Color Purple Patriarchy

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

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the story of a poor black woman living in the south between World War 1 and World War 2. This was at a time when, although slavery had ended,many women were still virtually in bondage, and had to put up with many conditions that was reminiscent of the days of slavery. The problem was that they had to endure being treated like an inferior being by their own families sometimes, as well as from the white people that lived there. It was a life that was filled with misery for many black women, and they felt helpless to do anything about their situations.

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

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.

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.

In the novel, The Color Purple, there are three main characters who demonstrate meaningful traits of women. Celie, the main character, is the most important of the three. She is influenced by other characters in the novel and is inspired to let herself seek their virtues. Celie's two friends, Shug and Sofia, are both strong women who teach Celie how to achieve the happiness she desires.

Celie lives with her mother, father, siblings, and her own children. Celie has a hard home life, she is raped by her father and has given birth to his children. Her father sexually assaults her and abuses her, this even continues once her mother dies. Now she feels the burden of protecting her sister from her father's sexual ways not wanting her to have the same life she had. Throughout this whole time of living a horrible life Celie writes

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 novel, The Color Purple, we get a grasp of how inequality played a major role in African American daily life.Though it wasn’t much better, for African American men, or “colored men,” it was quite easy and less alarming to walk around in the streets because men often had more respect than women. No matter what color, women were still seen as objects, but it was mightily difficult for black women to walk out into the street without the fear of rape or a beating. In the 1920’s black women had to stick together. The Color Purple presents a perfect representation of feminism and womanism. Rajenda Thorat states, “according to Walker, womanism is an empowered form of feminism just as purple is a bold and empowered version of lavender” (Thorat

The Color Purple is a piece of literature that shows readers what life was like for an African-American woman facing oppression in the South. The protagonist had to deal with racism and oppression from Caucasian individuals her whole life. However, she also had to deal with horrible abuse from her father throughout childhood, and her husband later in life. Throughout the book, the author included many examples of oppression the main character faced during her life by family members and strangers. Celia, the protagonist of the book, is an African-American women who grew up in the South. Growing up, she was tasked with taking care of her younger siblings, and helping out her mother around the house. At the age of fourteen her mother got sick,

The Color Purple, directed by Stephen Spielberg, is a historical drama. This story is based on a book written by Alice Walker that focuses on Miss Celie. Celie is an African American woman who grew up in the south with an abusive father. The movie was published in 1985 and is about 2 and a half hours long. The movie aims to show the atrocious things that happened to minority groups before the civil rights movement and it shows how they slowly began to gain more freedom and rights by helping and supporting one another.

Authors usually write a novel to portray an experience that they have endured or observed. They want the rest of the world to see their situation the way they have seen it. Therefore, they create novels from their perspective. In The Color Purple, author Alice Walker reflects on the horrors that women were put through because of the men in their lives. There are many powerful themes throughout the novel, including racism, sexism, and destruction of innocence.

I feel every person should care about sexism and racism, because these two issues affect everyone. “The Color Purple” is a great film that focuses on the problems African American women faced during the early 1900s. "The Color Purple" provides a disturbing and realistic account into the life of Celie, a poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past and Sophia, another poor southern black woman with a sad and abusive past.

How the women in The Colour Purple by Alice Walker and The Help by Katheryn Stockett fight back oppression and misogyny and stand up for feminism.