Nearly 50% of both men and women in the United States of America have experienced some kind of abuse in their lifetime. Verbal, physical, and sexual abuse are very prominent throughout the novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker. Abuse is not only common in the book, but it is also a major issue in the United States and around the world. Verbal abuse is a fairly large part of The Color Purple. Celie tells Mister that she is leaving him to go to Memphis with Shug Avery. Mr._____ disagrees with her leaving, and when she does, he acts as though he does not care, saying “You’ll be back… You ugly. You skinny. You shape funny. You too scared to open your mouth to people. All you fit to do in Memphis is be Shug’s maid. Take out her slop-jar and maybe cook her food.” (212). According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, verbal abuse is defined as harsh and insulting language directed …show more content…
Celie's father (Pa), is not only verbally abusive, but also physically abusive, “He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway.” (6). Pa beat Celie for the way that she dressed, but he also beat her for no reason at all. During this time in history, it was very common to beat your children or your wife, even though it was made illegal in 1920. Physical abuse is seen throughout the novel and is inflicted on Celie by both her father and husband Mr._____. In 2018, physical abuse is “hidden”, but it is present in such large numbers especially in children, “Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect… Every year more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies…” (childhelp). Physical abuse is a major issue current day, every day 7 to 10 children die due to abuse or neglect. Because abuse was such a big issue in history, and is such a big issue current day, abuse laws are now being enforced in order to prevent future cases from
Shug speaks up for her, but Mr.____ becomes upset about letting Celie go, and mutters “My wife can’t do this. My wife can’t do that. No wife of mines… He go on and on.” (Walker 73).
The incidence of child abuse and neglect has increased dramatically in the past 25 years; the statistics have risen over 130% since 1980 with 1993 being the first year since 1972 in which the number was less than the previous year. Throughout the years child abuse has had a greater impact on the United States and more thorough research has been brought out. The United States has one of the worst records among industrialized nations, losing more than four children on average every day to child abuse and neglect.(cite source) Among the many forms of child abuse are emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Physical abuse has statistically been in the lead since the 1980’s at 45%, while emotional abuse has been at 22% and sexual abuse has been at
1. Context an Importance of the Social Problem that Underlies the Policy: A) Every year millions of children suffer from child abuse and maltreatment. Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Child Maltreatment 2013 (2015) report shows that in 2013, there were approximately 3.9 million reports of child abuse made in the United States. Of those reported, 678,932 were deemed victims of child abuse and neglect (child maltreatment 2015). Of the four common types of abuse, i.e., physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and neglect, “the greatest percentages of children suffered from neglect (79.5%) and physical abuse (18.0%).”
Long before domestic violence became a topic of public discussion in America, Tennessee Williams published his play. He knew the subject of domestic violence first hand, having observed spousal abuse in his family. His brother points out that his father would frequently return home angry and fly into a rage into Edwina his mother, as well as beating her violently during another drunken outburst ( Bloom 51 ). Accordingly, Williams tends to write this play in order to debate a crucial issue which is men’s violence against women.
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.
In the novel by Alice Walker, “The Color Purple” write about a woman’s right and status during the early 20th Century in Rural Georgia. In the beginning, Celie was living with her stepfather, Pa and later on living with her husband Mr.__ _, Albert. With the topics of rape, incest, abuse, and forced labor, the main character Celie weak and powerless was only able to tell these stories through letters through God. In the novel, Pa states “ You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy”(Walker 1).
Children are always being told what not to do. They are told: "do not touch that!" "Do not eat too much candy!" "Do not stay up too late!" So many things are off limits to them; however, being told not to read a book should not be one of them.
“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, tells the 40 year story of an African American woman named Celie. Her tale is split into 90 letters, beginning with telling us that her Pa sexually and physically abuses her. In her first letter she is writing to God, telling him about how she is now pregnant with her Pa’s second child. When her mother passes away from illness, her father marries her off to another man, Mr.___ and takes her children. She finds herself once again being abused in her marriage, as she takes care of her new husband’s four children, is beaten and sexually taken advantage of.
In Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, one of the major themes in the book is that you shouldn’t let violence control you, instead you should prevent it. A few examples of the theme in the novel is on page 37 where Albert states “ Well how you spect to make her mind? Wives is like children. You have to let ‘em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better then a good sound beating”.
The Color Purple is a 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker that focuses on the tribulations and tragedies of Celie’s childhood, which shapes the meaning of the work as a whole. This representative of adolescence shows how she was raped by her father, had her children taken away from her, and sold into marriage. The childhood here, of course, belongs to Celie. The first image of a tragic childhood showing up in the novel is in the very beginning.
In their diary entries, The Freedom Writers shed light on physical abuse, which can allow students to see that what they are going through is not normal. When the students read The Color Purple by Alice Walker, multiple students relate abuse they personally experience to what Celie experiences in the novel. One student writes about how they “...always knew I had to be careful and protect my mom because my stepdad is a professional alcoholic... He doesn’t care about anything and tries to destroy anything that gets in his way.
Each year in America alone, an estimate of two million children, ranging from infants to teenagers go through minor or major kinds of abuse which include neglect, physical, emotional, and sexual maltreatment. According to the National American Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, neglect represented 54% of confirmed cases of child abuse, physical abuse represented 22%, sexual abuse represented 8%, emotional maltreatment represented 4%, and other forms of maltreatment represented12%. It also indicates that child abuse is far more common in single-parent families than in families where both parents are
____ takes his son Harpo to go and get Shug Avery and her personal belongings, and when they get back with her Celie is in awe of how stylish she is dressed. Alice Walker describes her in a “red wool dress and a chestful of black beads,” and “a little snakeskin bag that matches her shoes”(p.45). Celie thinks the world of Shug, Shug is so gorgeous that she must help nurse her back to health from her nasty woman disease. Even though Celie believes Shug to be gorgeous, Shug takes one look at Celie and comments that “she sure is ugly”(p.46). This little comment kind of just shoots Celie down as she is already struggling to believe she is beautiful.
Similarly to the previous novel analyzed, in The Color Purple there are some references to the dimension of voice and silence which are considered to be symbolical by some scholars. In her research, Martha J. Cutter points to the connection between Celie`s rape and the Greek mythology (2000). She states that some African American women writers uses the concept of archetypal rape in order to present women`s subjection and inferiority to men. Philomela, the mythological protagonist of this story, is raped by her brother-in-law who cuts her tongue so she is not able to tell anyone what has happened to her. Similarly, Celie is forbidden to tell anyone about the rape.
African American slave women had to work in white American households, such as The Help, which was written by Kathryn Stockett. Women are dominated by male "Men are said to have more interest in utilizing the power of abstract reason (mind), to want mastery over nature (including bodies), and to be aggressive and militaristic"(Nicholson 52). There were women who were suffering from raping, such asThe Color Purple, which was written by Alice Walker as Celie was raping by her father and her husband, but at the end, Celie resists and makes her own personality by changing from a weak character into a strong character. Actions were differed from one woman to another, as there is a woman who accepts her destiny and a woman who resists and takes an action. Resistance also differs from one woman to another.