Gender Inequality In Alice Walker's The Color Purple

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.

All throughout history, men and women have been pushed into gender roles. Though these gender roles are starting to diminish in the twenty-first century, in the early nineteen hundreds, they were very prominent. In the book, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, gender roles are a major conflict for its main characters.

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.

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.

The award-winning novel, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, is a story about a woman going through cruel things such as: incest, rape, and physical abuse. This greatly written novel comes from a very active feminist author who used many of her own experiences, as well as things that were happening during that era, in her writing. “The Color Purple” takes place in the early 1900's, and symbolizes the economic, emotional, and social deprivation that African American women faced in Southern states of America. The main character of the story is Celie, a fourteen-year old that starts writing letters to God for thirty years, and then to her sister, Nette, who ran away to Africa to save herself from the troubles Celie went through. Celie starts off as a pushover and very dependent girl that would eventually grow and develop into an independent flourishing woman that opens a business making pants for all genders. This novel shows the hardship of a girl becoming a woman over the course of her life and eventually standing up for herself and being confident. Many of the experiences and characters of “The Color Purple” are based on history of that time and a bit of the author’s personal experiences. Her use of epistolary allows the reader to learn everything in the point of view of Celie. Alice Walker's influences for writing this novel range from her childhood experiences to the white society in her hometown of Eatonville, Georgia. Even during these times, it still shows that women

In the early 1900’s society 's attitude toward women wasn 't always a positive one. Women often faced sexism, discrimination, racism, and abuse which is demonstrated throughout the book the The Color Purple by Alice Walker. When these prevailing attitudes came face to face with the diverse personalities of the women in this book they not only affected each other but their society as a whole. These attitudes included but were not limited to disrespect, jealousy, selfishness,infidelity, and abuse. These women were forced to survive their own struggles in their own way and whether they chose to do it alone or together they did survive. Although it may have been weakened at times these women had unbreakable spirits that by the end were

African American writers are bringing this issue out in addition to the same current day issues within their writing. For instance, The Color Purple touches on the hardships of African American women such as rape, abuse, neglect, sexism and beauty. Patton notes, “As much of the literature on African American women and beauty, has pointed out, African American women have either been the subject of erasure in the various mediated forms or their beauty has been wrought with racist stereotypes” (Patton 26). African American women wanted the obliteration of these negative stereotypes. Black women have been stereotyped as being angry, sexually inhibited, or deviant. The African American women were being compared to white women and in result, African American women were looked upon as sinful. Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple touches on these sensitive issues that came in history in the early eighteenth and nineteenth century but that people of modern day are also dealing

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is an epistolary novel criticized for its immoral and sensitive issues, such as incest, rape, and physical abuse. The story takes place in the early 1900's in the South, and symbolizes the unmerciful social, emotional, and economic hardships that African American women faced. The protagonist of the story is Celie, a woman who has been abused since her youth and documents her struggles through letters written to God and eventually to her sister Nettie, who is a missionary in Africa. Her sister’s experiences in Africa are a direct correlation to Celie’s life in America and emphasizes key themes in the novel, such as sexism, racism and power struggle, and the importance of women working together to overcome

she helps the white girl is because she's "on parole. . . . Got to act nice"

The Color Purple has won many awards including, The American Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. The book explores the maltreatment, hysteria and loyalties of black women throughout the mid-1900s through the early twentieth century. Walker focuses on how change throughout time periods can affect the black women of society. Most of the characters live life of ignorance, completely unaware of what is occurring outside their own small neighborhood.They are greatly oblivious of the larger social and political issues going on in the world. Although separated from society, the women are able to work through issues of sexism, violence and racism among the group to accomplish equality.

I feel every person should care about sexism and racism, because these two issues affect everyone. “The Color Purple” is a great film that focuses on the problems African American women faced during the early 1900s. "The Color Purple" provides a disturbing and realistic account into the life of Celie, a poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past and Sophia, another poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past.

Charlotte Bunch said, "Sexual, racial, gender violence and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture" (“Charlotte Bunch Quotes.”). These ideas along with others make a huge impact in society back then and still make a huge impact in today's world too. The most important one's are racial and gender. These things are very common and cause a lot of people to struggle with issues through their lives. But gender discrimination and violence is more prevalent and a bigger issue than racial discrimination in past and modern society and the effects are much worse. In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Alice Walker's The Color Purple, the female characters struggle more with gender disparity than they do with race; this leads the characters to battle with low self worth but ultimately they overcome the gender discrimination that has impacted their whole lives, and this makes them stronger throughout the stories.

“The Color Purple” written by Alice Walker is a story highlighting the values and ideals of the culture and society in the beginning of the 20th century. During this time period certain women were alienated from society due to their clothes, beliefs, and their actions. Although every woman in this book was alienated from society the extent of alienation differed depending on how their words and actions were perceived by society.

In the film The Color purple women are strongly objectified by men, their worth being ruled by beauty, talent and what they could do. They were left uneducated to keep them submissive and beaten down to be put in place. Men however did as they please with no repercussions for their actions. White men were given the right to an education and all

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.