“The Flowers” by Alice Walker was a very descriptive short story that used words powerfully and constructed a sinister yet elegant scene in the reader’s mind. The emotional meaning behind it’s excellent description only enhanced the details and thoughts the reader had while reading the story, which displayed Walker’s talent in describing a story . In this story, a young girl named Myop is playing near her home on a sharecropper property. She begins picking flowers around her sharecropper property, which eventually leads her to exploring the forest behind the property. As Myop is exploring the forest, she encounters a dead body that had been there for a while. Myop is briefly fazed, then continues looking for more plant life. Eventually, she spots a singular pink rose, and notices that at the base of the rose, there is a mound. She digs up the mound, only to discover a noose that was used to hang the
Maya Angelou demonstrates many examples of descriptive imagery in her excerpt Sister Flowers. Imagery is the formation of mental images, or figures through text. Angelou first introduces imagery in paragraph one. The essay states, “For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school and the church, like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible” (1 and 2). The imagery in line 1 and 2 is “like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible.” Angelou is forming an image in the reader’s mind of what she looked like as she “sopped around.” Only a few lines down Angelou begins to use imagery to describe the appearance of Sister Flowers as she writes “She was thin without the taut look of wiry people, and her printed voile dresses and flower
The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a story written in 1982 that is about the life struggles of a young African American woman named Celie. The novel takes the reader through several main topics including the poor treatment of African American women, domestic abuse, family relationships, and also religion. The story takes place mostly in rural Georgia in the early 1900’s and demonstrates the difficult life of sharecropper families. Specifically how life was endured from the perspective of an African American woman. The Color Purple is written in the form of letters that Celie narrates explaining the events that took place at certain points in her life. Celie endures physical and emotional abuse by some of the people around her including
Alice Walker’s realistic novel, The Color Purple revolves around many concerns that both African American men and women faced in an era, where numerous concerns of discrimination were raised. Religious and gender issues are confronted by the main characters which drive the plot and paint a clear image of what life may possibly have been like inside an African American home. Difficulties were faced by each and every character specifically Celie and Nettie who suffered heavy discrimination throughout the novel at the hands of males. These traumatising circumstances develop the characters not only emotionally but spiritually. Walker creates a wonderfully literal novel which passionately addresses issues that were evident during the age of inequality. Due to the unique writing style, captivating female character developments and spiritual nature the author has successfully created an honest and authentic novel representing life as an African American woman.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker sheds light on the hardships of Celie’s life as an African American woman in the early nineteenth century through letters and prayers written by Celie herself. Soon after birth Celie’s mother dies, and only Celie, her father, and her sister Nettie remain. As a fourteen year old girl, Celie is abused mentally and physically by her father in forms such as rape and beatings. Celie gets impregnated by her father, and when she gives birth to the child, her father kills the child in the woods. Mr._______ (Albert) comes along and wants to marry Nettie, but her father refuses to allow Nettie to marry. However, her father offers Celie, whom he calls the “ugly” one, up for marriage to Mr._______. Celie’s life changes drastically when Mr._______ brings his mistress, Shug Avery, home for Celie to nurse back to health. Celie immediately falls for Shug, and Shug shows Celie what real love looks like when she shows responding emotions to Celie. Being with Shug releases a sense of confidence that Celie has never experienced. Shug helps Celie figure out what happened to her sister, Nettie. Together, they discover that Mr. _______ has been hiding letters from Nettie to Celie for years. From the letters, Celie learns that Mr._______ is not actually her biological father. The letters also reveal that Nettie is living in Africa as a missionary. The reverend she married also adopted Celie’s two children she thought Mr._______ had murdered. Celie learns that
In Alice walker’s “The Color Purple” she uses foil characters such as Celie and Shug to express the polar opposites that are inevitably found when abuse occurs. Celie represents submission and low self value. Shug on the other hand represents Independence and intolerance. Both characteristics coincide bringing forth friendship and change.
Mrs. Fox, by Sarah Hall was published in 2014. Mrs. Fox is a short story by Sarah Hall about a woman who turns into a fox during her pregnancy, much to the dismay of her husband. Mrs. Fox describes a woman who is not satisfied with her life with her husband, Mr. Fox. They both remain detached thorough the story. When Mrs. Fox turns into a fox, Mr. Fox does not understand why his wife was not happy or satisfied in her human life. Sarah Hall does a wonderful job of displaying out an unusually intriguing setting, a breath taking characterization of the two main characters Mr. and Mrs. Fox, and she displays a dark and modern theme, rightfully earning the BBC National short story
She is upset by the loss of the day even though her mother attempts to distract her with a garden of flowering violets, her father also attempts to comfort her. Finally, she returns to sleep after dinner. Her memory is a positive memory and the motif if the violets are used to link the past and present as it will help her get through her dark times. In the visual her memory is included, and he mother confronting her is one of the main images that she remembers from this. The image of her mother comforting her is a very important one, as it establishes the role and persona of a mother at the time and how women in that era were seen as to stay home look after children and the men went out and worked to support the
The most interesting book I have read in the past year was “Still Alice,” written by Lisa Genova. This book narrated the life of Alice Howland, a successful Harvard psychology professor who loses herself to Alzheimer’s disease. Alice is an intelligent, ambitious woman with a loving husband, John, and their three children. Initially, Alice starts off forgetting minor details, such as words during her presentations or where she might place some of her belongings. Dismissing it, Alice goes for a run in her town square where she’s run for several years. She suddenly finds herself lost and panics because she could not figure out how to get home. Eventually, she finds out she’s diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s and she is left to deal with her family and work life as well as do as much as she can each day before she loses herself completely.
Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, a heartbreaking book about a 50-year-old woman's sudden diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and Dementia USA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. Genova's work with Alzheimer's patients has given her an understanding of the disorder and its affect not only on the patient, but on their friends and family as well (Simon and Schuster, n.d.).
In the early 1900’s society 's attitude toward women wasn 't always a positive one. Women often faced sexism, discrimination, racism, and abuse which is demonstrated throughout the book the The Color Purple by Alice Walker. When these prevailing attitudes came face to face with the diverse personalities of the women in this book they not only affected each other but their society as a whole. These attitudes included but were not limited to disrespect, jealousy, selfishness,infidelity, and abuse. These women were forced to survive their own struggles in their own way and whether they chose to do it alone or together they did survive. Although it may have been weakened at times these women had unbreakable spirits that by the end were
When The Color Purple is viewed through the gender/feminist lens, the traditional ways society understands men and women is dramatically altered. Alice Walker defies gender norms with her emphasis on the fact that gender and sexuality are not always as simple as society typically thought. By creating characters that challenge gender stereotypes and break out of the norms of society, she creates a book that dissolves gender barriers. With her use of strong, unique characters, Alice is able to change the way people viewed women and men. Characters like Shug Avery and Harpo defy the gender roles expected of them, and influence those around them to change their roles in society as well. While there are characters that reflect gender norms,
The award-winning novel, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, is a story about a woman going through cruel things such as: incest, rape, and physical abuse. This greatly written novel comes from a very active feminist author who used many of her own experiences, as well as things that were happening during that era, in her writing. “The Color Purple” takes place in the early 1900's, and symbolizes the economic, emotional, and social deprivation that African American women faced in Southern states of America. The main character of the story is Celie, a fourteen-year old that starts writing letters to God for thirty years, and then to her sister, Nette, who ran away to Africa to save herself from the troubles Celie went through. Celie starts off as a pushover and very dependent girl that would eventually grow and develop into an independent flourishing woman that opens a business making pants for all genders. This novel shows the hardship of a girl becoming a woman over the course of her life and eventually standing up for herself and being confident. Many of the experiences and characters of “The Color Purple” are based on history of that time and a bit of the author’s personal experiences. Her use of epistolary allows the reader to learn everything in the point of view of Celie. Alice Walker's influences for writing this novel range from her childhood experiences to the white society in her hometown of Eatonville, Georgia. Even during these times, it still shows that women
The world may seem like a sophisticated place, but there are still many areas to improve on, like giving women the right to equality. However, in 1960, the first ever female president, Sirivamo is elected in Sri Lanka. After living a life of domestic abuse in a culture where women are looked down upon, she takes the risk to prove that women are capable of reaching a higher and dominant role in society. Even though many years have passed since then, the culture of male dominancy still exist today. In countries like Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, women can not drive or step out of the house without a man by their side. In the novel The Color Purple, Celie is living in a male dominant society that is very oppressive to women. As a result, she is both emotionally and physically broken, but in the end she gains enough confidence to realize her own inner beauty and strength. In the novel The Color Purple Alice Walker proves that women are fully capable of overcoming oppression in order to achieve gender equality. Therefore, women around the world need to stand up for themselves and persevere to eventually overcome male dominancy. Throughout the story, Celie learns to assert female empowerment by adapting to the real world which has the good and the bad, learning from some who grow up in gender respected families and finally, and taking life changing advice from the people she trusts.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker starts off with a rather graphic view of a young black woman denominated as Celie. Celie has to learn how to survive her abusive past. She also has to figure out a way she can release her past in search of the true meaning of love. Alice walker wrote this book as an epistolary novel to further emphasize Celie`s life events. From the beginning of the novel Alice Walker swiftly establishes an intimate contact with the reader. The book begins with a eloquent and lucid record of the physical abuse Celie`s father subjected her to. Even in Celie`s dark moments she is still able to find hope.