Finding fulfillment in life is something everyone struggles to achieve. In Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, Celie struggles with abusive relationships and expectations to be subservient. Becoming increasingly independent gives Celie an increasing amount of contentedness in her life. As she grows her feminist outlook through the encouragement of Shug and Sofia, Celie becomes more proud of herself and is able to live without worrying about her abusers. She transforms as she gains an understanding of feminism at the urging of her polar opposites. The Color Purple ultimately proves feminism leads to happiness and a greater fulfillment in life as seen most specifically through Celie, Shug, and Sofia. In The Color Purple, characters such as Shug and Sofia show the truth of the thesis. Shug and Sofia refuse to conform to societal rules, often garnering harsh comments from others in the novel. Shug and Sofia especially serve as foils to Celie. Sofia is Celie’s opposite in happiness, attitude, and mannerisms; ”Where Celie is meek and quiet, Sofia is forceful and outspoken. She has a realistic viewpoint of the world, and is not afraid to counter the oppressive patriarchy to achieve her own goals” (Martin 30). Sofia accepts the fact she must go without public approval in order to truly live. Sofia decides to help Celie learn to live similarly, encouraging Celie to be independent. Sofia …show more content…
Their oppositional lifestyle is one they develop and expand in Celie. As Celie’s sense of feminism of develops and allows her to be independent, her happiness with her life grows. She is able to live outside of the expectations set by her abusers, proving that her feminism is directly correlated with her inner contentedness. It is the fulfillment in life through the employment of a feminist mindset that is main theme in the novel written by
In the Steven Spielberg film, The Color Purple, based on the novel by Alice Walker, Celie Johnson has goals of re-uniting with her family. Celie doesn’t care about men as much because Albert, her husband, has treated her very poorly. Despite both experiencing
Through Celie’s, Lieutenant Cross’s, and “The Moths’” protagonist’s hardships, they are all able to overcome their past and look forward for what is to come. Celie, from Walker’s The Color Purple, has an unfortunate life. Celie’s Pa rapes her.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker should be kept in school libraries because it conveys the importance of family, shows examples of overcoming hardship and discusses serious topics such as rape and death. The Color Purple is an inspiring, beautiful, and powerful read for teens. The Color Purple is important for teens to read because its most prominent theme is how family sticks together through thick and thin, and it talks about the value of it as well. Within the first 20 pages of the book, Celie is separated from her sister, Nettie.
The Color Purple tells the story of a young girl, Celie, who lives in the early 1900’s in the South. By the age of 14, she has been raped and pregnant twice by her stepfather Fonso. Celie has a deep relationship and love for her younger sister Nettie, just like Esch is valued and supported by her brothers Randall, Skeet, and Junior. Both girls face struggles with men and are pressured to mature at a very young age due to the responsibilities that life, and men, throws at
Alice Walker is considered a Revolutionary for many people because of the struggles she fought through as an African American woman, novelist, and activist living in the mid to late 1900’s. Alice Walker shows how women have struggled in America with having similar and equal rights to white men. She also shows how African Americans struggle with the same problems when it comes to achieving similar or equal rights to a white male. In the novel, “The Color Purple”, written by Alice Walker, the main protagonist, Celie, learns to find her own voice and own self worth through a series of obstacles that she had to overcome throughout her journey; similar to the way Alice Walker also had struggles of being an African American woman during the mid to
She states that beautiful things in nature are meant to be appreciated and taken notice of. She also adds that little things are put on earth by God intended for people to enjoy and as a result, be happy. This realization completely changes Celie's view on everyday things. In addition to Celie, this message is important for all people. Many people in today's world look at the negative side of every situation.
In various works of literature, numerous characters have found solace in believing divine figures. Commonly because said characters have experienced hardships within their personal lives. All of which, could be harmful to one 's mental health. Especially, when one lacks emotional support from her/him peers. Nevertheless, one’s faith in God, tends to give individuals strength to carry on because in countless cultures, God is considered being a symbol of guidance, which serves to people in need.
The present novel deals with the oppression of African-American women, not only by white people but also by black males. The women in this novel fight against all discriminations for their own survival and for the survival of their black community The women characters of the novel like Celie,Nettie,Shug are found to break out their shackles and make their voice heard by all. The description of the universal oppression of black women, crosses all the limitations of race, class, gender and the melancholy of their life reaches out women in general. The novel vigorously reflects consciousness of women’s world.
Her faith is weakened at a certain point but then she starts to develop a new perception of God, she begins to see God as a universal being with no gender and race who is present everywhere and in everything that we love or do. She is now able to see God through people, nature, sex, and in the color purple. Alice Walker also gave importance to the value of female bonds and relationships or sisterhood as a means of coping and social support against the alienation experienced by Celie and other black female characters in the novel. Celie’s friends, mainly Shug and Sofia helped her to find her voice and stand up for herself. As the novel progresses, Celie develops strength and eventually gains her freedom towards the end.
Introduction The Color Purple is a novel written by an American author Alice Walker and was published in 1982. It won numerous awards in literature and film as it had many musical, film and radio adaptations, particularly the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It primarily involves the subject of feminism and addresses issues in sexism and racism in the early 20th century in the United States. The story is all about a girl named Celie, a black woman who lives in the Southern part of US.
The Color Purple is written by Alice Walker, and was later made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg. The Color Purple focuses on a woman who is going through struggles in life, such as her father raping her as a child and her oppressed marriage. In the end she learns to deal with life through God and to take everyday as a blessing. Not only does the film and book speak about life struggles but also they share the points of happiness in the book, and love, in the film through the plot structure, the mood, and the journey to womanhood.
it creates a ripple effect as sofia revives from her repressed state back to her old vivacious self and Mary Agnes stands up to her husband and voicing her displeasure in her nickname “Squeak”. All throughout The color purple characters change due to their circumstances. Celie was very restricted and oppressed during the first part of the movie but she blossomed inspiring others to do so as well. Her change was taking control of her own life and choosing her own way after being ordered around all her life. Celie proved to have great courage for standing up for her human rights.
Literary Analysis: The Color Purple Every individual learns something new or different every day, whether it is somebody’s favorite color or learning something new about yourself. Many people can either learn from their hardships and past experiences, while others may learn from other people’s past through stories or guidance. Throughout the novel, The Color Purple written by Alice Walker, the main character, Celie, learned how to love herself, that everyone makes mistakes, and face her fears.
For example, Celie becomes socially, economically and spiritually free, she sins love, dignity, and respect. This paper has analyzed how the characters in The Color Purple arouse their self-consciousness, through sisterhood and encouragement, love and help from their partners. The author demonstrates how the characters escape degradation caused by mistreatment by men and finally win dignity. The paper recognizes that Celie utilizes sisterhood to gain liberation, sexual identity independence, and freedom. Works Cited Thyreen, Jeannine. "
"The color purple" is a reflection of reality in 20th century. The African American women isolated from the white society as Walker in The color purple talks about racism and discrimination of society in 20the century. Celie, the heroine was born in Rural Georgia where is known as a harsh place for poor and uneducated black women who were servants to their husbands and fathers. Throughout the novel, Celie tries to overcome her psychological anger and becomes independent. At the beginning of the novel, Celie appears like other women 20th century as they oppressed by men and lived under men 's dominance and violence.