Andrea Dworkin devoted her life to supporting feminism. In one of her speeches, she states, “Male supremacy is fused into the language, so that every sentence both heralds and affirms it.” Andrea’s quote shows that male supremacy is so common that it is practically part of human nature. In society, men feel entitled to abuse their wives whenever they feel discouraged or depressed. For example, when husbands do not treat their wives with the respect they deserve, it can lead to violence or divorce. This has been recently shown by Pentecostal evangelist Juanita Bynum. She filed for divorce from her husband following a brutal domestic violence incident. In analysis, when husbands abuse their wives, it does not cure their hurtful feelings; it …show more content…
He learns this malicious behavior from his father, Mr. _____. When Mary Agnes came back from trying to release Sofia from prison, she realizes how badly she had been treated by Harpo. Celie writes, “Harpo say I love you Squeak. He kneel down and try to put his arms around her waist. She stand up. My name is Mary Agnes.” (102) This quote additionally displays how Harpo, even though he loves Squeak, does not realize how his small actions hurt Mary Agnes’s feelings. Harpo thinks that the definition of a married man is being dominant over his wife and this is what brings him to be abusive and troubled. By trying to escape his problems and continuing to desecrate his wives, he only brings himself down.
Furthermore, Alice Walker shows husbands abuse their power to escape their problems through Mr. _____. Mr. _____ abuses his power by taking advantage of Celie and treating her as if she has no rights of her own. When Mr. _____ is talking to Harpo about Sofia, he tells him, “Wives [are] like children. You have to let [them] know who got the upper hand.” (37) This quote exhibits how Mr. _____ feels about the importance of Celie in his life. It additionally shows how Mr. _____ does not treat Celie with the respect she deserves. He abuses her only because he loves Shug Avery. He cannot get Shug’s love and uses Celie to his advantage to boost his self
The first woman she meets is Sophia, who marries Harpo. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, even to a man. When Mr. _____ asks Harpo if he ever hits her, Harpo is embarrassed, and answers that he hasn’t. So Mr. ______ tells him he should, because “Wives is like children. You have to let ‘em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating.” (37) While he may have thought he gave his son some good advice, when Harpo tries it, Sophia knocks him right back into place by beating him up instead. When Celie and Sophia talk about Mr. _____, Sophia tells her “You ought to bash Mr. _____ head open.”(37), but she knows she would never get away with it. She’s just coping with things as they are because
New in Mr. ___________’s house, Celie is constantly beaten for not doing exactly everything that her husband demands of her. In a letter to God, Celie recalls, “Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr. ___________ say, Cause she my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for- he don’t finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind me of Pa” (22). Celie lives in a house where getting beaten is the normal thing, she does everything that is asked of her and more, and it is still not enough for Mr. ___________. Also, Celie mentions that it reminds her of her “Pa”, which means that she faced this type of torture for her entire life. Walker highlights the fact that Celie needs someone else to survive, her undeserving husband will not be enough to make Celie want to survive and go on.
Symbolism is one of the major elements in "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. The woman's search for something she has never experienced is the symbolization of the mankind's search for love and happiness. The meaning of names, occupations, power, pants, cloth, words, eyes, frogs, starts, shell, stamps are only few examples of the symbols used by the author and are very important in understanding not only the characters of the story, but also global values such as love, power, mutual understanding, and authority over another person's life.
Her pa hits and rapes her repeatedly. She writes, “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink”(Walker 5). Celie then writes,“I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them” (5). This goes to show how her father beats her over the littlest things, no matter what they are. This trend in her life, has made her petrified of all men. She looks at women, finding refuge in them, simply because they are kind to her. Not only does Celie’s pa beat her, her new husband, Mr. _____ does too. “He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t beat them. He say, Celie git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood” (23). He doesn’t beat the children, who definitely need a whooping, but he’ll beat Celie simply because “she’s his wife. Plus she stubborn. All women good for”(23). This shows that there is no real reason for all the abuse. It’s all because the men view her as their property, not as another human being. All this abuse causes Celie to believe that she’ll never be truly loved, or be able to love. She believes this until Shug Avery comes
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.
For example, in Janie’s first marriage, she is hardly treated as a wife. After a brief phase of “foot-kissing”, or, being lenient and doing Janie’s chores for her, her husband, Logan Killicks, eventually begins to “treat her as just another person who works on his farm” (Cardona). When Logan tells Janie he plans to run two plows and is going to buy a mule that a woman can handle, she intentionally ignores his hint of putting her to work.
. A diligent housewife had dinner on the table precisely at the moment her husband arrived from work, and a wife was a “good” wife only if she carried out her man’s every order and agreed with him on everything (Coob).” The women in The Crucible are treated as a kind
Gender inequality was a big issue during the early 1900s, and especially for the African American women because some “Africa American women were used as sex slaves or just slaves in generally” (Karpowitz). These women were treated badly even if it was from their dad or their "husband"/owners, but at the end of the day they knew only one person who these women can trust which is God. In Alice Walker’s novel, she shows and expresses how women will have bad times or bumps on the road, but if they keep going towards their dream they will succeed. Walker also showed how women did not have a voice to stand up for themselves but later in their life they started getting together to fight back for their rights. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker demonstrates gender inequality in the lives of African Americans in the early 1900s.
Celie is unprotected by the adults in her life. Many different men, leaving her with little to no self-worth and no help, verbally, physically, and mentally abuse her. Her Pa raped her and she gave birth to two children by him. Her mama is sick and mentally ill, dying young. It’s not clear to anybody whether it’s better for Celie to stay at her house with Pa or to marry Mr.______ when he comes by looking for a wife to take care of his young children. "I don't say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don't fight, I stay where I'm told. But I'm alive." (P 22) This quote shows troubles of women. Celie allows the men in her life to abuse her both sexually and physically. She does not fight back or escape it, she takes it as it comes.
He believes that by being the oppressor, he is fulfilling his duties as the husband. “You ain’t got no particular place. It’s wherever Ah need yuh. Git uh move on yuh, and dat quick.” (Pg. 31)
As individuals, we must understand ourselves and our personal struggles. As part of a society, we must understand how we fit into the world around us. Consequently, we must then bridge the gap between these two ideas. In the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, the main character, Celie, discovers her individuality overtime, as she eventually finds her niche among others (Spielberg, 1985). Through incorporating both internal conflicts and how a person relates with the external society, The Color Purple acts as a transitional piece, linking the unit of conflicts of self to the unit of conflicts involving groups.
Sofia knew her worth and never for one second doubted it. She was a powerful woman both mentally and physically. When Harpo attempted to break her spirits and beat her into submission he soon realized that he could not. Although Harpo did love Sofia he let the societal standards of that time period ruin their marriage. “ I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me.” Harpo and Sofia had love in their marriage but their love was not enough to save it. Instead of being beat or having to fight Sofia left. This situation highlights the differences between Celie and Sofia and how they react to their abuse. This difference leads us to our next topic.
Mrs. Rowland, the protagonist, is portrayed as the stereotypical nagging wife. While a flat character, she is very realistic. Her level of diction implies her lack of education, she is also bitter towards her husband. Her bitterness is not unfounded. Alfred is of no help, "Heaven knows I do my part-and more-going out sewing every day while you play the gentleman and loaf around bar rooms with that good-for-nothing lot of artists from the Square" (Jacobs 1211). Mrs. Rowland's husband is adulterous and can not hold down a job. Mrs. Rowland loves her husband, although she does not like the way he treats her. She exhibited love by continually enabling him, paying the rent, providing food, and cleaning up after him. She regards Alfred's depression as laziness. "Not that I've got any doubts about your being lazy enough to stay in bed forever" (Jacobs 1211). After learning Alfred's lover Helen, is pregnant, her frustration and disappointments only intensify.
Starting off with one person that was specifically alienated from society and gravely hurt due to her action was Sofia, Harpo's wife. From the start Sofia is a big strong lipped girl raised in a rough environment (Much like many of the women that come out of this story) who primarily doesn’t take smack from anyone, refuses to be hit without the opportunity to hit back, and most of all isn’t afraid of men as Celie and Nettie are. In this particular time period women were socially accepted if they were quiet, did chores, listened to their husbands, and overall accept that men are superior to them. Sofia frankly ignored all of these things and although Harpo tried many times to “tame” her oftentimes than not he was unsuccessful and was left with bruises to indicate his failure. Ultimately Sofia’s actions didn’t only affect her, they also affected Celie one of the four noteworthy women in “The Color Purple.” Celie had the perfect mix of jealousy and admiration when it came to Sofia, she wanted to be the same as Sofia when it came to men and putting them
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.