Violence In The Color Purple

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a very controversial novel, which many people found to be very offensive. It is basically the struggle for one woman’s independence. The main character in The Color Purple is Celie a coloured woman with little or no education at all. She is one who has been used and abused by all the men in her life, and because of these men, she has very little courage or ambition in her life. She has so little courage, that all she wants to do is just survive. Through the various women she meets throughout here life like: Shug, her sister, and Harpo’s wife, she learns how to enjoy herself, gain courage and happiness. She finally learns enough and with the final straw she could no longer bare, she leaves her husband

The first woman she meets is Sophia, who marries Harpo. She isn’t afraid to stand up for herself, even to a man. When Mr. _____ asks Harpo if he ever hits her, Harpo is embarrassed, and answers that he hasn’t. So Mr. ______ tells him he should, because “Wives is like children. You have to let ‘em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating.” (37) While he may have thought he gave his son some good advice, when Harpo tries it, Sophia knocks him right back into place by beating him up instead. When Celie and Sophia talk about Mr. _____, Sophia tells her “You ought to bash Mr. _____ head open.”(37), but she knows she would never get away with it. She’s just coping with things as they are because

Told through a series of letters to God, Celie shares her story. Impregnated twice by her father, Celie’s children are taken away

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

Alice Walker's The Color Purple is an excellent account of the life of poor black women who must suffer not only social ostracism due to gender and skin color but also women who suffer greatly at the hands of black men.  This is true in terms of infidelity, physical and verbal abuse, and sexual abuse.

It is clear that Celie’s father commits several forms of violence against her when she quotes, “he [Pa] never had a kine word to say to me… First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around… When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don’t never get used to it.” (Walker, 1-2). As a results of this, Celie finds herself in situations where she has trouble identifying with her sexual orientation as well as, becoming numb to sex after repeated sexual abuse. Moreover, not only is he physically violent with her by raping her, but later on in the novel, one discovers that he sells Celie’s children away- just like Aminata’s children- causing her to face emotional damage as well. Moreover, Celie’s father does not respect her as a human being, for the fact that he calls her ugly and does not say anything kind to her, but he also forces her to keep quiet about the way he is treating her, thus dehumanizing her. All in all, numerous forms of abuse have severely crippled Aminata and Celie, displaying oppression caused by men in their daily lives.

Curley had money, which was something that she needed so she chose him for a husband. She then is disappointed with her present life and unhappy with her new husband.

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

In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Celie leads a life filled with abuse at the hands of the most important men in her life. As result of the women who surround and help her, Celie becomes stronger and overcomes the abuse she experienced. The three most influential women in Celie’s life are her sister Nettie, her daughter-in-law Sofia, and the singer Shug Avery. These are the women who lead Celie out of her shell and help her turn from a shy, withdrawn woman to someone who was free to speak her mind and lead her own independent life.

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

Celie, the narrator of The Color Purple, is an uneducated, submissive, 14-year old black girl who lives in Georgia. Celie is constantly being abused and raped by her father, Alphonso. He has already impregnated Celie twice. The first one was a girl while the second one was a boy. All her children were taken away by her father after they were born. Her father told her that she better not tell anybody about their relationship but God, which explains why every letter she write begins with “Dear God”. Celie’s mother is happy because Alphonso doesn’t bother her anymore, but the truth is that Alphonso has been raping Celie as a substitute for her mother to gratify his sexual needs. Celie’s mother becomes seriously sick and eventually dies. Alphonso brings home another woman but continues to sexually

Men all through the globe have always been the dominant sex ever since the early former ages. Domestic Violence is a critical issue which negatively impacts women in the world today. The novel The Color Purple deals with the narrator Celie, a black woman uneducated and poor, who gets physically abused by both her so called father and husband. Throughout the novel, it is shown how a powerless woman rises and stands up for herself after years of being mistreated. Over 85% of women experience or go through a domestic violence through friends or family. Domestic Violence has sadly played a big role in families, specifically women, and has led to many deaths. The Color Purple demonstrates how through out the world, thousands of incidents of

Celie also values her sister Nettie greatly and protects her when it comes to their step-father, Alphonso raping the girls. Celie says “I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new mammy was sick.” the casual tone of the preceding line adds to Celie's lack of self-worth; she is so used to being raped by Alphonso that it no longer makes any difference to her. As Celie transitions to the Mister’s household, she is still treated with disrespect by the Mister himself and even one of his sons. In a letter to God, she writes “I spent most of my wedding day running from the oldest boy… He picks up a rock and laid my head open.” Celie grows older in this household and submits to more abuse from her new husband.

Because Celie seeks to protect her younger sister Nettie from being degraded by Pa, Pa frequently targets Celie to be the subject of his physical and sexual abuse. Pa constantly rapes Celie and eventually impregnates her twice. Pa also physically abuses Celie. In one letter, Celie references an incident where Pa punches her because she accidently winks at a boy in her church (12). On top of the physical and sexual abuse that Celie suffers from, Pa also verbally abuses her. He frequently tells Celie that she its ugly and unwanted. Eventually, Celie internalizes these words and begins to think view herself as though she is ugly and unwanted, so she believes that the things that happen to her must be normal. All of the abuse that Celie suffers from at the hands of Pa causes her to characterize all men as violent and

While Celie’s childhood may have been filled with trauma, Walker establishes the true brutality of the