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Hamilton, Cynthina. "Alice Walker's Politics or the Politics of The Color Purple." Jornal of Black Studies 18 (Mar., 1988): 379-391. JStor.Depaul University, IL.www.jstor.org

in this context we can begin to see clearly Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize winning novel that takes us back into the black psyche, a return visit to the cultral poverty, where families passon the pathologies of life to succissive generations. In this atmosphere it is safe to return to the Moynihan thesis; it is safe for white American to exonerate the black matriachy and for black men to denounce it; safe to look at deteriorating black family life and proclaim its cause as the historically mounting antagonism betewwn black men and women.
Like Susan Brownmiller in the 1960's she explains rape in terms of men; she explains black women's oppression as a result of patriarchy, and the answer to the problem of exploitation is the successfful embracing of middleclass ethics that allow for the fulfillment of the American dream; home ownership and entrepreneurship. Only through individual initiative, she implies, can the solutions be found: women must fing their solutions outside the home and motherhood, in enterprise, entertainment, and education.
There is no doubt that many experiences of the characters in The Color Purple are real for many readers and moviegoers. In fact, that may be the very issue that ought to be addressed. The facts of life today allow us to identify completely with a lonely, isolated, alienated young woman, a woman left without a family because of the meanness of the significant men in her life- stepfather, father, husband.