Womens Identities in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Behind a Mas

Womens Identities in The alter over-embellished by Alice perambulator and Behind a masquerade party by Louisa whitethorn Alcott Alice Walkers novel The Color Purple has a juicy cast of female characters to examine when answering the above question. I feel that Louisa May Alcotts short story, Behind A Mask offers an equally rich array of female characters to consider. Through the course of this essay I allow show how Walker and Alcott used variant narrative proficiencys and made different use of language and dialogue to create their characters and how they each respectively created precise powerful pieces of work, identifying with their characters and the problems and obstacles faced by them in their everyday lives.The Color Purple is written in the epistolary style where the main character writes earn to God. These letters are like a diary where Celie tells her story. This diary technique contains Celies inner or so theorys and allows the reader to know the true Celie beca use she is able to tout ensemble open up in her writing. Walker writers the whole story thought Celies (female) perspective, which is particularly useful when we are given Celies whimsey main female characters in the novel, Sophia and Shug. We get a different capture of Nettie because she writes her own letters to Celie.Certain key events in Celies deportment made her the character she is, for example her continual rape by her stepfather the sequent pregnancies and the loss of her children the death of her mother and the loss of her sis, Nettie. However, through the course of the novel, Celie finds that she has managed to year close relations with the female characters of the novel, she finds love and friendship and is finally reunited with her sister and children who were taken from her.The Color Purple opens, with Celie writing to God, describing herself as a genuine girl (the fact that she addresses her letters to God emphasises this) and how her stepfathers advances to h er mother were rejected, resulting in Celies rape. Before chapter one even begins we here a pre-echo of Celies stepfather, You better non never tell nobody except God. Itd kill your mammy. So Celie learns to keep quiet to survive and this is a habilitate that is hard for her to break.Celie is a passive character. She is hardworking and domesticated and this is what allows her to be wed off so young. Celies father and husba... ...r true feelings but whilst Celie feels rue and a desire for love, Jean Muir feels bitter and a need for revenge. The most marked difference between Celie and Jean Muir is how they use their sexual activity (Shug is such(prenominal) more aware of how to use her sexuality effectively than Celie is). Jean Muir uses her sexuality to manipulate the three main male characters of the story, particularly Sir John proscription who is totally taken in by her act. She wants a title and uses her femininity, flattering the elderly gentleman. Sir John is amazed a t such a gentle young woman being interested in him, for although Jean Muir is not described as pretty, her mysterious air provokes interest.Behind a Mask is a short story compared to The Color Purple and this results in the tread being faster. The two stories have nothing in common but their main female characters do share some characteristics, particularly in the way they have learned to hide behind the faade of how welcome women in society should be. B I B L I O G R A P H Y Approaching Literature Literature and Gender (1996) Goodman L (ed), The Open University The Color Purple B (1992) Walker Alice, The Womens Press