LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:10 October 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Language as a Symbol in
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

Hema Nalini Raghunath
Dr. R. Saravana Selvan

Abstract

This paper discusses how language is used as a symbol in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Alice Walker is an effective storyteller and she uses language style, diction, and tone, etc. to impressively characterize her characters in The Color Purple. In addition, language brings in the aura of regional characteristics, emotional expressions and beliefs practiced in American South.

Key word: language use, characterization, regional accent and aura.

A Novel of Letters

R. Erin Huskey (2009) writes, “Alice Walker demonstrates that social change begins on a very personal level. By telling the stories of these characters through their letters, she offers an intensely personal and individualized engagement with the revitalization of language and form--both literary and bodily--to signal that alternatives for community start with individual growth and commitment to the self. Through the form, language, and content of the novel, she transforms historically oppressive dominant literary forms and asserts voice as represented by the tangible object of the novel. This is an object or text that symbolizes Walker's personal transformation and envisions the possibility of transformation in the reader. This latter transformation is dependent on the internalization of the novel's message: neither Celie nor any other character can help anyone in the community until they first figure out how to help themselves. The novel is a textual act of testifying and witnessing to inspire the reader to transform his/her life and the terms in which he/she thinks about the self.”

Alice Walker and Her Style

Alice Walker is an effective storyteller, who has her roots in Georgia. The place – the South is steeped in history. Hanging out in these places and talking with the people around is a far more enriching experience than just going into solitude. If they cannot speak, they can at least imagine, their inferiority being inviolate and be who they are. Through act, word or imagination, they naturally seek to be characteristically and spontaneously themselves. Alice Walker’s snappy showcase of style is enlivened by realistic and rough visuals. She steers away the readers from touristy landmarks to hang out with the Southern locals, to tell the readers about their terrible experiences.

Increasing Awareness

After meeting each one of them, we can see her people become increasingly conscious about the happenings around. She tells the story of black women whom she knows, not with petal-strewn, red carpet that doubled as a catwalk, neither with flower sprinkled racks and delicate floral bracelets, nor with head wreaths as give away to guests, but with the story that looked perfect enough to roll out the trends of many generations. One should begin to understand Walker as a spokesperson for black women. She believes in listening to black women, especially young women, whose rocky, bumpy roads she has also travelled.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Hema Nalini Raghunath
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Research and Development Centre
Bharathiar University
Coimbatore – 641046
Tamilnadu
India
nalini_raghunath@yahoo.co.in

Dr. R. Saravana Selvan
Professor and Head
Dept. of English and Foreign Languages
Bharathiar University
Coimbatore – 641046
Tamilnadu
India
raja_saravanan@rediffmail.com
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