Copyright: Martina Diehl June 2012 The Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding Celie’s road to trusting and loving herself Abstract This essay is about the love affair in The Color Purple, a novel by Alice Walker in which, thoughts on racism, incest, rape, love and family affairs are provoked. The reader learns about these subjects through the letters that Celie, an uneducated black woman, writes to God and through the letters that her sister Nettie and Celie write to each other. I would like to discuss how Walker raises the issue of love between females, which involves trust and understanding, two aspects that the men in the novel don’t possess. The reader witnesses how the women are being oppressed and abused in this men’s …show more content…
These two novels are set in the same time period and both take place in the South of the United States, both novels show the sexual and racial abuse of women as a second sex between 1910 and 1963. Women in white society were gaining power while black women still had none. During the twentieth century black women began to travel more and saw more of the world and therefore this change in dominance in society. They would no longer tolerate the power that men had over them. The oppression that Celie was part of. Celie does not write of her husband by name, he is part of the system joining God and her father in “an unholy trinity of power than displaces her identity.” (Abbandato 1111) Fear of standing up to the dominant sex Celie is afraid to stand up to her husband. She does not want to get a beating and is traumatised by the events she went through before she left home to be with Mr. ____. Her mother passed away and she is left with a stepfather who raped her and whom she thought dumped her babies in the woods. Celie is continually silenced by her stepfather and Mr. ____ and has no choice in the marriage. She is only an object to the men and is required work around the house and care for them. She does not like to write down or talk about the names of the men who she knows, she prefers to call them Mr. ___ or ‘Pa’ and refers to them as ‘Him’, like God, these men have more power over her than she has over herself. (Tucker 84) She does not know the
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.
Alice Walker's The Color Purple is an excellent account of the life of poor black women who must suffer not only social ostracism due to gender and skin color but also women who suffer greatly at the hands of black men. This is true in terms of infidelity, physical and verbal abuse, and sexual abuse.
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.
Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, focuses on the struggles of a poor and uneducated African American girl, who is verbally, physically and sexually abused by several men in her life. She feels worthless and becomes completely submissive. Her only way to express her feelings is through private letters to God. An emphasized theme in this work is that expressing one’s thoughts and emotions is essential in order to develop an inner sense of self.
Walker`s diction throughout the book emphasizes the inexperience of a young girl that is illiterate and existing in a land where men are considered dominate forces of every demeanor of life. Celie cultured how she was to submit to man, men in general which caused Celie to inhibit all of her own hopes and dreams. The moment Shug Avery and Sofia are introduced in the text we began to see the indoctrinated woman Celie really is within herself. Shug Avery is the perfect epitome of what it means to be an independent woman that Celie desires to be but cannot find the inner courage to become. Celie learned to stand up for herself and emerged as a powerful and astute woman through Shug`s yearning and inspiration. Celie encountered a lot of violence that was very uncomfortable and intolerable for her. Many of
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
The power of strong female relationships allow love in a world filled with male violence, Alice Walker, in The Color Purple, implies symbolism, dramatic irony, and connotation to show how love between females help a young girl get through tough patches of her life. The entire story is told by a young girl who has faced tremendous horrors throughout her life but despite all the odds she still managed to keep her hope. Celie lives her days writing letters to god since no one else can help her get through this although she has no mother, she does have a sister but is too young to understand what Celie goes through a daily basis. No one has helped her bear this moment only god. God is the only one she’s vented her tragic moments to. Just before Celie slowly matures into a woman with enormous confidence her sister, Nettie, is taken away and she is forced to marry a cruel man who isn’t in love with Celie but is with Nettie. As she still lives her abusive life with her husband new people are introduced in the story. A person in particular is Shug. Shug is Celie's husband's mistress who she is going to have nurse. As Shug grows
Rape, incest, sex, forced labor, and a bit of reefer. These are some of the components of a Novel by Alice Walker. These views are illustrated proficiently in Walker’s third novel, The Color Purple. These aspects had a lasting impression upon ideals and beliefs of the time period. Her writing’s helped to break the racial tension and barrier that was present in some people’s minds. One of the ways that the barrier was eliminated was through her depiction of an imperfect black person. If a white person were to write about an imperfect black person it would be considered racist. “ I think the most chilling thing to me about the response to The Color Purple was that people said ‘ this
“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.
The main character in Walker’s “The Color Purple” is Celie, a black woman who is treated very poorly by the men surrounding her. In her early years she is abused and raped by her stepfather, Alfonso, who she has two babies from. It shows already at the beginning of the novel that there is a mixture of parent – lover, parent – children roles, which can prevent Celie’s rise and also noting their similar history will be a barrier in Precious’s life as well. Throughout the novel the strong relationships she builds with the other female characters around her have the greatest impact on Celie’s life. This ‘sisterhood’ gives her the strength to liberate herself from the oppression created by men.
Alice Walker states that The Colour Purple' remains for her the "theological work examining the journey from the religious back to the spiritual". How successful is she in revealing her purpose to the reader? <br>
In our everyday lives whether we notice it or not, disrespect towards gender and racism surrounds us and it begins to affect individuals not only physically but emotionally and socially as well. In Alice Walkers novel, The Color Purple, the topic of racism is strongly emphasized and shown throughout novel. Due to Celie’s race and gender roles played, she resists the urge to speak up for herself resulting in silence. In addition, it is through the love and support of other characters like Shug, in which tempts and inspires Celie to stand up for herself. Lastly, through all the troubles Celie faces, she eventually finds the strength in herself to leave Albert and start her life afresh. In The Color Purple, the author develops the idea that discrimination based on gender or race limits one’s opportunities and results in lack of independence and silence, ultimately suggesting that only through the influence of positive models for change can one develop the strength to change their life for the better.
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
When reading Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and “Everyday Use,” it is evident that she writes about her life through her use of allegory. Alice Walker uses the events of her childhood, her observation of the patriarchy in African American culture, and her rebellion against the society she lived in to recount her life through her stories. Alice Walker grew up in a loving household in the years towards the end of the Great Depression. Although her family was poor, they were rich in kindness and perspective and taught Walker a lot about her heritage and life.