Melancholic Epistolary in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

Epistolary or letter-writing as a literary form in fiction is a powerful genre for women writers interested in using novel to reveal the thinking processes of the characters and to explore the psychological difficulties that result from their traumatic conditions. This article intends to focus on Freud’s theory of melancholia and apply it to Walker’s epistolary novel The Color Purple. Using Freudian theory of melancholia, I contend that the self- reflective nature of epistolary narrative is particularly conducive to exploring the psychological difficulties of the female protagonist in the Color Purple.