Cyclical Curses: The Victimization of Black Masculinity and A Historical Look at the Legacy of Intraracism in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple Anonymous College

The Color Purple is arguably the most influential and well-known book of Alice Walker’s literary opus. It won the Pulitzer Prize; it was adapted into a successful film; and it has continued to spark controversy and debate since its publication. Most of the controversy surrounding this piece centers on the role of African American men in Walker’s writing. She appears to have an unrestrained anger towards black men, and those men may well be stripped of power in her writing, but I would posit that this portrayal of black men is due more to the amount of social, legal, and historical detriments weighing down on them than to Walker’s personal vendetta. She is portraying a certain aspect of black masculinity associated with the time period and setting of the novel. The men—volatile and malicious as they are—are just as victimized by their circumstances as the women are. The racial confines of a white power structure relegated these men to a bestial existence, and this relegation was so powerful and complete that it became self-sustained in the psyche of many African-American communities—a self-perpetuating curse. This is proven in The Color Purple by the fact that almost all of the violence and depravity is directed towards an...