The Color Purple by Alice Walker focuses on the life of Celie, a young African American woman, as she recollects her life through a series of letters to God. As a victim of rape and emotional abuse from her husband and father, Celie no longer feels any true emotions and lives in fear of men. When Shug Avery, a confident woman on the way to stardom, enters her life, Celie’s views on success and happiness are forever changed. Slowly, she begins to realize the value of independence and friendship as Shug shows her what the meaning of love really is. By learning to be self-reliant, Celie no longer has to depend on others for her own happiness.
Celie’s letters start out detailing her life as the oldest daughter in a family with six children. She
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Celie’s daughter in law, Sofia, is a strong and assertive character unafraid of defending her opinions. Despite her rough past and difficult experiences, Sophia has never let the derision of her family affect her spirit. In one conversation, she confesses to Celie that, “All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men” (Walker 40 ). Sofia’s confidence is her strongest quality, but also her most contentious. Unlike Celie, Sofia has the confidence to stand up to her husband, which frustrates and angers him. Harpo asks his father for advice on how to “manage” his wife, to which he responds, “how you spect to make her mind? 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” (Walker 35). Even though Sofia pretends to ignore the abuse, she truly loves her husband and is deeply hurt that he continues to pressure her into the role of “wife”. After months of fighting and beating, Sofia learns that Harpo has been binge eating to overpower her. She cannot tolerate the abuse any longer and tells Celie she is taking the children and leaving him. She describes her relationship as “tiring” and confesses that “All he think about since us married is how to make me mind. He don’t want a wife, he want a dog” …show more content…
Through their journey from abused wives to tenacious women, these three characters learn the significance of self-made happiness and how independence is not only possible, but necessary for success. Celie, the woman who was once a daughter and a wife used to the constant ridicule of her family, changed her life for the better through forgiveness, faith, and friendship. Her friend and daughter in-law,Sofia, a loving mother and wife who was punished for her voice rose to defy the racist and sexist ways she was treated. And Mary Agnes, the diffident girl who shrunk away from the limelight, content to remain in the shadows of the strong figures around her, learned the importance of determination and courage through her success as a singer. The woman from this novel are a true testament to how women's rights have progressed over the last two centuries and how much farther they have to
The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a very controversial novel, which many people found to be very offensive. It is basically the struggle for one woman’s independence. The main character in The Color Purple is Celie a coloured woman with little or no education at all. She is one who has been used and abused by all the men in her life, and because of these men, she has very little courage or ambition in her life. She has so little courage, that all she wants to do is just survive. Through the various women she meets throughout here life like: Shug, her sister, and Harpo’s wife, she learns how to enjoy herself, gain courage and happiness. She finally learns enough and with the final straw she could no longer bare, she leaves her husband
The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the story of a poor black woman living in the south between World War 1 and World War 2. This was at a time when, although slavery had ended,many women were still virtually in bondage, and had to put up with many conditions that was reminiscent of the days of slavery. The problem was that they had to endure being treated like an inferior being by their own families sometimes, as well as from the white people that lived there. It was a life that was filled with misery for many black women, and they felt helpless to do anything about their situations.
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
In The Color Purple, Alice Walker illustrates the lives of a female African American before the Civil Rights Movement. A novel that describes female empowerment, The Color Purple demonstrates the domestic violence women faced in the South. Walker tells the story through Celie, a young African American girl who faces constant hardships until she stands up for herself with the help of her closest friends – other women undergoing the same difficulties. Even though men controlled females in the South, the author emphasizes the strength of female empowerment because females struggled to survive during this time.
At the end of the novel Celie has finally created a permanent life for herself. The way she interacts with the other characters and attitude towards things has
Alice Walker wrote ‘The Color Purple’ in order to capture and highlight the hardship and bitterness African-American women experienced in the early 1900s. She demonstrates the emotional, physical and spiritual revolution of an abused black girl into an independent, strong woman. The novel largely focuses on the role of male domination and its resulting frustrations and black women’s struggle for independence. The protagonist, Celie’s, gain of an independent identity, away from her family, friends, work, and love life, forms the plot of the novel.
Firstly, The Color Purple (1982) is written by the African- American novelist Alice Walker. For creating such an innovative novel, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple won both the Pulitzer Price and the National Book Award. Walker initiated her novel by a confession that The Color Purple is her spiritual journey and the female protagonist represents her during this journey. The novel is made up of 90 letters written by Celie to God and some of these letters are written by Nettie to her sister Celie. These letters are similar to a diary that Celie finds as a way to express her feelings , emotions and thoughts in a place she is not permitted to be free. Generally, the novel portrays a life and a journey of a young fourteen -year- old black girl who is persecuted throughout her life from her stepfather who repeatedly raped her and forced her to marry a cruel man who, in turn, oppressed her.
The Color Purple is an honest emotional story about love, trust, respect, separation, friendships, and the bond between sisters. It was published back in 1982 by Alice Walker. Walker is a huge activist, and even participated in the 1960’s Civil Rights Movements in Mississippi. Throughout her novel she uses excellent rhetoric to convey her strong emotions. The Color Purple uses ethos to show you how horrible abuse is, logos to help give the characters confidence, and pathos to convey the pain.
Within The Color Purple by Alice Walker, women are treated as inferior to men therefore they must obey them. Through the strength and wisdoms Celie gains from other women, she learns to overcome her oppression and realize her self worth as a woman. The women she has met throughout her life, and the woman she protected since young, are the people that helped her become a strong independent woman. Sofia and Shug were there for Celie when she needed someone to look up to and depend on. Nettie was able to push Celie to become a more educated, independent person. The main source of conflict in this book is Celie’s struggle with becoming an independent woman who needs not to rely on a man. Throughout the book we see her grow as a person and
The Colour Purple is a novel that was written by the 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner, Alice Walker. The Novel was published in 1982 and was later turned into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1985. The book is about a young girl, Celie who was oppressed and seek to find happiness in life. Despite her inner turmoil, she had a strong belief in God, and also hopes that she would find her estranged sister, Nettie who loved her with all her heart. She got pregnant at an early age by the man she thought was her father. Celie was also a young bride who was being abused by her husband.
But to black women, it was rare hope for freedom. The Color Purple by Alice Walker tells the story of Celie, an underprivileged black orphan girl, facing rape, abuse, neglect, manipulation, and oppression from both her stepfather and husband. She finds healing through a lesbian relationship and finally reaches rebellion and independence. Two years after its publication, a high school in Oakland, California banned The Color Purple
Life is a rollercoaster filled with ups and downs. Left turns, right turns, and sometimes completely upside down loop de loops. The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a story about a colored woman named Celie who writes letters to God while living through extreme oppression and abuse. Celie eventually overcomes her oppressors by finding her purpose in life through friendship, love, hope, and change in faith. Discovering hope, love, and faith leads to a fulfilling life through difficult times.
“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker is a series a letters by and to the main character, Celie. The book begins with fourteen year old Celie writing to God about her father raping her and taking away her children. After Celie's mother dies, Celie focuses on protecting her sister, Nettie, from her father's sexual advances and encourages her to run away. A widower called “Mr. __” wants to marry Nettie, but their father rejects him. Eventually Celie marries Mr. __, who later is called Albert, and her living conditions do not improve at all. Celie becomes infatuated with Shug Avery, a blues singer who is her husband's mistress. Years later, Celie helps nurse Shug back to health. Eventually, they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile, Nettie
The Color Purple written by Alice Walker, stars Celie Harris Johnson, a young African-American girl, who had to endure a horrible life with the people around her mistreating her in every possible way. The story centers around a time were African-Americans were free but also segregated so most of them were mistreated by whites and among themselves. Not only was Celie subjected to oppression by racism, she was controlled and demoralized by her husband. During the 20th century, racism was alive and well, even so, that many African-Americans wished for a life away from violence and insults. Celie Harris Johnson was one of those people who was oppressed by a racist society.
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