Justification In Alice Walker's Color Purple

In Celie’s mind the forces of god and the forces of men are one in the same. After Celie’s stepfather, whom she believed to be her

Thrown into young adulthood at the early age of 14, at 21 years old Celie now begins the true process of developing intimacy with an unlikely character for the time. A long lasting friendship and mutual love affair between Celie and Shug has begun, and will later prove to be her saving grace as her confidence, identity, purpose, and will increase. Shug plans to leave

When the novel opens, Celie is a 14 year old uneducated black girl being raised by her father and a sick mother. Celie was born into a poor family and there were too many children for her mother to take care of. She believes that she is ugly, unwanted and unloved by everyone other than God. She writes letters to God because he is the only person she can talk to. Celie is physically and sexually abused by her father. As a result, she has two children that are taken by her father who is also their father. Celie assumes the were killed or sold. Her mother is increasingly ill and eventually dies. Celie feels used and abused, but does not understand why. So many bad things have happened to Celie that she lacks self-esteem and confidence.

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

Women of varying personalities throughout the novel banded together to diminish the tyrannical rule of the male population. Shug Avery, a woman of the world offered Celie a life blossoming with the fruits of respect and love. For the first time in Walker's piece the ambiguous area of homosexual tendencies arises. Avery's character provided a source of strength and shrewdness throughout the novel. Celie turned to women for comfort since men only served as a source of definite agony. In the beginning she turned to her sister for merely emotional reasons. As the novel progressed, Celie discovers her unnatural wont of Shug's company. "She say I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me [Celie] on the mouth". Their relationship served as a source of unconditional understanding and love. To Celie, man only loves physically, but a woman has the gift of loving emotionally. The novel investigates the spiritual evolution and separateness of each individual. Sofia, a strong-minded and physically powerful woman unyielding to man's poisonous attempts, Squeak, a once meek and humble servant reformed into a person of exceptional artistic talent, represent, as do the other women in the novel, the stages of Celie's development into a self-sufficient human

By the end of the book Celie appears as a strong independent woman. She found her voice and she fights back no longer taking anything from men. This can relate to a lot of African American women in this time period, right after slavery was done with. Many of the African American women were not really seen as people. They were the lowest of the low, then eventually they spoke up and fought for equality. This book and the way Celie responds to her life, growing as a person, really relates to real life women who found their voice and started fighting for

For most of the book, Celie, is a powerless being that just goes along with what everyone else wants her to do. She takes the beatings Mr._____ gives her and doesn’t do anything to try to defend herself. She just goes through the motions and doesn’t feel or appreciate anything until Shug and Sofia come along. Shug is strong, independent and beautiful, everything Celie wishes she could be. She makes her own money, she has various gentlemen callers and does what she wants when she wants. Also she is not afraid to stand up to Mr.______. Those are things that Celie has never been

This further enhances the reader’s ability to acknowledge the contrast in her character by first depicting her as having seemingly nothing and later having all of the tools needed to self-succeed. It should also be noted that Celie’s journey doesn’t portray the typical rags to riches story in that Celie acquires an intellectual wealth. Initially, Celie is portrayed as an archetype that is associated with innocence, purity, and chastity. (Though the image of her chastity is destroyed in the very first page when Fonso “put his thing up gainst” (pg.1) Celie’s body.) This archetype doesn’t fit the typical character form associated with participating in a quest-like journey, but she ends up doing so. Celie is extremely obedient to the people closest to her and is even more so compliant with her surroundings. To add to the helplessness of the narrator’s character, on several occasions she is described in undesirable ways. One could go so far as to infer an allusion to Hans Christian Andersen’s, “The Ugly Duckling.” She is essentially the swan surrounded by a group of ducks and is rendered blind to her own beauty, liberation, and potential due to the consistent abuse that she receives from the “ducklings” around her. In the children’s fable, some of what the mother duck’s behaviors are interpreted as are the ideas and concepts expressed by the society Celie lives in. To her fortune, she is able to peer

Celie nurses her back to life and they become very good friends. Shug teaches Celie things about her body that she never knew. And in turn, Celie feels comfortable enough with Shug that she tells her her deepest secrets.

Sofia frankly ignored all of these things and although Harpo tried many times to “tame” Sofia but he ended up unsuccessful and bruised up. Sofia’s actions didn’t only affect her but they affected Celie one of the other 4 ladies significant to the story. Celie in a sense was jealous of Sofia. She had the strength and will to stand up to the men where as Celie had no bravery what so ever.

Shug, sexy and bold, is the beginning and end of Celie’s sexuality. She is the purple that defines what purple looks like. However, Celie experiences subjugation under the influence of Shug just as she did with Albert. Though Celie’s inferiority to Shug stems from her understandably obsessive love for her savior and her slavery to Albert stems from fear, both effectively prevent Celie from her identity and independence. Shug’s generosity builds a tremendous intimacy between her and Celie, but also breeds debt. This debt, regardless of whether or not it is acknowledged by either, demotes Celie from any honestly equal standing she may have had in their relationship. Perhaps the greatest of all of Shug’s favors, and thus the greatest of all of Celie’s debts, is her encouragement to read Nettie’s letters. It is understood from early in the novel that Celie and Nettie’s sisterhood is an unbreakable bond which will remain in their hearts for their whole lives. In a way, they are soulmates. Their absence is like a small death for the both of them. In persuading Celie to read Nettie’s letters, Shug gives Celie the gift of her sister. She is Celie’s much needed example of bravery, determination, and justice. However, as much as Shug raises her, she tears her down. Shug is one of the only people Celie has ever allowed herself to be truly vulnerable around, and the news of Shug’s affair

In her servant state, Celie responded little to the abuse she was given. For instance, Celie stated in a despondent tone that she "would become a tree", in hopes for her to not feel as much emotional tugs in herself. The book has a sense of underlying hope. This is important to the story because it shows Celie's true sense of an uneducation.

Shug Avery is someone Celie admired from a young age. Shug’s exuberance and charm with people are qualities Celie never dreamed of having herself until Shug walks into her life and Celie does more with her life by actually overcoming the abuse and becomes someone more. “I ast her to give me the picture. An all night long I stare at it. An now when I dream, I dream of Shug Avery.” (Walker 7). Shug comes into Celie’s life as her husband’s mistress who was very ill but not lacking in character. She treats Celie with disrespect at first, but after living with her for some time and being nursed back to health by her Shug gains a respect for her. She teaches Celie how to speak for herself and to defend herself against Mr. Shug is the one who helps Celie escape by taking her on her tour where Celie learns how to expertly sew pants. This is another major step towards independence because Celie is no longer financially dependent on anyone but herself because she creates a successful business by making pants. Upon her return to her home, she inherits her father’s home thereby completely separating her from the men who held control over her. She can now receive her sister’s letters and make her own money. The people who love her surround her and her personality develops unhindered by abuse. Celie’s idol came through to set her free and now idolizes her to an extent.

Shug is a friend and a lover, who not only tries to protect Celie but also instills in Celie a feeling of worth and importance. Their relationship goes beyond just a sexual one, and they become fully intimate and vulnerable with each other in different ways. Celie first meets Shug, her husband’s mistress, when Shug falls ill and comes to live with them. Even before this meeting, Celie is drawn to Shug’s sensual and free spirit, and her denial of oppressive stereotypes. Though some look down on Shug for living her life this way, Cheryl Hopson explains in her analysis, Shug is happy to express herself in an uninhibited way and does not let anyone’s expectations of her get in her way. This encourages Celie to act in a similar way, and she starts subtly acting in defiance, such as spitting in her father in law’s glass when he speaks negatively about Shug (179). Although Shug initially is cruel and hostile to Celie, she eventually succumbs to Celie’s care and the two start to bond. Celie’s care of Shug helps her get healthy again, and inspires Shug to sing again, noted by the song that Shug claims Celie “scratched it out” of her head (Walker 75). It is through her relationship with Shug that Celie learns that her disinterest in men can further be explained by her interest in women, specifically Shug. Their bond grows deeper as they learn more about each other, and a sense of trust is formed.

Shug constantly threw diatribes at Celie. Celie endured Shug’s attacks, too stunned by her infatuation with Shug, to care. Mr.____ is Shug’s sycophant which entices jealousy in Celie. Celie starts to think self-deprecating thoughts because she is not as beautiful as Shug or as wanted by Mr.____. Soon after Shug and Celie start to have a sexual relationship. “Us kiss and kiss till us can’t hardly kiss no more” (Walker 113). In the 1930’s African Americans weren’t accepted as equals to whites so a lesbian relationship would be even scarcer at that time. With religion still a substantial factor in Celie’s life she had to bend her morals into accepting her new sexuality. Shug opens up many doors for Celie and instills in her that she too is worthy of being loved. “Well, she say, looking me up and down, let’s make you some pants” (Walker 146). These pants are a symbol of Celie’s psyche transformation as she becomes more independent and stands up for herself against her husband. With Shug, Celie overcomes her fear of men and no longer has a submissive-psychological stance when dealing with situations and that is a gift Celie is deserving