Alice Walker Discrimination

Another important woman in Celie’s life was Harpo’s wife Sofia. Sofia wasn’t as important to Celie as Shug Avery or her sister Nettie, but it was Sofia’s actions that I believe helped inspire Celie. For when Harpo tried to beat Sofia, thanks to Celie’s advice to Harpo to beat his wife, Sofia would always fight back. Not only emotionally but physically as well, for one day when Celie was going to Harpo’s house she saw Harpo and Sofia fighting like twos mens (P. 44). And I think Celie was really shocked when Sofia confronted her on why Celie told Harpo to beat Sofia. I say it cause I’m a fool, I say it cause I’m jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can’t. What that? She say. Fight I say. … She say all my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers … cousins … uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men. But I never thought I’d have

The first woman she meets is Sophia, who marries Harpo. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, even to a man. When Mr. _____ asks Harpo if he ever hits her, Harpo is embarrassed, and answers that he hasn’t. So Mr. ______ tells him he should, because “Wives is like children. You have to let ‘em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating.” (37) While he may have thought he gave his son some good advice, when Harpo tries it, Sophia knocks him right back into place by beating him up instead. When Celie and Sophia talk about Mr. _____, Sophia tells her “You ought to bash Mr. _____ head open.”(37), but she knows she would never get away with it. She’s just coping with things as they are because

Celie practically struggled for happiness her whole existence. Her father sold her to a man who had no intent of loving or caring for her. Celies’ husband whom she refers to as Mr. physically and verbally abused her. Mr. felt that the only way to keep a woman in check was to beat her and he did just that throughout the movie. Like any woman would though the abuse Celie lost herself and respect for herself. Living with Mr. was a life full of darkness and hatred. Life with her husband was no better life than life with her stepfather. It took years for Celie to become brave enough to fight back for what she accept as true and gain understanding of how to convey amusement and have little outlook on life. After years of abuse, Celie no longer was afraid of Mr. She no longer cared for her husband or the

Alice Walker's The Color Purple is an excellent account of the life of poor black women who must suffer not only social ostracism due to gender and skin color but also women who suffer greatly at the hands of black men.  This is true in terms of infidelity, physical and verbal abuse, and sexual abuse.

Gender inequality was a big issue during the early 1900s, and especially for the African American women because some “Africa American women were used as sex slaves or just slaves in generally” (Karpowitz). These women were treated badly even if it was from their dad or their "husband"/owners, but at the end of the day they knew only one person who these women can trust which is God. In Alice Walker’s novel, she shows and expresses how women will have bad times or bumps on the road, but if they keep going towards their dream they will succeed. Walker also showed how women did not have a voice to stand up for themselves but later in their life they started getting together to fight back for their rights. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker demonstrates gender inequality in the lives of African Americans in the early 1900s.

Celie's transformation from Mr. ____'s slave into an independent women is successful thanks to two strong women that become role models for Celie in her everyday life; Shug Avery and Sofia. Sofia is a role model in a more unconscious way for Celie then Shug is. Sofia's whole appearance and behaviour is proud, she lets no one sit on her and Celie is, at first, jealous of Sofia's self-confidence and tries to destroy it by giving her husband Harpo the advice to beat her to make her obedient; "I think about this when Harpo ast me what he ought to do to make her mind. [---] I think bout how every time I jump when Mr. _____ call me, she [Sofia] look surprise. And like she pity me. Beat her. I say"2. When this does not work, Celie realises that Sofia is someone to become more alike, not someone to destroy.

Sofia knew her worth and never for one second doubted it. She was a powerful woman both mentally and physically. When Harpo attempted to break her spirits and beat her into submission he soon realized that he could not. Although Harpo did love Sofia he let the societal standards of that time period ruin their marriage. “ I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me.” Harpo and Sofia had love in their marriage but their love was not enough to save it. Instead of being beat or having to fight Sofia left. This situation highlights the differences between Celie and Sofia and how they react to their abuse. This difference leads us to our next topic.

The abuse that Celie suffers for so many years has changed her, making her into a submissive young woman who can’t stand up for herself, even when she is not at fault; “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church.

Celie is able to accept her past and establish a clear vision of herself and fulfillment through the acts of love. She meets other women who tell her that she should stand up for herself and fight, but Celie feels that it’s better to survive than to fight and risk not surviving. However, there are certain triggers that lead Celie to stand up. Like a true fighter, Celie proves herself to be willing to stand up for the people she loves. Even as a downtrodden victim of her Pa, Celie sacrifices herself and offers herself to her father so that he keeps his hands off of Nettie. As mentioned in this quote, where Pa is sexually abiding Celie, “First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. ” (Walker, 4). Celie has the potential by putting her efforts into other people, but not realizing she is able to stand up for herself the same ways he does for Nettie. Relating it back to the novel, “Beloved”, Sethe does the same representation when she is trying to save Beloved even though the idea is bizarre of her killing her own child, but she only does it so that she would not have to suffer the way Sethe did. Celie is introduced with Shug Avery a blues singer, who she was first found “rude”, but as the story moves along, Shug Avery becomes the reason Celie learns to love herself. Because Celie is finally opening herself up by loving someone, Celie becomes more lovable. Through Shug’s love, Celie begins to realize her own self-worth, from the minute when Shug Avery wrote a song for Celie, as said in this quote: “This song I'm bout to sing us call Miss. Celie's song.”(Walker, 73).By the end of the novel, Celie loves more

Sophia wasn’t the type to take any mess from anyone so she left and told Harpo," When your free me and the baby will be waiting. " Harpo didn’t run after her in respect for his father whom he was scared of. Soon after Harpo and Sophia were married. Harpo began to build a house for them to show he was trying to be a man. His father told him to show her who was in control and to get her to obey he would have to began beating her.

If any woman had to answer if she ever had trouble accepting herself, the response would be yes. According to Susan David, “All healthy human beings have an inner stream of thoughts and feelings that include criticism, doubt, and fear” (125-128). Depending on the person Alice Walker has as the recipients of Celie’s and Nettie’s letters, the text alters. The Color Purple is about a girl named Celie, who grows up in the south during the early 1920’s, surrounded by racism, sexism, and abuse from her father and husband. Alice Walker wrote The Color Purple in epistolary style and it traces Celie’s journey of finding her identity and path of finally accepting herself. On her journey she encounters a couple of women including one named Shug

In our everyday lives whether we notice it or not, disrespect towards gender and racism surrounds us and it begins to affect individuals not only physically but emotionally and socially as well. In Alice Walkers novel, The Color Purple, the topic of racism is strongly emphasized and shown throughout novel. Due to Celie’s race and gender roles played, she resists the urge to speak up for herself resulting in silence. In addition, it is through the love and support of other characters like Shug, in which tempts and inspires Celie to stand up for herself. Lastly, through all the troubles Celie faces, she eventually finds the strength in herself to leave Albert and start her life afresh. In The Color Purple, the author develops the idea that discrimination based on gender or race limits one’s opportunities and results in lack of independence and silence, ultimately suggesting that only through the influence of positive models for change can one develop the strength to change their life for the better.

Because Celie seeks to protect her younger sister Nettie from being degraded by Pa, Pa frequently targets Celie to be the subject of his physical and sexual abuse. Pa constantly rapes Celie and eventually impregnates her twice. Pa also physically abuses Celie. In one letter, Celie references an incident where Pa punches her because she accidently winks at a boy in her church (12). On top of the physical and sexual abuse that Celie suffers from, Pa also verbally abuses her. He frequently tells Celie that she its ugly and unwanted. Eventually, Celie internalizes these words and begins to think view herself as though she is ugly and unwanted, so she believes that the things that happen to her must be normal. All of the abuse that Celie suffers from at the hands of Pa causes her to characterize all men as violent and

When reading Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and “Everyday Use,” it is evident that she writes about her life through her use of allegory. Alice Walker uses the events of her childhood, her observation of the patriarchy in African American culture, and her rebellion against the society she lived in to recount her life through her stories. Alice Walker grew up in a loving household in the years towards the end of the Great Depression. Although her family was poor, they were rich in kindness and perspective and taught Walker a lot about her heritage and life.

It is through the physical pain that the reader understands the emotional strain and turmoil of the protagonist’s plight. The juxtaposition of survival and living are never more evident here. Her children are kidnapped; killed or sold. She has a body still recovering from the birth of a child, and she is forced to take her mother’s place, as a victim of domestic violence and sexual assault. Walker cleverly crafts this sense of desperation with Celie’s soul baring letters to god, the reader realizes she is has no one else to turn to; her writing only re-enforces her father's control over her. Her persevering spirit is what makes her survival so unique in the sense that she does not become embittered through any of it. “I look at woman, tho, cause I am not scared of them.” Telling god that she has not been traumatized at all by her mother’s passing, in fact, she goes further on “Mabey cause my mamma cuss me you think I kept mad at her. But I ain’t I feel sorry for her. (Walker, 5)” This for the reader is the most heart-breaking stance that she takes, as the reader is aware of the fact that her mother hated Celie’s guts with writing agony because her husband choose to rape her when she could not have sex with him. The reader singularly carries this sense of desperation for the protagonist as she continues to power through the intensity that surrounds her.