身為黑人女作家，受麗絲華克在小說《紫色姊妹花》中，犀利地揭露黑人女性遭受性別與種族歧視的迫害，藉此喚醒世人重視性別與種族的不平等，重賦黑人女性獨立的聲音。本論文旨在剖析華克如何顛覆文學與社會意識型態傳統，再次肯定黑人女性生存價值的信念。論文的第一章檢視小說申的書信體形式，除了分析其與小說主旨的關係，並探討小說中所使用的敘述觀點如何強化主題。第二章討論性別議題與小說中女性角色的錯綜關係，華克如何顛覆歐陸灰姑娘的神話，並加鋪述女性對裁縫（對文字的剪裁）的特殊才能。第三章研究父權制度與種族歧視的雙重壓力如何導致女性消音，並且抑制女性自我認同屬性，分析小說語言的運用，以及書名與小說結尾的意涵。華克呈現女主角從沈默到反抗的過程，並確立女性在文學的影響力。

Being a black female writer profoundly concerned with the pling of black women, Alice walker sensitively exposes the impact of sexism and racism on black women in her novel The Color Purple, with a view to making the world aware of sexual and racial inequality and finding a voice that belongs to black women. The present study proposes to investigate how Walker subverts both literary and social conventions in her novel and to present her unwavering resolution to affirm the existence of all black women. The first chapter examines the epistolary form in the novel, with a detailed analysis of its relationship with the thematic messages of the novel, and discusses how the point of view in the novel reinforces the thematic concerns. Chapter II deals with gender issue and the structure of relationships among the female characters, focusing on female bonding, followed by a discussion of Walker's literary subversion of the European Cinderella Myth in the novel and female creativety, chiefly sewing. Chapter III explores how partiarchy and racism lead to black female sillence and pose a threat to the formation of self-indentity, and analyzes the use of language and the significance of the title of the book and the ending. Affirmatively, Walker succeeds in The Color Purple in portraying her female protagonist's development from a silenced woman to a rebellious one and in asserting female influence through literature.