Focalization Theory and the Epistolary Novel: A Narrative Analysis of The Color Purple

Ping Zhou

An epistolary novel is a novel written in the form of a series of letters exchanged among the characters of the story. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker uses this form, popular in eighteenth century Europe, to create a portrait of an early twentieth century African American girl. The novel’s success can be defended by using the focalization theory developed by French narratologist Gerard Genette. His focalization theory incorporates such narratological elements as limitation, flexibility, alternating and polyphony. Walker skillfully synthesizes these narrative elements. By using Genette’s focalization theory to make a narrative analysis, it becomes quite clear that The Color Purple belongs to a modern canon of great epistolary novels. Focalization—also called the point of view, vision or narrative perspective—is an element of narrative study that can be traced back as far as the end of the nineteenth century. Distinguished literary critics, including Henry James, Percy Lubbock, Cleanth Brooks, and Norman Friedman contributed to the theory, defining the term as the choice of the perspective from which the story is told; it is the first question a writer needs to consider for his work. As British critic Percy Lubbock said in his book, The Craft of Fiction, "The whole intricate question of method, in the craft of fiction, I take to be governed by the question of the point of view—the question of the relation in which the narrator stands to the story" (251). French narratologist Gerard Genette made a milestone demarcation between the narrator and the focal character (from whose perspective the narration is made) in his book Narrative Discourse in 1972. According to Genette, there is "confusion between the question (of) who is the character whose point of view orients the narrative perspective? and the very different question who is the narrator? Or, 288 Ping Zhou to put it simply, the question who sees? and the question who speaks?" (186). Focalization answers the former question: From whose perspective is the narration constructed? Elaborating on earlier theories, Genette proposed his own classification of focalization:

1. Non-focalized narrative is the common mode in a traditional omniscient narration in which the narrator knows more than any other characters, such as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace; 2. Internal focalization is when the focalization comes from one fixed character or variable or multiple characters; they only know what they are able to know as characters, the early examples including Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary; 3. External focalization "in which the hero performs in front of us without our ever being allowed to know his thoughts or feelings" Hills Like White Elephants by Hemingway is a masterpiece of this focalization type (Genette 190).

The genre of epistolary novel of course falls into the second category, the internal focalization. The focal character (the person who sees) and the narrator (the person who speaks) merge into one person. The epistolary novel takes the form of letters written by the character from his perspective and the whole book could consist of one or several characters' letters. Some argue that the epistolary novels can enhance the sense of reality since they adopt a form that is commonly used in everyday life. Letters from different characters can provide multiple perspectives without the obtrusiveness of an omniscient narrator. In addition, most letters contain the subjective thoughts of the letter writers, which create an effect similar to that provided in psychological novels. This literary genre, however, also receives much criticism. Some critics question its very credibility, arguing that the time and the motivation of composing letters are the pitfalls of the epistolary novels (Kennedy 413). For example, it may not be possible for the characters to get the opportunity to sit down, pick up a pen and write down what has happened. Thus the sense of reality is completely lost. Since The Color Purple falls into the second category of Genette's theory, it uses the internal focalization. The novel is composed of ninety-two letters, including fifty-five from Celie to God, fifteen from Celie to Nettie and twenty-two from Nettie to Celie. Without a doubt, Alice Walker is taking a double risk in this novel. She not only chooses such a time-honored, but controversial