Alice Walker - THE COLOR PURPLE

Alice Walker:

THE COLOR PURPLE

The author:

Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944 in a small town in Georgia, USA as the eighth child of a poor family. Her and her parents’ experiences with racism in the South of the USA deeply influenced Walker’s writing. When she was eight, one of her brothers accidentally shot her in one eye, blinding her forever. Since she felt ashamed, she isolated herself from other people.

In 1961 she received a scholarship for disabled students in Spelman College in Atlanta and became active in the African-American civil rights movement. Soon she went to Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she graduated in 1965, and travelled as an exchange student to Uganda. 12475shi17cpk2o

At this time her short story “To Hell with Dying” and her first collection of poetry “Once: Poems” were published.

In 1967 Walker married Malvyn Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights lawyer, with whom she had one daughter before they got divorced. Soon, her second novel “Meridian” and her most famous novel “The Color Purple” (1982) came out.

She won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award and in 1985 a film based on this novel was made. “The Color Purple” was often criticised, but it had also a lot of supporter, especially among black women and it was called a “feminist fable”.

In 1992 Walker wrote “Possessing the Secret of Joy”. It’s about the marriage of Adam and Tashi, two characters in “The Color Purple”. hp475s2117cppk

In her later works Walker has continued to deal with the problems that face black women in the United States and in Africa.

 

Contents:

Celie is the protagonist and the narrator of this novel. She is a poor and uneducated black girl living in rural Georgia. In the beginning she is 14 years old and starts writing letters to God because her father Alphonso beats and rapes her. She gives birth to a girl and a boy, but Alphonso takes them away. Soon Celie’s mother becomes ill and dies. Although Alphonso brings home a new wife, he still abuses Celie.

One day, a man whom she only calls “Mr. ______” wants to marry her younger sister Nettie, who is bright and very pretty, but Alphonso “gives” him Celie as a bride. She is treated very badly and Mr. _____ often beats her.

Nettie runs away from home and because she cannot stay with Celie and her husband she flees. Never hearing from her again, Celie assumes her sister is dead.

Harpo, Mr. ______’s son, falls in love with Sofia. She becomes pregnant and Harpo marries her, against his father’s wish. Sofia is the physically stronger, but Harpo often tries to beat her because he wants to act like a “man”. But soon Sofia is frustrated and runs away with her children. When she returns home, Harpo has a new wife.

The mayor’s wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia to work for her as a maid but she answers “Hell no” and when Miss Millie slaps her, Sofia knocks her down. That’s why she is sentenced to work for twelve years as the mayor’s maid.

Once Shug Avery, Mr. ______’s lover, falls ill and recovers at Celie’s place. The two women become friends and Celie is sexually attracted by her. Shug decides to stay when Celie tells her that Mr. ______ beats her and their relationship grows increasingly intimate.

One day, Shug comes with her new husband, Grady but she doesn’t stop her sexual relationship with Celie. Soon later, they find numerous letters from Nettie, which Mr. _____ has hid. Celie reads them and doesn’t know how to keep herself from killing Mr. ________.

Nettie went with a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, and their children Olivia and Adam to Africa to do ministry work. After Corrine’s death, Samuel and Nettie marry and they find out that Olivia and Adam are Celie’s children, who Alphonso has taken away. They also find out, that Alphonso is not Celie’s father but her stepfather.

Celie loses her faith in God but Shug tells her to find her own God.

Finally Celie curses Mr. ______ for his years of abuse and for hiding Nettie’s letters. Together with Shug she moves to Tennessee where she spends all her time in designing and sewing pants. Soon, she turns her hobby into business and is quite successful.

Celie returns to Georgia, inherits Alphonso’s house and moves into it. When Celie was in Tennessee, Mr. _____ changed a lot and now they enjoy each others company. Now she is an independent woman and no longer bothered by Shug’s affairs with other men.

Meanwhile, Nettie and Samual prepare to return to America. Adam marries Tashi, a native African girl. Because of the African tradition, Tashi undergoes female circumcision and facial scarring. In solidarity, Adam undergoes also the same facial scarring ritual.

Sofia remarries Harpo and finally Nettie returns to America with Samuel and the children. Celie is very happy and she notes that though she and Nettie are old now, she has never felt younger in her life.

 

Formal interpretation:

The action takes place approximately from 1910 to 1940 but there are never mentioned refers to factual events. There are no dates and very few mentions of character’s ages.

The novel contains only letters from Celie and from Nettie. At first, Celie’s letters focus only on what she does, hears, sees and feels but over time they grow more complex and she writes about other themes. This letters are like diary entries.

Characterisation:

Celie is the protagonist and narrator of “The Color Purple”. She is a poor, uneducated black woman with a sad personal history. She survives her stepfather and her abusive husband. She feels ugly and to her mind the best to save her life is by making herself silent and invisible. Her letters to God are her only outlet. Shug Avery becomes a kind of idol to Celie, because she is a powerful and strong woman and she teaches her how to fight back. Gradually, Celie recovers her own history, sexuality and spirituality. To Shug’s mind she is still a “virgin” because she never had satisfying sex. Shug also opens her eyes to new ideas about religion and tells her to believe in a non-traditional, non-patriarchal version of God.

Finally Celie is able to tell Mr. _______ her thoughts of him and curses him for the years of abuse and abasement.

Having an own business and achieving a new life turns herself into a happy, successful and independent woman.

 

Shug Avery is a singer with a bad reputation. The first impression of her for the reader is a very negative one but Celie immediately sees something more in Shug than a woman with dubious morals. She reminds Celie of her mama. But unlike her natural mother, who was oppressed by traditional gender roles, Shug refuses to allow herself to be dominated by anyone.

Though Shug’s sexy style, sharp tongue and her experiences she is actually warm and friendly. That’s why she remains Celie’s most constant friend and companion throughout the novel.

 

Mr. ____ undergoes a significant transformation. Initially he treats Celie like an object and beats her like an animal, not showing or having a human connection to her, even during sex. He hides Nettie’s letters, which is the biggest hurt for Celie. She is so angry that she has a new-found confidence which makes it possible for her to stand up against her husband and leave him. When she comes back, Mr. _____ is a completely different man who wants to correct his mistakes of the past, listens to Celie and he even enjoys conversations with her and sewing together. He even has the wish to have an equal and respectful marriage with Celie, but she declines.

 

Nettie often acts as Celie’s protector, though she is younger. She is highly intellectual and recognises that education is very important. Nettie writes to Celie that she is lonely, and that she, like her sister, would need a sympathetic audience to listen to her thoughts and concerns. Nettie tells Celie in her letters about life in Africa and that she is unsatisfied with what she does and what she is allowed to do. There is a lot of oppression - of women by men, of blacks by whites, and even of blacks by blacks. The imperial, racial and cultural conflict in Africa is a parallel to the abuses and hardships that Celie experiences in Georgia.

 

Harpo is the eldest son of Mr. ______. He confesses to Celie about his love for Sofia, cries, enjoys cooking and housework, kisses his children and marries an independent woman, Sofia. He is no stereotypical man and that makes Mr. _____ angry. He tells his son to beat Sofia but his efforts fail, since she is much stronger. At the end of the novel, he and Sofia reconcile and save their marriage.

 

Sofia is a tall, independent woman. Sofia refuses to let someone dominate her. She doesn’t let Harpo beat her and fights against the mayor’s wife.

 

Interpretation:

The ability to express one’s thoughts and feelings is very important in this novel. Initially, Celie is completely unable to resist her abuse and can only talk with her imagination of God because Alphonso once told her that she “better not never tell nobody but God”. This letters are her only outlet. The climax of the novel is reached when she curses Mr._____ for his years of abuse. Celie finally finds her “voice” and is strong enough to stand up against “society”.

But these outbursts can also be risky, as the example of Sofia and Miss Millie shows. She doesn’t want to work as a maid and slapping this woman costs her 12 years of her life.

Nettie and Celie gain strength from their letter writing because they only want somebody to listen to them.

In the early parts of the novel, Celie sees God as her listener and helping hand, but she does not have an idea what “God” means to her. For her it is a white patriarch, but Shug tells her to imagine him differently. Finally she has a new image of God and she writes in her letter “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God.”

Walker also portrays female friendships as means for women to cope with their situation, especially concerning men. Celie lives in a world of oppression and male dominance. Talking to Shug is a big help and kind of refuge for her. in the novel, this relationships between women have many forms, motherly or sisterly, some are in the form of mentor and pupil, some are sexual and some are simply friendships.

Samuel also notes that the strong relationships among Olinka women, the tribe, where Nettie does missionary work, are the only thing that makes polygamy bearable for them.

Another important fact in the novel is that the abusers are not stereotypical monsters who are only evil. They are also victims, often of sexism or racism. Harpo for example beats Sofia only after his father said that Sofia’s resistance makes him less of a man.

Mr. ______ is like his own tyrant-like father. Also Celie is not absolutely “good”. She tells Harpo to beat Sofia because she is jealous of Sofia’s strength and of their happy marriage.

This shows the cyclical nature of Racism, Sexism and Violence.

In “the Color Purple” the boundaries of traditional male or female gender roles are also broken. Sofia’s strength, Shug’s assertiveness, Harpo’s insecurity and also Celie’s begin to run her own business. This, no wonder, causes problems. Sofia is beaten by her husband and Shug is labelled a tramp.

In general, sewing is a women business but for Celie it symbolises the possibility to become independent. Celie sews pants also for women, which is really special. She turns the unimportant women’s labour into a lucrative source of independence.

In the beginning Celie is an outsider. She has nobody to talk to, her father and her husband abuse her, she is a black woman living in the South of the USA, she is not allowed to do what she would like to do and her only outlet are her letters.

Also Shug is a kind of outcast, because she is unique for these days. She knows how to fight with the weapons of women, she is successful and takes what she wants. Until she meets Celie she does not have a really good friend with whom she can talk.

Nettie is also an outsider in Africa. Neither she is a member of the Olinka tribe nor of the family. She feels disillusioned because the work is not that successful because the women of the tribe do not accept her.

When Tashi comes to the USA she has the scars of the traditional ritual in her face which also makes her an exception to the rule in the modern world. Though also Adam has this marks it is a thing which makes living in America more difficult and maybe they aren’t accepted by everybody because of these signs.

Throughout the novel colors indicate the liberation of the characters. For example, in the beginning Celie only has brown, maroon or dark blue clothes. Later she uses bright yellow colors for her pants and once she says that she never saw the wonders that God has made, like “the color purple”.

Personal statement:

I liked the novel very much because it shows the difficult life of a black woman in the USA and it gives an insight into a woman, who was raped, abused and beaten by every men in her world.

 

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