Reclaiming Voice and Selfhood: Language and Identity in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

Abstract

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple presents language as both a reflection of oppression and an instrument of empowerment for African American women. Through the protagonist Celie, Walker illustrates the complex interrelation between speech, silence, and self-realization. As Celie’s linguistic expression evolves from incoherent dialect to articulate self-assertion, her identity undergoes a parallel transformation from submission to autonomy. This paper analyzes how Walker uses language as a symbolic site of identity formation, resistance, and reclamation within a racist and patriarchal context. By employing vernacular Black English rather than standard American English, Walker affirms the cultural legitimacy of the Black female voice and challenges the linguistic hierarchies that silence it.