Research Article

Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity

Number: 37 December 21, 2023
TR EN

Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity

Abstract

Black women are born and bred to be courageous, bold, and without pain. However, the strength they have had to portray is the abuse they endure in silence. In their fiction, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison portray black female protagonists who suffered domestic abuse and sexual violence. In this study, Julia Kristeva’s theory of subjectivity is assigned to reflect how females regain their authentic and natural place in the culture and political language through active participation. Not only do they free themselves from oppression, but they also save the male subject from emptiness, instability, and immobility. However, the sheer honesty portrayed within the pages of The Color Purple and The Bluest Eye was not warmly welcomed by the black community mainly because they stray from the norm and portray the struggles of black women at the hands of fellow black men. For Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, silence is not the way to go, suggesting Kristeva’s solutions to the problem of female subjectivity due to the edifice of participation. Hence, this study highlights domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison through the depiction of the lost subjectivity. Walker, Morrison, and feminist critics highlight the analogies between black-feminist authors who do not compete with other females or their mothers—but cause substantial competition at the academic level—and this is an ingenuous sense of human nature. Regardless of the economic difficulties of modern life, racial terrors, and the cultural background of African-Americans, they observe how the American society mirrors the untold truths of blacks who speak to the world about their sufferings. Being a global and well-known figure for Walker and Morrison leads to voicing African-American society’s concerns and reflecting its culture and identity.

Keywords

References

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  2. Barlow, J. N. (2020, February). Black women, the forgotten survivors of sexual assault. In the Public Interest. Retrieved June 6, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/pi/about/newsletter/2020/02/black-women-sexual-assault.
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  4. Collins, P. H. (2009). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.
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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Charlene Erica Dushıme This is me
0000-0002-1965-6507
Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti

Publication Date

December 21, 2023

Submission Date

September 17, 2023

Acceptance Date

December 20, 2023

Published in Issue

Year 2023 Number: 37

APA
Hashemıpour, S., & Dushıme, C. E. (2023). Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity. RumeliDE Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 37, 1239-1249. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1406004
AMA
1.Hashemıpour S, Dushıme CE. Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity. RumeliDE. 2023;(37):1239-1249. doi:10.29000/rumelide.1406004
Chicago
Hashemıpour, Saman, and Charlene Erica Dushıme. 2023. “Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The Crisis of Subjectivity”. RumeliDE Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, nos. 37: 1239-49. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1406004.
EndNote
Hashemıpour S, Dushıme CE (December 1, 2023) Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi 37 1239–1249.
IEEE
[1]S. Hashemıpour and C. E. Dushıme, “Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity”, RumeliDE, no. 37, pp. 1239–1249, Dec. 2023, doi: 10.29000/rumelide.1406004.
ISNAD
Hashemıpour, Saman - Dushıme, Charlene Erica. “Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The Crisis of Subjectivity”. RumeliDE Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi. 37 (December 1, 2023): 1239-1249. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1406004.
JAMA
1.Hashemıpour S, Dushıme CE. Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity. RumeliDE. 2023;:1239–1249.
MLA
Hashemıpour, Saman, and Charlene Erica Dushıme. “Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The Crisis of Subjectivity”. RumeliDE Dil Ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. 37, Dec. 2023, pp. 1239-4, doi:10.29000/rumelide.1406004.
Vancouver
1.Saman Hashemıpour, Charlene Erica Dushıme. Domestic violence and sexual abuse in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: The crisis of Subjectivity. RumeliDE. 2023 Dec. 1;(37):1239-4. doi:10.29000/rumelide.1406004