The Color Purple Character Analysis Essay

At the end of the novel Celie has finally created a permanent life for herself.  The way she interacts with the other characters and attitude towards things has

According to Harold Bloom, “For Celie, the practice of addressing God simply reaffirms her solitude; she is essentially writing to herself” (Bloom, and Williams 77-88). This submissive practice nonetheless carries over onto her daily life, and ensues until her relationship with Shug Avery strengthens. After Celie begins to experience a spiritual, emotional, and sexual awakening as a result of this bond, her letters reflect her newfound emotional capacity. Bloom enforces this ideal, claiming, “Shug is the route through which Nettie's letters are restored” (Bloom, and Williams 77-88). With the figurative resurrection of her sister through Shug’s support, Celie’s power of voice grows. She begins to think for herself and express her thoughts more vividly, claiming, "My life stop when I left home, I think. But then I think again. It stop with Mr._______ maybe, but start up again with Shug" (Walker 85). The audience, who was Celie’s only recluse for thought, views her becoming more verbal and opinionated in reality as well; for instance, during her final standoff with Mr._______, she exclaims, "You a lowdown dog is what's wrong, I say. It's time to leave you and enter into Creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need” (Walker 207). Celie, therefore, has discovered the act of standing up for herself as a person. Nettie’s letters possess a distinct voice as well, and the discovery and instigation of communication between the two sisters liberates the voice which

Celie is inspired by her sister’s independence, determination and perseverance in Africa among foreign people whom Nettie cares about deeply. Celie saw the impact that a woman could have on others and felt

This can be seen by contrasting Celie’s personality before and after she reads the letters. When Celie is living alone with Mr. ¬¬___, she has no confidence or ability to stand for herself. However once she discovers the letters, she becomes assertive and independent. The letters gives her assurance that there are still people in her life that can support her and this empowers her to stand up to Mr. ___’s cruel treatment.

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

Celie begins to fantasize about Shug and becomes Celie’s ideal ego. Celie’s first realization that she is important to someone occurs when Shug sings “Celie’s Song” at Harpo’s juke joint. Through Shug, Celie also finds a passion for sewing which helps her break free from normal gender roles in relationships and show off her new confidence(Novels for Students). Before Shug leaves, she promises

Sometimes life brings experiences of abandonment through difficult times. Celie shows an expression of abandonment from God with her intimate friend Shug Avery, who challenges Celie where she thinks God is. “What God do for me?...He gave me a lynched daddy, crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister I probably won’t see again...The God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgetful and lowdown...Miss Celie, You better hush. God might hear you. Let’im hear me, I say. If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place” Celie said in anger (192). It is times like this that society tells the world to push life’s disasters under the rug. When instead it requires the attention of others to become endured. To be human is to go through the struggles of life and face them. Without them, life can become meaningless. Celie experiences this through oppression and her loss of faith in God. Throughout

In the beginning Celie’s addresses her letters to “Dear God” (p. 1), but when the exposure of her sister's existence, she begins to doubt God. Ultimately, closing a letter to God with “You must be sleeping” (p. 178). During this complicating time, Celie writes to her sister signing her letters with “amen” (p. 199), little later with “amend, your sister Celie” (p. 219), and finally “your loving sister, Celie” (p. 250). Gradually, Celie finds true happiness and develops a new restore sense of spirituality.

After she discovers Mr._____ has been keeping Nettie’s letters from her, she finally gets angry enough to want to kill him. Shug tries to convince her not to kill him by invoking the commandments and reminding Celie Christ would not condone killing. Celie replies, “But Mr._____ not Christ. I’m not Christ” (144). Celie is finally angry, and she is angry at both Mr._____ and God.

Celie writes very personal letters to God, where she continuously asks him for guidance, to “give [her] a sign”. At fourteen years old, she was experiencing many frustrations, and has several questions that she expresses to God. She claims that she has “always been a good girl” and uses this as a justification for asking God “what is happening

The main character, Celie, shows through her letters the transformation of her beliefs as well as the obstacles she faced in her life. Celie begins her letters to God for the first half of the book. The fact that she was writing to God let’s the readers feel the truth behind every word she says and creates a personal bond between the reader and Celie. Celie goes through so much in her life that she needs a source of hope in her life and for the majority of the book it is God, until she finds Nettie’s letters. When she stops writing to God you know her beliefs have shifted because she says God never did anything for her

Celie begins the novel as a passive, quiet young girl, bewildered by her own pregnancy, by Pa’s sexual assault, and by Mr. _____’s ill-treatment of her. After meeting Shug and seeing her sister run away, Celie develops practical skills and begins to transform into this “new” woman. She

As a result of these tragic events, Celie writes to an unknown audience, resembling her unknown identity. In the beginning, the only person she can talk to is God. She writes her first letters to God shortly after her so-called father raped her. Each one of the letters is short, choppy and has a similar rhythm. The patterns found in her letters symbolize her state of mind; she feels depressed and weak. "Celie does not think of her letters as anything else than just that, as written documents saying the things she wishes to tell the recipients she cannot speak to in person”, making God the person she has always wished to communicate with (Boynukara). Her letters in the beginning are also mostly written to God and not signed off, illustrating her lack of identity. Her conception of God is a “Big and old and tall and graybearded and white. He wear white robes and go barefooted” (Walker 195). Celie’s first letter proves that she has a low self-confidence when she writes, "Dear God, I am fourteen years old. I am I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me." (1). According to Janoff Bulman, “cognitive strategy used to make

<br>We observe Celie's gradual spiritual development throughout the book from the point when Shug arrives to the very end when Celie first addresses her letters "Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear everything. Dear God." Her journey can be

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