The Shading Purple Analytical Essay

Throughout Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, the main character, Celie, reveals all of the hardships she has endured during her life. Celie confides in her younger sister, Nettie, and God to express the way she feels in certain situations. As the story progresses, Celie eventually finds her voice and breaks away from all the men who oppressed her during her life. For the duration of the novel, prejudice becomes a reoccurring theme. Not only does Celie struggle with the external prejudices of sexism and racism, but she also struggles with the internal prejudices toward herself. By using Celie’s struggles as an example, Walker teaches the reader that one must overcome prejudices in order to

    Celie is not a typical protagonist. In Alice Walker's The Color Purple, the main character Celie is an ugly, poor girl who is severely lacking in self-confidence. However, Celie transforms throughout the course of the novel and manages to realize herself as a colorful, beautiful, and proud human being. Celie becomes a powerful individual.

In a dynamic scene near the end of the blockbuster The Color Purple, the character Shug Avery engages in a soul-stirring rendition of a gospel song called God Is Trying To Tell You Something. Shug Avery in The Color Purple could be described as a prodigal daughter Shug is portrayed as a woman of the world who loved to party, loved to dress, and loved to sports men. In the church scene near the end of the film, we see Shug performing in a "Juke Joint" owned by Harpo, the oldest son of Albert aka "Mister. The sound of the anointed song coming from the nearby church caused the band at Harpo's Juke Joint to stop playing. Shug was a force to stop and listen to the song coming from her father's church. As if God was telling Shug to finally change her ways and God telling her father to finally forgive and accept her. Then their lost relationship had been found as they embraced with tears of forgiveness. I love the part where she tells her father see daddy sinners have souls too. God was trying to tell several people something. At the end of the song, Albert finally does the right thing and takes steps to reunite Celie with her sister Nettie. The scene is one of the most powerful and touching moments in the movie. Such a wonderful scene, it seems to be a life changing moment for everyone in the movie.

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

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.

Alice Walker may seem the usual type of author that is ordinary in her writing. Actually, she is not. She uses a different method to make us feel the suspense of the story with vivid details. You only live life once so why not take advantage of it? In The Color Purple, Celie’s life is the contrary. You may ask why, but there are people out there who are afraid to speak up. Alice Walker seemed to portray this novel very well making it seem realistic. The tone Walker used in the novel seemed confessional and private towards the only person she could actually tell her feelings to, God. The author wrote this novel in first person giving it more touch to it making it seem as if this actually happened in the past of an African American girl.

In Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, the character Celie first speaks about color when Mr. ______’s sister takes her shopping. She admires a woman she knows only by a photograph (Shug Avery) and she wants a dress that she thinks Shug might like. “I think what color Shug would wear,” she writes. Although Celie has never actually met Shug she invinsions how she would dress. The colors Celie chooses for the woman she doesn’t know and eventually the color of her own dress come from her constructed views about men, women, sex, and power.

    Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, is a novel about a young girl named Celie and the events of her life.  When she is young, she is abused by her father which results in her becoming pregnant by him.  She is forced by her father to marry a man who the novel names Mister, who prefers Celie’s sister, Nettie, over Celie.  Later in her life, she comes into contact with a woman named Shug Avery, who is a former lover of Celie’s husband.  Over the course of her life with Mister, she becomes more independent due to Shug’s influence, eventually moving with Shug to Tennessee to get away from Mister.  She eventually returns to Mister, who has changed for the better realizing how much he needs Celie and his son, Harpo.  When Celie returns to Georgia, she reunites with her sister Nettie and Celie’s two children by her father.

acially dominated society. Shug not only teaches Celie to love someone beyond her biological family, but to love herself. Sofia in my opinion was the character who most consistently stayed true to herself. She constantly walked the thin line between dependence and independence, like how she would constantly fight her husband, yet stay with him out of love until he pushed her too far. Another instance of her representing the “typical” woman, is how she stood up for herself and her children, without letting the matter of race or gender stop her from speaking her mind and telling the truth. Eventually she would be broken by system after sometime and eventually made dependent on her former oppressors such as the mayor, the law enforcement, and even Squeak and Celie. But like all women in this book, she found a way to overcome her obstacles while remaining true to herself.

Alice Walker’s grandmother, a young African American whom had been raped by her father, gave birth to two children, and married even though she never loved her husband. Walker’s grandmother is the inspiration for Walker’s protagonist, Celie. Same as her grandmother, Celie is raped, gives birth to two children, and marries Albert. Walker explains, “ I liberated her from her own history” (Henderson). Alice Walker took realife evidence and spun it around to emphasize the importance of the voices of African Americans. Her main explanation for creating Celie is that she wanted her grandmother, other African American women, and Celie to have a voice and speak up against white and black men (Henderson). The Color Purple composed to all letters written to God and Nettie from Celie express the importance of all voices. Epistolary novels originally

Characters throughout Alice Walker’s The Color Purple can be evaluated and analyzed using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a five-stage model consisting of fundamental needs and growth needs. His theory states that the basic, lower tiered needs have to be met before the growth, higher tiered needs can be met, to ultimately reach the top tier, self-actualization. In The Color Purple, Walker shows the eventual progress to self-actualization through the protagonist, Celie. Celie’s growth is shown through her letters to both God and her sister Nettie. Celie fulfills her basic physiological needs when she gets married to Mr._ because she is finally able to escape her father’s abuse, beatings, and rape. It takes a while, but Celie gains safety and security when Shug Avery tells her, “I won’t leave… until I know Albert won’t even think about beating you” (Walker 76). The relationship that Celie forms with Shug helps Celie satisfy her belonging and intimacy needs. Their love for each other can be shown when Shug states, “cause she [Nettie] the only one you ever love… sides me” (120). As Celie begins her life in Memphis, she meets the respect/self-respect needs when she opens her own business making and selling pants. Celie feels so pleased and shows her character development when she says, “I got love, I got work, I got money, friends, and time” (218). Celie finally reaches self-actualization by the end of the novel. She has a successful business, is able to be independent in her own house, and realizes that she can bring herself happiness and that through every situation she needs to see the bright side. This is evidently shown when Celie is talking to Mr._ and says, “If she [Shug] come, I be happy. If she don’t I be content” (288). Celie’s evolution to reach self-actualization is clearly displayed in The Color Purple as Celie faces and overcomes hardships and learns to be confident in herself.

In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, the audience is introduced to the main character Celie who is strong and naive, but is still passive to the wrongs that she has endured throughout her lifetime. This is the most evident when other characters try to help the issues she deals with. This is evident, when Shug Avery talks to Celie about why Mr. _ __ beats her.

“What unites the characters of The Color Purple is a shared experience of suffering” (Fiske 151). In her article, Shanyn Fiske unifies all characters in The Color Purple through something that everyone experiences in their life—suffering. While all characters suffer in the novel, Alice Walker illustrates the universal need for community in order to cope and recognize our own unique experiences of suffering The isolation and abuse that Celie receives and the unique path that she follows modeled by Shug Avery shows the dire need for community in our lives. A turning point in the dark life of Celie is when Celie and Shug talk about God saying, “Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance and holler, just trying to be loved” (Walker 196).

The 1900’s – a time when blacks were segregated from whites and women were seen as inferior to men. Alice Walker's character Celie, from The Color Purple, was ugly and terrified as a young girl. Though many trials and tribulations, she would become strong and independent. In addition, Celie built up a resistance to the hurt and suffering that she painfully endured from her stepfather and husband. She eventually allowed herself to not take simple things for granted therefore recognize the beauty of everyday life. In her final years, Celie is portrayed in a blissful state and displays her independence as a mature woman. Alice Walker’s use of the first-person point of view, tone, and

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.