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The author analyzes three types of the conceptual metaphor of embodied symmetry in Alice
 Walker's novel, The color purple (1982). These metaphorical projections, perceived as
 equilibrium and its breakage in abstract phenomena, enable readers to reexamine issues of race,
 non-traditional families, and gender roles. The dis/equilibrium emerges in the novel's epistolary
 structure. Biological equilibrium breaks in incidents of rape and incest. Walker creates characters
 in the novel through default-concept opposites of black/white, submissive/dominant, male/female
 and others. These contraries foreground issues of race and gender. The novel's asymmetries
 engage readers, leading them to rethink individual character histories and motives. The removal
 of objects (e.g., rape, mothers deprived of children) suggests conceptual asymmetry and alerts
 readers to parallel themes of sexual and racial oppression. Subjugation sometimes subtle,
 sometimes blatant- manifests in simple oppositions. In epistemological terms, readers seek
 causal explanations for the asymmetries of the narrative, interpreting each to recover its history.