The world is too complex to be viewed from any single perspective. Only when the factors which influence an individual are taken into account can a philosophy be developed which defines point of view. African-American novelist Alice Walker has attempted through her body of work, to create a new and powerful voice which reflects the perspective of down-trodden women who struggle to lead their rather unfortunate lives. . Her work consistently reflects her concern with racial, sexual, and political issues-particularly with black woman's struggle for survival. "Womanist" is the term she has coined to describe this rich point of view and by examining The Color Purple, Possessing the Secret of Joy, and You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down a reader can begin to understand the full gamut of her views.
             Much of Walker's fiction is informed by her Southern background. She was born in Eatonton, Georgia, a rural town where most blacks worked as tenant farmers. At the age eight she was blinded in the right eye when an older brother accidentally shot her with a BB gun, after which she fell into somewhat of a depression. She secluded herself from the other children, and as she explained,
             "I no longer felt like the little girl I was. I felt old, and because I felt I was unpleasant to look at, filled with shame. I retreated into solitude, and read stories and began to write poems."
             This is where her womanist point of view first emerged, in a household where girls were forced to do domestic chores unaided by the brothers. According to David Bradly of the New York Times, "She coined the term 'womanist' which she used to describe the Black women's issues that are at the ear of so much of her work." (1984) Walker herself has defined the term as,
             "a woman who loves other woman...Appreciates and prefers woman culture, woman's emotional flexibility... and woman's strength... Loves the spirit... Loves her...