Alice Walker Sexism

It was Alice Walker who famously said “No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” Originally written in her essay In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens, Walker was seeking to convey that acceptance of bigotry, whether it be racism or sexism, is ill-advised beyond belief. The Civil Rights movement, beginning during Walker’s youth, helped spur ideas of equality, allowing her to voice her opinions and call attention to such an issue. As a huge advocate of civil rights, whether it be sexism or racism, Walker sought to apply such messages to her novels as well as her social reform work and highlighted the black female struggle. Alice Walker’s teenage pregnancy, divorce, and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement,
Erma Davis Banks and Keith Byerman write in their novel, Alice Walker An Annotated Bibliography 1968-1986, that before Walker divorced her husband she had only achieved moderate success. It wasn’t until after she finalized the separation and moved to San Francisco that she penned the novel that would make her an American icon, The Color Purple (xiv). In other words, she could not achieve large success until she left her marriage and romance behind, moving across the country onto a secluded farm. This seems to suggest that romantic love was the one thing holding her back from her full potential and happiness that she has now achieved. Likewise, Celie, in The Color Purple, does not attain full satisfaction with her life until she leaves behind all prospects of romantic attraction. When she rejects Mr. _ proposal, she realizes that “[she] be so calm” (Walker 283). Even more, when Shug writes that she’s coming back, Celie realizes that if “[Shug] don’t [come], [she] be content” and she figures “this the lesson [she] was suppose to learn” (Walker 283). Therefore, without those whom she has had romantic affairs with, whether it be Mr. _ or Shug, Celie has now found