Gilligan Versus Walker Who would have thought that the queen of women’s development might have fallen short in a few areas? Carol Gilligan, author of In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development, takes psychological theories and tests their upholding when compared to women’s development. Throughout Gilligan’s thoughts, she focuses on Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, gender differences, and maturity stages when abortion is involved. Within the same few years, Alice Walker published The Color Purple, a modern fiction, a tale of two sisters who are living very different lives. One sister, Celie, is married off to a vicious family, yet finds companionship along the way. The other sister, Nettie, becomes a missionary
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She attempts to prove her points by researching Kohlberg’s studies that include differentiating boys and girls through how they answer a train of questions. Alice Walker, on the other hand, shows how children who lived in the south, in the 1930’s, did not grow up with their own mother. There was always someone else taking care of the children. Celie’s “father” brings home a new girlfriend, who attempts to raise his children (Walker 4), Celie is taken to Albert’s home to be his new wife and to tend to his children (Walker 12), Celie’s own children are being raised by a missionary family (Walker 15), the list goes on and on. These children who are being raised by others that are not their mother, start to match Kohlberg’s study: the boys tend to think more logically and the girls use interpretation to solve the dilemma given (Gilligan 25). The following is an exert from The Color Purple, Celie is interpreting why the oldest son is acting out of line, “I spend my wedding day running from the oldest boy. He twelve. His mama died in his arms and he don’t want to hear nothing bout no new one” (Walker
She attempts to prove her points by researching Kohlberg’s studies that include differentiating boys and girls through how they answer a train of questions. Alice Walker, on the other hand, shows how children who lived in the south, in the 1930’s, did not grow up with their own mother. There was always someone else taking care of the children. Celie’s “father” brings home a new girlfriend, who attempts to raise his children (Walker 4), Celie is taken to Albert’s home to be his new wife and to tend to his children (Walker 12), Celie’s own children are being raised by a missionary family (Walker 15), the list goes on and on. These children who are being raised by others that are not their mother, start to match Kohlberg’s study: the boys tend to think more logically and the girls use interpretation to solve the dilemma given (Gilligan 25). The following is an exert from The Color Purple, Celie is interpreting why the oldest son is acting out of line, “I spend my wedding day running from the oldest boy. He twelve. His mama died in his arms and he don’t want to hear nothing bout no new one” (Walker