SOURCE: Heglar, Charles J. “Named and Nameless: Alice Walker's Pattern of Surnames in The Color Purple.” ANQ 13, no. 1 (winter 2000): 38-41.

In the following essay, Heglar examines Walker's withholding of surnames and use of blank lines for the names of male characters in The Color Purple, and studies her use of surnames for three of the novel's atypical female characters.

In her 1982 novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker skillfully erases, withholds, or supplies surnames for her characters in order to develop an alternative perspective that challenges, overturns, and regenerates the patriarchal society of the novel. Walker's erasure or withholding of surnames draws attention to her examination of male dominance; on the other hand, in the few cases when she supplies a surname for a character, Walker indicates an alternative to such domination. Namelessness and naming become a significant pattern as the novel unfolds.

Molly Hite has given an insightful...