The Color Purple Character Analysis

Shug Avery is Mr. Albert’s long lost love and she comes in to move in with Mr. Albert’s family since she had gotten very sick and needed the support. The minute Celie saw a picture of Shug she had fallen for her, finding her very beautiful. Shug has supported Celie in every possible way after she realized that when Celie puts her full effort in helping her even though she was rude to her when they had first met. Shug helps Celie with self-identity, which help builds her confidence. “She say my name again. She say this song I’m bout to sing is call Miss Celie’s song. Cause she scratched it out of my head when I was sick.” (Walker, 73). In this quote Celie recognizes that someone has done something for her, they have valued her enough to do something sweet as this. Celie realizes that she has one more person who cares and loves for her. This leads Celie to believe in herself be able to take control, since she is aware that she has someone next to her. Shug also has the effect on Celie to take control when Celie confronts Mr. Albert telling him that she is leaving him, “You bitch, he say. What will people say, you running off to Memphis like you don’t have a house to look after?” said by Mr. Albert who was referring to Celie. This is a big step for Celie because she is going to be living the life she wants with the person she loves, Shug Avery. Celie has wanted for so long to get out of the

Shug Avery is not only a friend to Celie but also a lover. It is by being a lover that Celie learns self-respect and a little happiness in her life. Like when Shug Avery showed Celie how to enjoy herself. Listen she say, right down there in your … is a little button that gits real hot when you do you know what with somebody. It get hotter and hotter and then it melt. That the good part. But other parts good too, she say… (P. 79). I found this real important as it showed Celie she can enjoy herself and there is more to her then just being a slave to Mister.

In The Color Purple, Alice Walker illustrates the lives of a female African American before the Civil Rights Movement. A novel that describes female empowerment, The Color Purple demonstrates the domestic violence women faced in the South. Walker tells the story through Celie, a young African American girl who faces constant hardships until she stands up for herself with the help of her closest friends – other women undergoing the same difficulties. Even though men controlled females in the South, the author emphasizes the strength of female empowerment because females struggled to survive during this time.

“You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t” (Walker 1) stated Celie’s step father in The Color Purple. The first letter written by Alice Walker's character Celie in The Color Purple gives a brief light on how mistreated, the protagonists, Celie has been. Celie suffered through many forms of abuse and trauma. Since an early age her supposed father, Pa, sexually abused her. Celie’s husband also beat her into submission, and worked her constantly. But never the less Celie revolts against her oppressors with the help of Shug, Nettie, and life changing events. In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple the protagonists Celie is analysed through emotional and physical abuse, and hardships throughout the novel, but after many personal trials she has become a very independent character.

    Celie is not a typical protagonist. In Alice Walker's The Color Purple, the main character Celie is an ugly, poor girl who is severely lacking in self-confidence. However, Celie transforms throughout the course of the novel and manages to realize herself as a colorful, beautiful, and proud human being. Celie becomes a powerful individual.

Walker’s theme of writing is straight forward, she express through emotions and sexual conduct. Alice Walker adds, “The worse thing than being a woman is being a black woman” (282). The novel: The Color of Purple tells about the leading character Celie that writes down her deepest thoughts of unhappiness and sorrow in her diary. Celie was sexual assaulted by the man she called father, and she later conceives a child, that child was taken away from her at the age of fourteen. For example, Celie was not attending school, she felt rejected and unattractive. Celie stayed at home

Shug is the first person that Celie verbally confides in. Celie expresses her emotions to Shug saying that ''Nobody ever love me'' (pg.112) in which Shug replies ''I love you, Miss Celie.'' (pg.113) This conversation allows Celie to be emotionally vulnerable therefore being able to heal from the emotional abuse. Celie's romantic pursuit of Shug introduces her to a new emotion: jealousy. ''

“I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me.” Celie is trying to understand why her father, Alphonso, is starting to rape her repeatedly, however, convinces herself to believe it is her fault Alphonso is abusing her. She thinks that this horrible thing happening to her is because she herself is bad. In Celie’s second letter a year later her mother has passed away angry at Celie for father has impregnated her. After Celie had her children, her father gave them away; however, she believes that her father killed one of her children. Although all this is happening to Celie, she only hopes her father finds himself a new wife so that he does not advance towards her younger sister, Nettie, and rape or mistreat her like he did to Celie. Eventually, her father does get remarried and Celie serves as a maid for him and the kids he had with his new wife as well as a protector for Nettie.

As Nettie receives opportunities Celie could never fathom, their relationship comes to a halt. Celie stops receiving letters from her sister and is left to take care of her husband’s obnoxious children from a previous marriage, and is verbally/physically abused on a daily basis by both her husband and his children. Celie’s husband has a torrent affair with Shug Avery, a blues singer with a practical mentality who does not endure any mistreatment from anyone, regardless of their gender. When Shug Avery falls into Celie’s care, Shug Avery teaches Celie a thing or two about self-confidence and the strength she must find within herself to stand up to her husband. Towards the end of the novel, Shug Avery encourages Celie to leave her husband and move with her to Memphis, where she can escape the pain of her past and for once in her life be happy.

Shug helps Celie with self-identification. A bondage that Celie faces is the discovery of Nettie’s letters that Albert has hidden from her. She has regained bondage with her sister whom she thought was no longer alive. She bonded with Shug to find the letters and with the help of Shug she was advised not to kill Albert even though it was tough for Celie to accept this for the love

Celie is forced to leave school as a result of her stepfather believing that she is “too dumb to keep going to school” (Walker. 2014. p 11). When her teacher, Miss Beasley, tries to urge him to reconsider his decision, she tells him that “long as she been a teacher she never know nobody want to learn bad as Nettie and [Celie]” (Walker. 2014. p 12). However, she does not pursue the matter any further once she sees that Celie is pregnant as she also loses hope in Celie. Despite such disadvantages that Celie faces as an adolescent, she learns how to make pants from Shug Avery. From such knowledge, Celie is able to run a successful business in making pants and, consequently, she confesses to Nettie that she is “so happy. I got love, I got work, I got money, friends and time” (Walker. 2014. p

Celie, the narrator of The Color Purple, is an uneducated, submissive, 14-year old black girl who lives in Georgia. Celie is constantly being abused and raped by her father, Alphonso. He has already impregnated Celie twice. The first one was a girl while the second one was a boy. All her children were taken away by her father after they were born. Her father told her that she better not tell anybody about their relationship but God, which explains why every letter she write begins with “Dear God”. Celie’s mother is happy because Alphonso doesn’t bother her anymore, but the truth is that Alphonso has been raping Celie as a substitute for her mother to gratify his sexual needs. Celie’s mother becomes seriously sick and eventually dies. Alphonso brings home another woman but continues to sexually

Characters throughout Alice Walker’s The Color Purple can be evaluated and analyzed using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a five-stage model consisting of fundamental needs and growth needs. His theory states that the basic, lower tiered needs have to be met before the growth, higher tiered needs can be met, to ultimately reach the top tier, self-actualization. In The Color Purple, Walker shows the eventual progress to self-actualization through the protagonist, Celie. Celie’s growth is shown through her letters to both God and her sister Nettie. Celie fulfills her basic physiological needs when she gets married to Mr._ because she is finally able to escape her father’s abuse, beatings, and rape. It takes a while, but Celie gains safety and security when Shug Avery tells her, “I won’t leave… until I know Albert won’t even think about beating you” (Walker 76). The relationship that Celie forms with Shug helps Celie satisfy her belonging and intimacy needs. Their love for each other can be shown when Shug states, “cause she [Nettie] the only one you ever love… sides me” (120). As Celie begins her life in Memphis, she meets the respect/self-respect needs when she opens her own business making and selling pants. Celie feels so pleased and shows her character development when she says, “I got love, I got work, I got money, friends, and time” (218). Celie finally reaches self-actualization by the end of the novel. She has a successful business, is able to be independent in her own house, and realizes that she can bring herself happiness and that through every situation she needs to see the bright side. This is evidently shown when Celie is talking to Mr._ and says, “If she [Shug] come, I be happy. If she don’t I be content” (288). Celie’s evolution to reach self-actualization is clearly displayed in The Color Purple as Celie faces and overcomes hardships and learns to be confident in herself.

If any woman had to answer if she ever had trouble accepting herself, the response would be yes. According to Susan David, “All healthy human beings have an inner stream of thoughts and feelings that include criticism, doubt, and fear” (125-128). Depending on the person Alice Walker has as the recipients of Celie’s and Nettie’s letters, the text alters. The Color Purple is about a girl named Celie, who grows up in the south during the early 1920’s, surrounded by racism, sexism, and abuse from her father and husband. Alice Walker wrote The Color Purple in epistolary style and it traces Celie’s journey of finding her identity and path of finally accepting herself. On her journey she encounters a couple of women including one named Shug

She has to deal with the loss of her kids, but one day she gets to see one of them. She always called her little girl Olivia, but when she met the woman who had her child, she said, “We calls her Pauline.” (pg.16). That made Celie sad, but then the woman says, “But I calls her Olivia.” She just said that she looked like an Olivia and this made Celie happy.