The Color Purple By Alice Walker

Alice Walker grew up in rural Georgia in the mid 1900s as the daughter of two poor sharecroppers.  Throughout her life, she has been forced to face and overcome arduous lessons of life.  Once she managed to transfer the struggles of her life into a book, she instantaneously became a world-renowned author and Pulitzer Prize winner.  The Color Purple is a riveting novel about the struggle between redemption and revenge according to Dinitia Smith.  The novel takes place rural Georgia, starting in the early 1900s over a period of 30 years.  Albert, also known as Mr._____, and his son Harpo must prevail over their evil acts towards other people, especially women.  Albert and Harpo wrong many people

There are numerous works of literature that recount a story- a story from which inspiration flourishes, providing a source of liberating motivation to its audience, or a story that simply aspires to touch the hearts and souls of all of those who read it. One of the most prevalent themes in historical types of these kinds of literature is racism. In America specifically, African Americans endured racism heavily, especially in the South, and did not gain equal rights until the 1960s. In her renowned book The Color Purple, Alice Walker narrates the journey of an African American woman, Celie Johnson (Harris), who experiences racism, sexism, and enduring hardships throughout the course of her life; nonetheless, through the help of friends and

Harpo has continuously overlooked the love they had for each other, and instead has become fixated on the power he could have over Sofia. Unfortunately, the idea of being obeyed at all costs had led to Sofia sharing more love for Harpo, than Harpo feels toward Sofia. Celie wants Harpo to realize this, because love is an emotion she has not experienced with Albert. Unfortunately, Harpo does not understand this love, and overlooks all that Sofia has done for him, such as taking care of the children, and being a good wife; all he cares about is getting power, just like his father. Walker characterizes Sofia as being an amazing wife, and Harpo as being selfish, as he overlooks this, and focuses his attention on something that should not be in a relationship. This assumption is not a surprise based on the notion that he wants to “get bigger” in order to have the ability to intimidate Sofia. Harpo wants to gain so much weight in order to cover up the fact that he is a coward. At the end of this passage Celie talks about how slender Albert is. This goes against why he is getting fatter. If his father was still slender and had this much control over Celie, then his idea of gaining weight should put him to shame, as it does. Harpo vomits all of the pies he ate earlier and goes to show that he is uneasy about becoming such a tough man. Celie just hopes that he will not replicate the actions of his father, but it appears that it is already too

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.

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.

When The Color Purple is viewed through the gender/feminist lens, the traditional ways society understands men and women is dramatically altered. Alice Walker defies gender norms with her emphasis on the fact that gender and sexuality are not always as simple as society typically thought. By creating characters that challenge gender stereotypes and break out of the norms of society, she creates a book that dissolves gender barriers. With her use of strong, unique characters, Alice is able to change the way people viewed women and men. Characters like Shug Avery and Harpo defy the gender roles expected of them, and influence those around them to change their roles in society as well. While there are characters that reflect gender norms,

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

The world may seem like a sophisticated place, but there are still many areas to improve on, like giving women the right to equality. However, in 1960, the first ever female president, Sirivamo is elected in Sri Lanka. After living a life of domestic abuse in a culture where women are looked down upon, she takes the risk to prove that women are capable of reaching a higher and dominant role in society. Even though many years have passed since then, the culture of male dominancy still exist today. In countries like Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, women can not drive or step out of the house without a man by their side. In the novel The Color Purple, Celie is living in a male dominant society that is very oppressive to women. As a result, she is both emotionally and physically broken, but in the end she gains enough confidence to realize her own inner beauty and strength. In the novel The Color Purple Alice Walker proves that women are fully capable of overcoming oppression in order to achieve gender equality. Therefore, women around the world need to stand up for themselves and persevere to eventually overcome male dominancy. Throughout the story, Celie learns to assert female empowerment by adapting to the real world which has the good and the bad, learning from some who grow up in gender respected families and finally, and taking life changing advice from the people she trusts.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker starts off with a rather graphic view of a young black woman denominated as Celie. Celie has to learn how to survive her abusive past. She also has to figure out a way she can release her past in search of the true meaning of love. Alice walker wrote this book as an epistolary novel to further emphasize Celie`s life events. From the beginning of the novel Alice Walker swiftly establishes an intimate contact with the reader. The book begins with a eloquent and lucid record of the physical abuse Celie`s father subjected her to. Even in Celie`s dark moments she is still able to find hope.

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

acially dominated society. Shug not only teaches Celie to love someone beyond her biological family, but to love herself. Sofia in my opinion was the character who most consistently stayed true to herself. She constantly walked the thin line between dependence and independence, like how she would constantly fight her husband, yet stay with him out of love until he pushed her too far. Another instance of her representing the “typical” woman, is how she stood up for herself and her children, without letting the matter of race or gender stop her from speaking her mind and telling the truth. Eventually she would be broken by system after sometime and eventually made dependent on her former oppressors such as the mayor, the law enforcement, and even Squeak and Celie. But like all women in this book, she found a way to overcome her obstacles while remaining true to herself.

In the bildungsroman The Color Purple by Alice Walker, the protagonist Celie transforms from being a young, quiet and passive housewife, to understanding the power in herself and other women. This psychological and moral development is displayed most clearly in the pivotal moment when Celie finds the letters from her sister that her husband has been hiding from her. This moment shapes the theme of the power of women by allowing Celie to feel rage for the first time, giving her a view of education, and expanding her physical horizons.

Through the help of women, other girls are able to be inspired and motivated to change their life with positive effects. This is a critical idea of a novel “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker. This view is emphasized proficiently in this novel and concept had a lasting impression upon the ideals of the time period where the novel took place which was post “World War I” in Georgia from 1910 to 1940. Walker's writing's helped to break the barrier that existed in most people's minds of sexism from her works and especially through the help of this novel which showed the positive effects women have from helping uplift other women.

“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.

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is an epistolary novel about a young African-American girl named Celie. Through her letters, Celie narrates the horrific situations and daily struggles that she endures as a young black woman living in the South during the racial unrest of the 1930s. Stuck between being a woman and being black, Celie overcomes her situations and eventually finds her place in society. The first thing that Celie had to accomplish this goal was to find her identity. Walker illustrates how Celie’s relationships with men, sex, women, and God help shape her identity.