The reflection of trauma and identity in Alice Walker's works

The literary works of Afro-American writers reflect the miseries of their community. Alice Walker, as a black writer, is preoccupied with demonstrating the ongoing predicaments of her community. In The Third Life of Grange Copeland and The Color Purple, Alice Walker articulates the agony of two traumatized black families in the south of the United States. The characters go through a plethora of abuses and oppressions. The writer reveals how racial oppression and violence puncture the lives of the characters and distort their identities. In the novels, the male characters are depicted as victims and victimizers. They are victims of racial oppression of the white hegemony and victimizers of their women and children. Unable to cope with their oppression, the characters take their rage and frustration on their families. Thus, women and children become victims of black men's powerlessness and anguish. Walker outlines race and gender as two driving forces behind these repressions. She exposes how an individual's race and gender can act as a catalyst for experiencing a diverse range of traumas. Besides, she displays how trauma affects the psyche and identity formation of the characters. This thesis seeks to explore the reflection of trauma and identity in Alice Walker's afore-mentioned novels. It endeavors to reveal the source of the trauma in each novel and its aftermath on the characters' psyche and identity. Moreover, it elucidates the characters' healing process and their metamorphosis journey towards self-actualization.