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

Year 2023, Issue: 37, 1239 - 1249, 21.12.2023

Saman Hashemıpour , Charlene Erica Dushıme

https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1406004

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

Subjectivity, domestic violence, sexual abuse, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker

Alice Walker’ın Renklerden Moru ve Toni Morrison’un En Mavi Göz romanlarında aile içi şiddet ve cinsel istismar: Öznellik sorunu

Abstract

Siyahi kadınlar cesaretli ve acıya dayanıklı olarak doğar ve yetiştirilirler, ancak sergiledikeleri dayanıklık, gizlice tahammül ettikleri tacize karşı olan tepkiden ibarettir. Alice Walker ve Toni Morrison edebi romanlarında, aile içi istismar ve cinsel şiddete maruz kalan siyahi kadın kahramanları tasvir ediyorlar. Bu makale, Julia Kristeva’nın Öznellik teorisini baz alarak, kadınların aktif katılımının özgün ve doğal taraflarının kültür ve politik açıdan tekrar kazandırma yollarını incelemektedir. Böylece kadınlar sadece kendilerini baskıdan kurtarmakla kalmayıp, ayrıca, erkek özneyi boşluktan, istikrarsızlıktan ve hareketsizlikten de kurtarabilirler. Buna karşılık, Renklerden Moru ve En Mavi Göz’ün sayfalarında tasvir edilen saf dürüstlük, siyah topluluk tarafından sıcak karşılanmamıştır. İletinin sebebi, esas olarak normdan sapmış gözüken siyahi kadınların mücadelelerinin siyahi erkeklere bağlı olduğunu kurgulanarak gösterildiğinden kaynaklanmış olabilir. Toni Morrison ve Alice Walker için sessiz kalmak anlaşılabilir bir sorun değildir ve buna dayalı olarak, bu çalışma, Kristeva’nın kadın öznelliğinin yapısına dayalı olarak önerdiği çözümler ve tasvir ettiği dünya alternatif olarak sunulmuştur. Böylece, kayıp öznelliğin tasviri aracılığı ile, Alice Walker’ın Renklerden Moru ve Toni Morrison’un En Mavi Göz romanlarında, siyahi toplumun aile içi şiddet ve cinsel istismar sorunu incelenmektedir. Walker, Morrison ve çoğu feminist eleştirmen, insanın doğasında olan başka kadınlarla veya anne ile rekabet etme duygusu ötesinde—akademik düzeyde önemli bir rekabete rağmen—siyahi feminist yazarlar arasındaki analojileri vurgulamaktadırlar. Modern hayatın ekonomik zorluklarından, ırksal terörlerden ve Afrikalı-Amerikalıların kültürel geçmişinden bağımsız olarak, her iki yazar da dünyaya acıları hakkında konuşan Amerikalı siyahilerin anlatılan gerçeklerin yansımasını sağlıyorlar. Onlar için küresel ve tanınmış bir figür olmak, Afrikalı-Amerikalı toplumun endişelerini, kültürünü ve kimliğini dile getirme ve yansıtılması için bir araçtır.

Keywords

öznellik, aile içi şiddet, cinsel istismar, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker

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