she has to endure all kinds of pains without protest， only by this can she go to heaven in the next life. “This life soon be over. Heaven last all ways” （44）. Celie's early remark reveals her submissive attitude towards present life under the passive influence of Christianity. To some extent， it is Christianity that dispels the black people's ambitions. Through this depiction， Alice Walker attacks Christianity for its oppression of black women and its distortion of humanity.

Moreover， as for those places without western religion， the missionary work starts. It undoubtedly has institutional and ideological connections with colonialism. The Africans are considered pagans who should be Christianized， so some missionaries are sent to Africa to convert the unbelievers of Christianity under the mask of providing Christ and good medical advice that people need. They try to indoctrinate them with the white way of thinking and corrupt the religious idea of the indigenous people.

As is illustrated in The Color Purple， missionaries are sent to Olinka area to disseminate the doctrines of Christianity. Unaware of the true nature of missionary， Nettie， together with Samule and Corrine， becomes the instrument of white power establishment. Some black missionaries in this novel assume the role of accomplice for the white power establishment but they have never realized it. There is an ironic scene in this novel. When aunt Theodosia boasts about the medal she received “which validated her service as an exemplary missionary in the King's colony” （242）， a scholar named Edward sharply unmasks the nature of missionary work， “do you realize King Leopold cut the hands off workers who， in the opinion of his plantation overseers， did not fulfill their rubber quota？ Rather than cherish that medal， Madame， you should regard it as a symbol of your unwitting complicity with this despot who worked to death and brutalized and eventually exterminated thousands and thousands of African peoples” （243）

When Olinka people's home is occupied by force by the white people， Nettie and Samuel present the Olinka's grievances to the bishop of the English branch of their church and quest for help. Nevertheless， the bishop only cares about Samuel's yearly report and Corrine's death instead of even mentioning a word about Olinka. More often than not， their sole intention is to change and reconstruct the Olinka people's religious belief.

3. Knowledge

The following is， according to the post-colonial theory， that knowledge is not just the teachings in the textbook but rather the idea embedded with social experience which is controlled by the ruling group. The West monopolizes knowledge and constructs the history according to the western intellectual development. In this novel， Walker questions the credibility of the grand ideas of intellectual history and advocates people's revision of the accepted norms of history. Restrained from receiving education， the black slaves transmit their own stories only by oral narration， thus the black history is marginalized for a long time.

Furthermore， the complicated history of Africa is denied in the hegemonic discourse. Africa is viewed as a place without history or any social change by the West. Under the control of western cultural hegemony， the African-Americans have little mastery of their own history including the miserable history of slavery. As Nettie laments， “I read where the Africans sold us because they loved money more than their own sisters and brothers. How we came to America in ships. How we were made to work. I hadn't realized I was so ignorant... The little I knew about my own self wouldn't have filled a thimble！” （134）

4. Value System

What's more， some African-Americans identify themselves with the value system of the white mainstream culture from their early childhood. Black race is always connected to the notion of primitiveness and backwardness by the dominant white culture. So African-Americans gradually accept this inferior status of the black race that the white define for them and feel ashamed of their dark skin and curly hair. Some black people even forsake their national identity and dream of being admitted into the mainstream society. It is this cultural identification that leads to African-Americans' self-hatred and alienation from their fellow blacks.

The white mainstream culture gives rise to divergence within the black community. Influenced by the white aesthetic standards， in the black community， some lighter skinned black people despise the darker ones. Old Mr._ does not permit his son to marry Shug because she is “black as tar， she nappy headed. She got legs like baseball bats” （56）.This description encompasses the ideology of the white superiority. Old Mr._ is in some way very proud of his light skin color and contemptuous of the black color darker than his own.

5. Conclusion

Alice Walkers great capacity as a writer consists in her capacity of touching many issues and revealing various problems confronted with the blacks. She also raises peoples attention on long-ignored group， black women， through detailed descriptions on their miserable life. Her horizon is not restricted in a small community， but expanded to the whole black community， both in America and Africa. She concerns not only the presence of them， but more importantly， the future of blacks. Therefore， to conduct some research on this kind of book is of great significance in the postcolonial period.

References：

[1]Said，Edward W.Orientalism.London and Henley：Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd，1978.

[2]Walker，Alice.The Color Purple.New York：Pocket Books，1985.