How To Write An Analytical Essay On The Color Purple

Physical, emotional and verbal abuse were a common part of life in the deep south in the early 1900’s- especially if you were black, and even more so if you were a woman. In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Celie experienced violent abuse at the hands of different people throughout their lives. They learned to be strong, even when life was at its worst. Celie is purely a victim she’s repeatedly raped by her father, her children are taken away from her, and she’s into marriage to a man.

There are many racial components in this novel that are easy to point out. These take place in the American South and also in Africa. It starts with the way that all the black men and women are treated at the start of the book. The main character’s real father was a successful store owner who was black. This man was hanged for a reason that is known only as him being a successful black man. All the characters that we are introduced to in this book by Celie are exploited by the fact that they are black. Sophia is beat up and jailed for her refusal to want to work for a white women. Of course she stood up for herself and the white element tried to tell her where her place was. There is also an intra racial theme that starts at the beginning

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker is narrated by a woman named Celie. Celie brings a young African-American women who was unable to have the proper education or treatment she desired for a majority of her life time. Throughout the story Celie searches for freedom and power through the abuse, love, and challenges that she endures.

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

Both novels have similarities between their narrative style and structure, for example, they’re both epistolary novels. In Walker’s ‘The Color Purple’, Celie writes to God as a way to articulate her thoughts, and in doing so ends up being partially liberated. Writing to God gives her an outlet to articulate her struggles without any harm coming to her. However, it could be seen that later in the novel Celie also uses the letters to educate Nettie on her life and opinions and vice versa. In the beginning of the novel, Walker portrays Celie as having bad grammar, using Folk vernacular and writes ‘as she speaks to herself’ as she has doesn’t see the need to give more details than necessary. As the novel progresses, however, her grammar improves,

In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, the protagonist Celie is introduced to adversity with how the contrasts between inwardly questioning the morality and the actions around her, but still has to face the impotency to be forced to the conformed social norms, thus, enlightening the juxtaposed static ideas of Celie’s surroundings and trying to gain her own identity. The setting of this novel is never very clear, but Walker gives the hint at that it is pre-civil rights era with how each character is talked to and how African American people are mentioned in the quotes of the white people in the novel. Celie as a young girl was raped commonly and given away for an arranged married at what we can believe is a young age by her own father. The social aspect of this was not uncommon for African American girls, of Celie’s age.

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, is narrated by an African American woman named Celie. When the novel first begins, Celie is a vulnerable and abused young girl who writes letters addressed to God. The reader follows Celie through thirty years of her life, witnessing how she struggles to develop her own self-identity and extricate herself from a submissive role society bestowed upon her by a male-dominated and prejudice society. Furthermore, Celie is only able to forge this new identity with the help of females around her, including her sister.

The Color Purple vividly demonstrates the physical effects of gender roles on the main character Celie. The language is graphic as she is a victim of sexism and shows how harmful the presence of gender roles can be. Abuse can come in many forms such as mental and physical to both men and women, but it is more commonly associated with a women’s issue. Gender roles have placed the female sex to be considered the “weaker” sex and more submissive. Labeling women with feeble traits makes women more vulnerable and susceptible to domestic violence and abuse in general. They are much more likely to be taken advantage of and victimized by their spouse, partner, family member or roommate. Nearly 85% of women are subjects to physical abuse while only

After the abolition of slavery, the resurgence of African American literature rose and a brief period of black enlightenment called the Harlem Renaissance began. Black writers saw an increase in popularity, as many people (individuals of color and whites alike) sought out literature that highlighted how it really felt to be black in America. These books often framed post slavery through an extremely thin lens, and in almost every instance these novelists subconsciously omitted an important part of history. A group that suffered and ran alongside of these writers were often left out of mainstream literature and disregarded as the weakest form of being. From what I have found, most scholars agree that Alice Walker’s The Color Purple was the first highly honored book to give a voice to not just african american women, but spoke on the complexity of female sexuality in the african american community as well.

Novelist, Poet, womanist, and activist Alice Walker explores and provides insight on the issues that woman of color experience through her works, The Color Purple An Epistolary Novel and In Search of Our Mother’s Garden. Walker defines “Womanist to feminist as purple to lavender” (21). Womanist theory looks at the heart of a colored woman and the things in which grieves her soul. It uplifts and builds Women of color and helping one to embrace their blackness as well as their gender through understand the power and privilege of being able to be called a woman. Women, particularly women of color possess a certain strength one that gives them a spine that bends due to circumstance but is unable to break. It is the common reality of colored women to be mishandled by humans yet it is even more common for a woman to remain strong within it. That is what makes a woman of color so remarkable. When she is able to stand in her truth as a woman, accept and embrace her flaws as well as her beauty in spite of how the world may see her. A Womanist has a responsibility to herself and those and those around her to not fold or break because of the things that they are most surrounded by that being hate, negativity, sexism, discrimination. A black woman does not only hold the issue of her race but she holds the issue of being women within a sexism society. This kind of reality would be known as a triple-consciousness in having to be American, black and a woman is having to conform and in

Men did not want to believe during The Color Purple’s time period, they were oppressing women, and Walker was being realistic in her writings. Nevertheless, she was highly regarded for the female characters in her book. Novels for Students states, “While she was criticized for negative portrayal of her male characters, Walker was admired for her powerful portraits of black women.” (Alice Malsenior). Women in The Color Purple developed from being helpless beings that suffered at the hands of their husbands and other men in their lives, to being independent women who stand up for themselves and the other women around

Brain Freeze: Dissecting Feminism in Terms of Urbanization and Ideology in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

In the writing “The Color Purple” there are many aspects considering race, gender, class and the places in which society puts them in according to one's physical appearances. In this book females are in homes doing dishes and cleaning while males are working. In the text there is a separation between dark colored and the light colored. Dark colored people in this society are given little right and are discriminated against almost constantly. In this text it talks about how the rich live off the rich while the poor are left homeless and abandoned.

Write an in-depth essay on any book or play we have read in class. Articulate one theme, question, or problem and explore it.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a true testament to the oppression of women. The main character in the novel is affected by her physical surroundings, in the way of people, which ultimately construct who she is as a person. Celie, the main character, has a father who sexually mistreats her that leads to many of her psychological traits. Later, Celie’s husband abuses her and treats her as if she were less than a human being. Finally, Shug is the end of all things bad for Celie as at first she is a curse but in the end she is a gift. Physical surroundings afflicting this main character are ubiquitous throughout The Color Purple.