The Color Purple By Alice Walker

Shug Avery: When we first met shug, you think negatively of her. She Is just some beautiful woman who has a disease. She treats Celie with no respect while she is sick. As the story

Alice Walker is an award winning  author, most famously recognized for her novel  The Color Purple ;aside from being a novelist Walker is also a poet,essayist and activist .Her writing explores various social aspects as it concerns women and also celebrates political as well as social revolution. Walker has gained the reputation of being a prominent spokesperson and a symbolic figure for black feminism. Proper analyzation  of Walker 's work comes from the  knowledge on her early life, educational background and position in black literature.

Celie and Nettie were separated for the majority of their lives, but for both sisters the existence of the other gave them hope. It was the hope they needed to carry on though the trying situations life stood up against them. They were in two completely different worlds, but they gave each other something to look forward to when there didn?t seem to be anything else. They even, unknowingly, provided each other with friends, a support group. Celie was able to grow intensely close to Shug though the bond she had with Nettie. Celie even said that after Nettie, Shug was the person she had loved the most in the

            Celie 's unwavering love for Nettie provides Celie with some optimism to hold onto, for Nettie 's eventual happiness leads Celie to believe that happiness may also be possible for her in the future. Every letter that Celie writes to Nettie illustrates the strictest confidence she delivers to her sister; most feelings remain trapped inside of Celie except those told to either Nettie or Shug. Celie confides in Nettie her fears, her secrets, her joys and her disappointments: "I sit here in this big house by myself trying to sew, but what good is sewing gon do? What good is anything? Being alive begin to seem like a awful strain" (262). "Well you know wherever there a man there trouble" (213). "I am so happy. O got love, I got work, I got money, friends and time. And you alive and be home soon" (222).

By dissecting the events in a novel, we are able to differentiate realism versus a fairytale and further explicate the text. A realistic novel consists of occurrences that are life-like events that are more relatable to the readers, while a fairytale novel involves coincidental and convenient events with happy endings. In the novel, The Color Purple, Alice Walker presents the life of a 14 year old African American girl Celie, through letters to God and her sister Nettie, who she fears she will never see again. The impractical events that occur in The Color Purple demonstrate fiction. Although there are some realistic elements such as the Jim Crow Laws, the events between Celie and her daughter are too convenient and the reality of Celie economically surpassing poverty does not justify the overall genre, causing it to be a fairytale.

In the early 1900’s society 's attitudes toward women were not always positive ones. Women often faced sexism, discrimination, racism, and abuse which is demonstrated throughout the book, The Color Purple by Alice Walker. When these prevailing attitudes came face to face with the diverse personalities of the women in this book they not only affected each other but their society as a whole. These attitudes included, but were not limited to, disrespect, jealousy, selfishness,infidelity, and abuse. These women were forced to survive their own struggles in their own way, and whether they chose to do it alone or together they did survive. Although they may have been weakened at times these women had unbreakable spirits that by the end were

Paradoxical to popular belief, traditional gender roles are not something one’s taught but rather something one learns. At a very young age, children are infused with the mindset that they must act a certain way. Likewise, in Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, the protagonist Celie, believes that she is obligated to do what men tell her to. She starts writing letters to God since she has nobody else to share her secrets with. Soon she meets a woman named Shug, who makes her realize that there is more to life than she really thinks. Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple demonstrates the progression of gender roles by emphasizing the importance of being able to express one’s thoughts and discovering oneself.

I have chosen to analyze a novel written by an African American woman, Alice Walker, in 1982. Alice has written many novels, but I have focused on The Color Purple for this assignment. The novel won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and was later turned into a movie and a musical. The Color Purple takes place primarily in Georgia, and is structured around the life of African-American women in the south during the early 1900s. The character that I will be focusing on is the main character, Celie, a young girl who suffers through poverty, rape and abuse from a very young age, but remains strong and steadfast throughout her life. It is this reason that I have chosen to apply Chapter 6 of The Sisters are Alright,

A Shade of Purpose The color purple is more than just a color, it is a sense of purpose, dignity, and pride. The concept of searching for a purpose in one’s life, as well as the concept of suppressing one’s pride, is beautifully conveyed in The Color Purple; the double meaning of the color purple is weaved throughout the novel in a way that holds its readers captivated. From the very beginning of the novel, The Color Purple, the reader receives a thick essence of desolation and despondency. The author, Alice Walker, begins the story with an abrupt look into the cold, hard reality that a young girl is forced to live during the early nineteen hundreds.

In ‘The Color Purple’, Shug Avery is an attractive, self-reliant woman who utilises her sensuality to persuade men into having an affair with her. After Shug and Celie’s meeting, Shug encourages Celie to be liberated from the patriarchy that she has been held under for several years. Shug is also rather persistent to put an end to Mr. ______’s constant abuse. This shows that when two women work together, they can learn from each other, become stronger, and therefore accomplish many big things. This is shown when Celie announces, “But I’m here”.

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker is a epistolary novel which portrays the struggles of African American women for independence, self esteem, and identity. The effect of racism and sexism on the black community, especially black women is expressed throughout the book. This novel is told through letters which chronologically goes through 30 years of Celie’s life in South America. The 91 letters written by both Celie and her sister Nettie awakens Celie where she gains a spiritual encouragement from Nettie, Sofia, and Shug. The Color Purple is the sisterhood of Celie, Nettie, Shug and Sofia which contributes a lot to Celie’s escape from slavery.

The first message in Purple talks about the importance of family. As an adult, Celie’s family was separated from her, and she was the receiver of the aggressive touch of a man throughout her entire married life. Celie didn’t have a family for quite some time in the literal sense, however she found family with those around her. Those that she became friends with were the ones that became her home. They took care of her and made sure that she wouldn’t make decisions that she would regret for the rest of her life. When Celie was in a bad situation, Shug was able to get her out of it, and lead Celie to a place where she could be happy. In the end, Celie’s family is all reunited with her and everything turns out for the best! “Believe in good things to come.” (Holland) The main message, however, is that family may not be the people that are related to you through blood or marriage, but family just might be in the people that take care of you no matter what.

I would not have thought that Shug and Celie would be drawn towards each other. This makes me think that since Celie is used to not being loved, and had no recognition of self confidence, that Shug expressed this type of comfort. I believe the author of this book did not write to have readers feel sympathy, but to announce the hope that was presented through the letters addressed to God, that explained in the shortest possible ways the trials and tribulations took a toll on Celie and Nettie.

Alice Walker 's second novel, The Color Purple (1982), is arguably her best known publication to date. The novel follows a young African-American woman named Celie, who is oppressed under a forced marriage with a abusive man named Mr.__. A film adaptation was directed in 1982 by famous Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg. While the book and film have both proved to be successes, there are some subtle and major differences between the two works.

The Color Purple explores and introduces many themes including, the ability to express your thoughts through writing and letters, female relationships, sexism, racism and gender roles that occurred during the early 1900’s in the South. The author of the novel Alice Walker, uses the characters of the novel to help the main character Celie find herself as a woman and stand up to the men in her life that take advantage of her. The Color Purple is an epistolary and fiction novel made up of Celie’s, the protagonists, letters to God where she talks about the struggles of being an African American woman subjected to the cruel prejudices in the South. The novel was originally published in 1982 by Harcourt although it is