Idea of ethnocentrism and its affect on Corrine’s personality

                        

Annu Sabu Palathingal

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                  Idea of ethnocentrism and its affect on Corrine’s personality

                              The Color purple by Alice Walker

Ethnocentrism is to judge another culture based on the customs and values of one’s own culture. It has generally developed a negative connotation. William G. Sumner created the term "ethnocentrism" upon observing the tendency for people to differentiate between the in-group and others. He defined it as "the technical name for the view of things in which one's own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it." ("Ethnocentrism." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation.inc, 26 Aug. 2014. Web. 28 Aug. 2014).

In the novel we see that the ethnocentric nature of the white society is what leads to the Black slavery. They thought of themselves as superior for they have white skin and all the others inferior. It is through Nettie’s letters that we gain some knowledge about the Olinka tribe in Africa. There, it is common for one man to have many wives or polygamy in short, so when Samuel, Corrine and Nettie arrive with the kids they think that both Corrine and Nettie are Samuel’s wife.  They are unable to perceive that there also exists monogamy in other cultures. “Corrine said to me this morning, Nettie, to stop any kind of confusion in the minds of these people, I think we should call one another brother and sister, all the time. Some of them can’t seem to get it through their thick skulls that you are not Samuel’s other wife.”(Walker,142). The Olika tribe did not believe in educating their girl children. “Tashi’s mother and father were just here. They are upset because she spends so much time with Olivia. She is changing, becoming quiet and thoughtful too, they say” (Walker, 145).They felt pity for foreign women who had to leave their homeland for it is not in their culture for their women to leave their homeland. Nettie was therefore someone pitied by the whole tribe, men and women alike. “you are not much, the missionary’s drudge” (Walker, 141).The lines “the women share a husband but the husband does not share their friendship, it makes Samuel uneasy. It is confusing…its Samuel’s duty as a Christian minister to preach the bible’s directive of one husband and one wife.”(Walker, 150) shows that how Samuel feels obliged to educate the poor savages. For every human being their culture is the most important and advanced. Ethnocentrism prevails in every society independent of where they are. For the Olinka tribals educating their women and exploring unknown places are considered evil whereas for the West it may be called progression.

In the beginning we see Corrine as a good natured and loving woman, but in Africa she becomes paranoid about Nettie because the locals think that Nettie is Samuel’s other wife. Unaware of the fact that Nettie is her adopted children’s aunt, she suspects Samuel and Nettie of having an illicit relationship because the villagers thought the kids resembled Nettie. She opposed Nettie meeting Samuel in her absence and insists on calling each other brother and sister. The culture shock makes Corrine hostile to Nettie and only later in her death bed that she realizes her mistakes. Here we see that Corrine even though educated, is unable to adapt completely with the new culture and villagers on the other hand is also failing to understand the diversity of the cultures around the globe. This is a clear example of how culture shock and ethnocentrism can affect a person’s personality.

References:

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. London: Phoenix, 2004. Print.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism

http://www.shmoop.com/color-purple/corrine.html