Metamorphosis Of Albert In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple: A Socio-Cultural Analysis

Abstract

The majority of African American literary matriarchs have been frequently criticized for airing the dirty representation of the African American men but ironically most of these these critics have largely ignored how these literary matriarchs have drawn our attention to the regeneration of Black men from their degenerated state. This study intends to analyze one of the most well-known Black male fictional characters, Albert, from Alice Walker's The Color Purple (1982), in the context of a hostile socio-cultural milieu in North America from 1910 to 1940 from a Black feminist, womanist, & psychoanalytical point of view. Although Walker has portrayed Albert as violent, insensible, and destructive, she also acknowledges the factors that contributed to his devilish disposition in a sympathetic and understanding manner. This study  aims to demonstrate that Walker attempted to make Black men aware of their own degradation and urge Black men to overcome their degraded state through the description of Albert's regeneration as a new Black man. In addition to this, the text emphasizes how men have gained social supremacy through the antagonistic dualism of gender roles and social stratification. This paper makes an attempt to defend the stereotypical portrayal of a Black male character by African American literary matriarchs.