The Creation of Women's Identities in the Color Purple by Alice Walker

Celie practically struggled for happiness her whole existence. Her father sold her to a man who had no intent of loving or caring for her. Celies’ husband whom she refers to as Mr. physically and verbally abused her. Mr. felt that the only way to keep a woman in check was to beat her and he did just that throughout the movie. Like any woman would though the abuse Celie lost herself and respect for herself. Living with Mr. was a life full of darkness and hatred. Life with her husband was no better life than life with her stepfather. It took years for Celie to become brave enough to fight back for what she accept as true and gain understanding of how to convey amusement and have little outlook on life. After years of abuse, Celie no longer was afraid of Mr. She no longer cared for her husband or 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.

All throughout history, men and women have been pushed into gender roles. Though these gender roles are starting to diminish in the twenty-first century, in the early nineteen hundreds, they were very prominent. In the book, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, gender roles are a major conflict for its main characters.

Gender was shown and expressed throughout the whole book; it was to show who had more power over who. Walker demonstrates it through the journey of an African American young teenager to a strong women and how she developed to get through her life with all the challenges she had on the way. She used a lot of imagery, allegory, and symbolism in the story of The Color Purple. An example of imagery that she used was when she said, “He took my other little baby, a boy this time… I think he sold it to a man an his wife over Monticello. I got breast full of milk running down myself’ (Walker 3): meaning that she had a strong connect with her son, and then they just took him away for no reason which brings pain to her. An allegory is when celie talks about how the color purple was created from God to show different actions a person would do, “ Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back” (Walker 196). A symbolism in the story is the “pants” because in the story it symbolize the pants showed who had the power over who and well usually during this time men had almost all the power so they were the ones who wore the pants, “Well, She say, looking

Celie's transformation from Mr. ____'s slave into an independent women is successful thanks to two strong women that become role models for Celie in her everyday life; Shug Avery and Sofia. Sofia is a role model in a more unconscious way for Celie then Shug is. Sofia's whole appearance and behaviour is proud, she lets no one sit on her and Celie is, at first, jealous of Sofia's self-confidence and tries to destroy it by giving her husband Harpo the advice to beat her to make her obedient; "I think about this when Harpo ast me what he ought to do to make her mind. [---] I think bout how every time I jump when Mr. _____ call me, she [Sofia] look surprise. And like she pity me. Beat her. I say"2. When this does not work, Celie realises that Sofia is someone to become more alike, not someone to destroy.

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

Celie is mostly uneducated until her sister helps her learn how to read and write so she can write her letters when she is absent as she suspects she will need to send her away from Albert. This displays Celie’s will to improve herself even through the harsh times she goes through and is able to keep her composure. Celie protects her sister Nettie from the fate she had and allows for Nettie to have a better life compared to hers. Celie in the novel evolves into a character that is strong, caring, and the ability to

Celie becomes a different and stronger women towards the end of the book compared to when the book started. “I think I can’t even remember the last time I felt mad, I say. I used to git mad at my mammy cause she put a lot of work on me. Then I see how sick she is. Couldn’t stay mad at her. Couldn’t be mad at my daddy cause he my daddy. Bible say, Honor father and mother no matter what. Then after while every time I got mad, or start to feel mad, I got sick. Felt like throwing up. Terrible feeling. Then I start to feel nothing at all” (Walker, Alice). Celie has been hurt so much she has basically become numb to life. She never gets mad because she knows there are more difficult problems in life. She used to get mad at her mother and father but now realizes she should not do that. “I have daydreamed not fairy tales but of falling swords, of putting guns to my heart or head, and of slashing my wrists with a razor” (Alice Walker). After Alice kept having those daydreams, she then later went to Spelman College on a scholarship. Celie and Alice both end up living a better life than the past and getting what they deserve. They learn that there are worse situations in the world and they have both been through one of those events and that they should never take anything for granted.

Celie is abused and raped by her Pa, who takes away her children after they’re born. Eventually, Pa marries Celie off to a man who is just as abusive as Pa. Celie’s new husband, Mr.__, simply marries Celie to take care of his four children, look after of his house, and work in his fields.

Alice Walker portrays Celie as writing this book in a series of letters to God. God is who Celie goes to with everything that happens to her. She writes to God because of the shame she feels for what has happened to her. Through every day of her life, faith is the one thing she trusts amongst everything else. God is Celie's salvation through her struggles. God is her helping hand, even though she still does not have a complete understanding of what her faith is.

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

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.

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

Gender is a social construct that has been passed down and reinforced from generation to generation. It is the idea that men are the sole providers and make all the decisions in the households and women are believed to take care of the children, cleaning, and cooking, and most importantly listen to their husbands. These roles have been passed down in cultures and families dating back for hundreds of years. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and Daniel Black’s Perfect Peace both took place around 1930’s-1940’s, and during this time period, the roles associated with each gender were strict and expected to be followed. Men felt as if they were the superior sex, they owned the house, the land, and controlled the finances. Men believed it was there

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