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Disenfranchisement Of Women In The Color Purple

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In the first half of the 20th century, women were often disenfranchised by societal pressures to settle down and have a stable family unit, along with the intense class divisions of that time. This is clearly shown in the works of Alice Walker and Dorothy Allison; two writers that document the experiences of women in southern America during the 1930’s and 1950’s. Particularly in The Color Purple by Alice Walker and The Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, the authors emphasize the cyclical nature of poverty and the disenfranchisement of women. The readers follow the lives of Bone and Celie, although different in race and age, the stories discuss girls coming of age against the adversity of abuse and poverty. Both girls were abused …show more content…

As in The Color Purple, Celie has to find her truth in that she must uncover and unlearn the lies of both Pa and Mr. The first lie that Celie uncovered was the lie that her sister Nettie was not writing. Mr. had been hiding her letters from Celie. This is a classic example of how abusers control the people they abuse by disconnecting them from their families and loved ones in order to make them the only viable option as a source of protection. In the book, this is a serious turning point in Celie’s life because this discovery is enough to motivate her to get out of Mr’s control. She gains a lot more self-confidence as shown when she now “know[s] Nettie alive [she] begin to strut a little bit” (The Color Purple p.148) which leads her to uncover more truths. Celie also unravels the lies of her so called father, who told Celie that he killed her children that she had by him, when in actuality the children were adopted and are in Africa with Nettie. She also finds out that he is not her real father, which in turn gives her more openness to love and accept her children. Similar to Celie, Bone also had to find her truth. One tool of abuse that Bone must unlearn is that the abuse of Glen is her fault. Both Anney and Glen would often blame what Glen did to her on what her behavior was like or the …show more content…

Being saved has a big affect on both of Bone and Celie’s lives as it helped them to start to forgive their family members and gain self confidence. In Celie’s case, being saved allows her to start her own business, and she can finally can escape abuse from both of her abusers. She forgave Mr. because she sees how much he destroyed by her and Shug leaving. Mr. went through a lot of changes by having both his love and Celie leaving because it causes him have some introspection on himself and to take responsibility for his actions. Celie saw these changes which allowed her to realize that he has no power over her anymore. She remarked that she “doesn’t hate him for two reasons. One, he love Shug. And two, Shug use to love him. Plus look like he trying to make something out of himself.” (The Color Purple, p. 260) which shows how she has grown to forgive what he did to her. In contrast, it is unclear as to whether Bone actually does forgive Anney for not leaving Glen, but the reader is left with the knowledge that Bone understands where her mother was coming from. She reflects on her mother being “fourteen and terrified, fifteen and a mother, just past twenty-one when she married Glen.” (Bastard Out of Carolina, p. 309) which in putting herself in her mother’s shoes, she is able to forgive Anney for choices she made because she

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