The Search For Self-Acceptance in the Color Purple by Alice Walker

but I didn't wink”. This important to the overall mood of the story because Celie is sad throughout most of the book because she is physically abused by Mr._____ for stuff she can't control or because he wants to make sure she knows who has the upper hand. The format of the letters which are addressed to God but the way Alice Walker writes 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.

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.

Firstly, The Color Purple (1982) is written by the African- American novelist Alice Walker. For creating such an innovative novel, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple won both the Pulitzer Price and the National Book Award. Walker initiated her novel by a confession that The Color Purple is her spiritual journey and the female protagonist represents her during this journey. The novel is made up of 90 letters written by Celie to God and some of these letters are written by Nettie to her sister Celie. These letters are similar to a diary that Celie finds as a way to express her feelings , emotions and thoughts in a place she is not permitted to be free. Generally, the novel portrays a life and a journey of a young fourteen -year- old black girl who is persecuted throughout her life from her stepfather who repeatedly raped her and forced her to marry a cruel man who, in turn, oppressed her.

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

Within The Color Purple by Alice Walker, women are treated as inferior to men therefore they must obey them. Through the strength and wisdoms Celie gains from other women, she learns to overcome her oppression and realize her self worth as a woman. The women she has met throughout her life, and the woman she protected since young, are the people that helped her become a strong independent woman. Sofia and Shug were there for Celie when she needed someone to look up to and depend on. Nettie was able to push Celie to become a more educated, independent person. The main source of conflict in this book is Celie’s struggle with becoming an independent woman who needs not to rely on a man. Throughout the book we see her grow as a person and

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

The Colour Purple is a novel that was written by the 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner, Alice Walker. The Novel was published in 1982 and was later turned into a film by Steven Spielberg in 1985. The book is about a young girl, Celie who was oppressed and seek to find happiness in life. Despite her inner turmoil, she had a strong belief in God, and also hopes that she would find her estranged sister, Nettie who loved her with all her heart. She got pregnant at an early age by the man she thought was her father. Celie was also a young bride who was being abused by her husband.

At a very young age, Celie begins writing letters to God. In her letters she explains her fears about her stepfather raping her, her mother and sister being beat, and her fears for her sister, Nettie. This epistolary novel (a novel in which the narrative is carried forward by letters) takes place during the early twentieth century, where slavery still existed in the South, and black people lived discriminating lives. Even though many black Southerners formed tight-knit communities, physical, mental and sexual abuse was still brought on to

Life is a rollercoaster filled with ups and downs. Left turns, right turns, and sometimes completely upside down loop de loops. The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a story about a colored woman named Celie who writes letters to God while living through extreme oppression and abuse. Celie eventually overcomes her oppressors by finding her purpose in life through friendship, love, hope, and change in faith. Discovering hope, love, and faith leads to a fulfilling life through difficult times.

Through tough times we all have someone we look up to, because we admire their strength.. For Celie, a very important character in this story, the person with all this strength was Shug Avery. Back in that time girls were taken for granted and seen as housewives’ at a very young age and often abused because they refused to give their “husbands” any kind of sexual desires, because they were too young to understand what was fully going on. Our main character, Celie looked up to

However, for no justified reason she is abused arbitrarily by Albert regardless of how well of a worker she is to the household and the children. In her little discussion with Shug Avery, she explains how Albert beats her for no apparent reason. “He beat me when you not here, I say”, “What he beat you for? She ast. For being me and not you” (75-76). Fortunately, towards the end of the novel, Celie makes a decision to leave the continuous cycle of abuse and becomes an independent woman who has her own clothing company. Celie knew she was better than what Albert thought of her and because of her epiphany she discovered more inner beauty and self- confidence. All in all she received more respect and was looked more as a human being than a servant. Ironically Celie’s antithesis, Sofia, had her poor decision making progressively get her into a deeper

Ever since Celie was young, she has been abused emotionally, physically, and sexually which has caused her to become numb to life and it has caused her to become distant from people. Celie explains to Shug that “every time [she] gets mad or start[s] to feel mad, [she] got sick… Then [she] starts to feel nothing at all” (Walker 42). That means that her continuous mistreatment has caused her to feel nothing emotionally. It also caused her to lose her self-worth and her self-confidence. She even talks about how “Nobody loves [her]” (Walker 112). That means Celie has never felt love and has never loved anyone except her sister. That is, until she meets Shug Avery. Shug taught her how to be strong and independent, but she also taught her how to love and how to enjoy the little things in life. When Celie describes why she loves Shug, she says it’s “ Hard not to love Shug… She know how to love somebody back” (Walker 282). As Celie begins to learn to love others, she starts to be loved by others. As she starts to find herself, her self-confidence improves. She even gets into an argument with her husband! When he attempts to oppress her, she retorts, “I’m pore, I’m black, I may be ugly and can’t cook… But I’m here” (Walker 207). That is a huge improvement for Celie considering she used to be very passive. After all the adversity that Celie had to experience and overcome, she came out a strong, independent, loving

The Color Purple is the story of Celie’s life, starting from her adolescent years. At a very young and fragile age, Celie was deprived of her dignity as a woman, through the assault by her stepfather, the treatment she endured from her husband, and the disappearance of the one human she adored, her sister Nettie. As her days passed by with more worry and strife, Celie lost faith in love and resented all signs of a kind and honorable God. Shug Avery arrived in this small town to rekindle with her

In Alice Walker's The Color Purple, she explores the thin grey line that stands between survival and living. Through her protagonist, Celie, she examines the dramatic shifts of empowerment; focusing on the young black girl in the 1850’s.