Multiple characters in Walker’s The Color Purple undergo transformations and awakenings throughout the course of the story. Most prominently, Celie, the protagonist and narrator of the story, experiences many changes to her character as a result of her relationship with Shug Avery. Shug’s love empowers Celie to develop into a strong, independent, and spirited woman by helping her discover a sense of self worth. In the beginning of The Color Purple, Celie’s inability to combat the abuse from her father and Albert demonstrates her passive nature. The very first words on the first page of the book show the cruel treatment and forceful silencing Celie received from her father: “You better not tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy” (1). This …show more content…
Though Shug was bitter, hostile, and unfriendly to Celie when she first met her, her attitude changes and she begins to change Celie’s life for the better. Grateful for being nursed back to full health, Shug writes and sings “Miss Celie’s Song” one night at Harpo’s club (73). This simple song immediately sparks an amazing feeling inside Celie, because no one has done anything special for her like that before. Celie’s spiritual journey begins with this experience, as this is one of the first times she has felt truly appreciated. Later, when talking to Celie about her sexual life, Shug gives her an unconventional and redefined definition of virginity. Celie doesn't enjoy having sex with Albert -- she “don’t like it at all”; this lack of balance leads Shug to tell Celie “you still a virgin” (77). Giving Celie the ability to choose when she has lost her virginity based on her enjoyment makes the concept of virginity metaphysical and protectable. This new definition allows Celie to have control over something very personal, and she uses this to define herself and and build the strength she was lacking at the beginning of the book. By the end of the story Celie has gained enough self esteem to begin to love herself and all the people around her. When Nettie finally returns home and the two sisters are reunited, Celie points to Shug and Albert and calls them her “peoples”
Celie and the women surrounding her struggle for bondage. Celie finds a bond with many females. Walker introduces the hint of Celie's sexual attraction to women in church. Afraid of men because of the cruel treatment by her father, Celie turns more and more towards the company of women, who represent love, warmth, and feelings of solidarity to her. Celie affirms her sexual identity in her relationship with Shug Avery. For now, it is manifested merely as what men cannot offer.
Celie, the narrator of The Color Purple, is an uneducated, submissive, 14-year old black girl who lives in Georgia. Celie is constantly being abused and raped by her father, Alphonso. He has already impregnated Celie twice. The first one was a girl while the second one was a boy. All her children were taken away by her father after they were born. Her father told her that she better not tell anybody about their relationship but God, which explains why every letter she write begins with “Dear God”. Celie’s mother is happy because Alphonso doesn’t bother her anymore, but the truth is that Alphonso has been raping Celie as a substitute for her mother to gratify his sexual needs. Celie’s mother becomes seriously sick and eventually dies. Alphonso brings home another woman but continues to sexually
Shug realizes that Celie has only ever known the love of from her sister and wants to introduce her to other types of love in the world. Shug tells Celie that she is a virgin because she has never wanted what her father and Mister took from her. Celie is Shug’s only real friend throughout her life because her fans love to hear her sing, but do not love Shug unless she is singing. When Shug becomes sick not even Albert can stand to be around her so he pushes her off onto Celie. Celie is the only true person Shug has in her
The power of strong female relationships allow love in a world filled with male violence, Alice Walker, in The Color Purple, implies symbolism, dramatic irony, and connotation to show how love between females help a young girl get through tough patches of her life. The entire story is told by a young girl who has faced tremendous horrors throughout her life but despite all the odds she still managed to keep her hope. Celie lives her days writing letters to god since no one else can help her get through this although she has no mother, she does have a sister but is too young to understand what Celie goes through a daily basis. No one has helped her bear this moment only god. God is the only one she’s vented her tragic moments to. Just before Celie slowly matures into a woman with enormous confidence her sister, Nettie, is taken away and she is forced to marry a cruel man who isn’t in love with Celie but is with Nettie. As she still lives her abusive life with her husband new people are introduced in the story. A person in particular is Shug. Shug is Celie's husband's mistress who she is going to have nurse. As Shug grows
However, the pair forms a nurturing relationship in which they take care of one another. These days Shug is all about love, and touch and feeling. As Shug says of her love of cuddling, "I love to hug, period, she say. Don't need nothing else right now" (Walker 152). Celie learns from Shug how to care about people once more, including caring for herself. Celie begins this journey to independence and love of self and others through her relationship with Shug. At one point she and Shug have physical relations, but it is Walker's purpose to show this as a means of providing each other comfort, nurturing, and humanity - not as a display of homosexuality. The entire episode is treated in the novel as a nurturing act, akin to a mother compassionate mother nursing her needy child, "Then I feels something real soft and wet on my breast, feel like one of my little lost babies mouth. Way after a while, I act like a little lost baby too" (Walker 118). We can see in
She has to deal with the loss of her kids, but one day she gets to see one of them. She always called her little girl Olivia, but when she met the woman who had her child, she said, “We calls her Pauline.” (pg.16). That made Celie sad, but then the woman says, “But I calls her Olivia.” She just said that she looked like an Olivia and this made Celie happy.
Characters throughout Alice Walker’s The Color Purple can be evaluated and analyzed using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a five-stage model consisting of fundamental needs and growth needs. His theory states that the basic, lower tiered needs have to be met before the growth, higher tiered needs can be met, to ultimately reach the top tier, self-actualization. In The Color Purple, Walker shows the eventual progress to self-actualization through the protagonist, Celie. Celie’s growth is shown through her letters to both God and her sister Nettie. Celie fulfills her basic physiological needs when she gets married to Mr._ because she is finally able to escape her father’s abuse, beatings, and rape. It takes a while, but Celie gains safety and security when Shug Avery tells her, “I won’t leave… until I know Albert won’t even think about beating you” (Walker 76). The relationship that Celie forms with Shug helps Celie satisfy her belonging and intimacy needs. Their love for each other can be shown when Shug states, “cause she [Nettie] the only one you ever love… sides me” (120). As Celie begins her life in Memphis, she meets the respect/self-respect needs when she opens her own business making and selling pants. Celie feels so pleased and shows her character development when she says, “I got love, I got work, I got money, friends, and time” (218). Celie finally reaches self-actualization by the end of the novel. She has a successful business, is able to be independent in her own house, and realizes that she can bring herself happiness and that through every situation she needs to see the bright side. This is evidently shown when Celie is talking to Mr._ and says, “If she [Shug] come, I be happy. If she don’t I be content” (288). Celie’s evolution to reach self-actualization is clearly displayed in The Color Purple as Celie faces and overcomes hardships and learns to be confident in herself.
"The effects a fathers have on children can include later-life, educational, social, and family outcomes." The father's influence affects how good or bad a child's life will be later on. The Color Purple is about Celie's life and experiences, she was married to a man who physically and verbally abused her. She meets new women; Sofia, Shug, And Squeak who become her friends later on when they all started to connect and learn love through each other. Celie also connects back to her sister Nettie through letters and she begun to stand up for herself. Alice Walker showed examples how young men are influenced by their fathers will learn how to be a man in the household and follow after their footsteps.
Walker’s theme of writing is straight forward, she express through emotions and sexual conduct. Alice Walker adds, “The worse thing than being a woman is being a black woman” (282). The novel: The Color of Purple tells about the leading character Celie that writes down her deepest thoughts of unhappiness and sorrow in her diary. Celie was sexual assaulted by the man she called father, and she later conceives a child, that child was taken away from her at the age of fourteen. For example, Celie was not attending school, she felt rejected and unattractive. Celie stayed at home
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
Celie is not a typical protagonist. In Alice Walker's The Color Purple, the main character Celie is an ugly, poor girl who is severely lacking in self-confidence. However, Celie transforms throughout the course of the novel and manages to realize herself as a colorful, beautiful, and proud human being. Celie becomes a powerful individual.
They believe that since she is a woman, she is not intelligent or worthy of respect. An example demonstrating her stepfathers inequality towards women is when he believes that Celie is incapable of learning; therefore deciding to pull her out of school. However, Shug Avery gives Celie the love and attention she deserves, unlike these men. Although unconventional, Shug acknowledges Celie’s presence and see’s in Celie what no one does; a beautiful, intellectual and independent woman. The color purple was chosen by Alice Walker in order to demonstrate Celie's struggle with men and also represents Celie's appreciation towards herself.
“You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t” (Walker 1) stated Celie’s step father in The Color Purple. The first letter written by Alice Walker's character Celie in The Color Purple gives a brief light on how mistreated, the protagonists, Celie has been. Celie suffered through many forms of abuse and trauma. Since an early age her supposed father, Pa, sexually abused her. Celie’s husband also beat her into submission, and worked her constantly. But never the less Celie revolts against her oppressors with the help of Shug, Nettie, and life changing events. In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple the protagonists Celie is analysed through emotional and physical abuse, and hardships throughout the novel, but after many personal trials she has become a very independent character.
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
In The Color Purple, there were several themes such as Violence, Sexuality, Power, God or Spiritually. Power is a key role in this novel. Walker focuses throughout the novel that the ability to express someone’s thoughts and feelings is critical to developing a sense of self. Initially, Celie is truly unable to resist those who abuse her. Remembering Alphonso’s warning that she “better not never tell nobody but God” about him abusing her. , Celie knows that the only way to keep it is to remain silent and invisible. Celie is emphasize an object, an entirely accepting party who has no power to give herself through