Obstacles In The Color Purple

People around the world go through unimaginable horrors every day. These people must find a way to cope, or better yet, overcome. Countries, governments, and everyday citizens send aid to those in need, but the will of one to overcome their adversity is what helps them to transform their life. In The Color Purple, Celie, a fourteen-year-old, is living in a family where she is beaten and raped by her father regularly. She is not educated like her sister, Nettie. Her father, Alphonso, ends up marrying her to a man who is called Mr. ____, and through this experience, Celie meets many characters who help her to view people and society in a different way. People undergo many traumatic experiences, and the decisions that one makes, may prove to change the series of unfortunate events. The striving to improve lives and the understanding of them is achieved through overcoming adversity. Which, in turn, helps one to transform into whom they want to be. One source says, “Celie's transformation from a young passive girl, who is the object

Another important woman in Celie’s life was Harpo’s wife Sofia. Sofia wasn’t as important to Celie as Shug Avery or her sister Nettie, but it was Sofia’s actions that I believe helped inspire Celie. For when Harpo tried to beat Sofia, thanks to Celie’s advice to Harpo to beat his wife, Sofia would always fight back. Not only emotionally but physically as well, for one day when Celie was going to Harpo’s house she saw Harpo and Sofia fighting like twos mens (P. 44). And I think Celie was really shocked when Sofia confronted her on why Celie told Harpo to beat Sofia. I say it cause I’m a fool, I say it cause I’m jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can’t. What that? She say. Fight I say. … She say all my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers … cousins … uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men. But I never thought I’d have

Celie, as apposed to Shug, begins hardly any particular views of her own, and only does what she thinks is right: caring for her husband. She holds onto the morals she has learnt from her stepfather, although she realises that her life could be less abusive, she does not seem to feel that she has the power to change that. She thinks that her stepfather, who raped her, has killed her children and therefore she does not trust him. The incest that happens allows distrust towards her family, and so she turns to God is not allowed to tell anybody about the rape and abuse. Celie struggles through life as an uneducated young

Celie is abused and raped by her Pa, who takes away her children after they’re born. Eventually, Pa marries Celie off to a man who is just as abusive as Pa. Celie’s new husband, Mr.__, simply marries Celie to take care of his four children, look after of his house, and work in his fields.

In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Celie leads a life filled with abuse at the hands of the most important men in her life. As result of the women who surround and help her, Celie becomes stronger and overcomes the abuse she experienced. The three most influential women in Celie’s life are her sister Nettie, her daughter-in-law Sofia, and the singer Shug Avery. These are the women who lead Celie out of her shell and help her turn from a shy, withdrawn woman to someone who was free to speak her mind and lead her own independent life.

But I’m alive” (Walker 21). c. Celie is a round and dynamic character due to the big change she goes through in the novel. At the beginning she was obedient

Within The Color Purple by Alice Walker, women are treated as inferior to men therefore they must obey them. Through the strength and wisdoms Celie gains from other women, she learns to overcome her oppression and realize her self worth as a woman. The women she has met throughout her life, and the woman she protected since young, are the people that helped her become a strong independent woman. Sofia and Shug were there for Celie when she needed someone to look up to and depend on. Nettie was able to push Celie to become a more educated, independent person. The main source of conflict in this book is Celie’s struggle with becoming an independent woman who needs not to rely on a man. Throughout the book we see her grow as a person and

Through their journey from abused wives to tenacious women, these three characters learn the significance of self-made happiness and how independence is not only possible, but necessary for success. Celie, the woman who was once a daughter and a wife used to the constant ridicule of her family, changed her life for the better through forgiveness, faith, and friendship. Her friend and daughter in-law,Sofia, a loving mother and wife who was punished for her voice rose to defy the racist and sexist ways she was treated. And Mary Agnes, the diffident girl who shrunk away from the limelight, content to remain in the shadows of the strong figures around her, learned the importance of determination and courage through her success as a singer. The woman from this novel are a true testament to how women's rights have progressed over the last two centuries and how much farther they have to

Celie is able to accept her past and establish a clear vision of herself and fulfillment through the acts of love. She meets other women who tell her that she should stand up for herself and fight, but Celie feels that it’s better to survive than to fight and risk not surviving. However, there are certain triggers that lead Celie to stand up. Like a true fighter, Celie proves herself to be willing to stand up for the people she loves. Even as a downtrodden victim of her Pa, Celie sacrifices herself and offers herself to her father so that he keeps his hands off of Nettie. As mentioned in this quote, where Pa is sexually abiding Celie, “First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. ” (Walker, 4). Celie has the potential by putting her efforts into other people, but not realizing she is able to stand up for herself the same ways he does for Nettie. Relating it back to the novel, “Beloved”, Sethe does the same representation when she is trying to save Beloved even though the idea is bizarre of her killing her own child, but she only does it so that she would not have to suffer the way Sethe did. Celie is introduced with Shug Avery a blues singer, who she was first found “rude”, but as the story moves along, Shug Avery becomes the reason Celie learns to love herself. Because Celie is finally opening herself up by loving someone, Celie becomes more lovable. Through Shug’s love, Celie begins to realize her own self-worth, from the minute when Shug Avery wrote a song for Celie, as said in this quote: “This song I'm bout to sing us call Miss. Celie's song.”(Walker, 73).By the end of the novel, Celie loves more

Shug asks why Celie gets beaten and she responds with, “For being me and not you” (42 PDF) This shows that Celie is passive and does not retaliate, but she is strong because she takes the beating and continues on with her life. Although Celie is a strong women, she is very naive when it comes to the injustices she has faced. This is most evident in her relationship with her father. Celie

You can do everything just like you want to and she ain’t gonna make you feed it or clothe it” (A. Walker, 8). As a woman in a sexist society, Celie is disempowered and misused by men who have authority over her. Eventually, she realizes the extent of the violence and develops the boldness to oppose her abusers. The police officers resort to violence as a way to punish Sofia for pushing a white woman.

In the beginning of the novel Celie is living with her abusive “Pa”. At a young age Celie is raped and has two children. She is beat if she doesn’t do something exactly how her Pa wants. Then one day Celie is married off to Mr. (Albert) who also treats her like a slave.

Celie also values her sister Nettie greatly and protects her when it comes to their step-father, Alphonso raping the girls. Celie says “I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new mammy was sick.” the casual tone of the preceding line adds to Celie's lack of self-worth; she is so used to being raped by Alphonso that it no longer makes any difference to her. As Celie transitions to the Mister’s household, she is still treated with disrespect by the Mister himself and even one of his sons. In a letter to God, she writes “I spent most of my wedding day running from the oldest boy… He picks up a rock and laid my head open.” Celie grows older in this household and submits to more abuse from her new husband.

The main protagonist in the novel, Celie, lives in rural Georgia during the 1930s. She is poor and illiterate and lives in a small house with her mother, little sister Nettie, and abusive stepfather Pa. While living with her family, Celie experiences frequent physical and sexual abuse from Pa. Due to the domineering nature of Pa, Celie lacks the protection of her sick mother and sister. This greatly affects Celie, because she is stuck between protecting her sister from Pa and protecting her own

Walker introduces the reader to the protagonist, Celie, through a series of letters. In these letters the reader finds Celie amidst her mother’s death. The author chooses to address her letters to God, giving Celie a greater willpower to survive. Celie’s upbringing gave her maternal authority; as seen through the multiple maternal roles she played through the novel. Her mother’s death forces her to step up and fill a, painful role revealing her inner strength and ability to remain optimistic.The full