Psychological Trauma In The Color Purple

Imagine being spoken of as unimportant or contemptible. Your words mean nothing and your actions mean less. You are property of someone who does what they please with you and doesn’t think twice about it. You are being brutally abused mentally, physically and sexually but you can’t seem to find a way out of it. Does anyone regularly humiliate, degrade, tease, or belittle your aspirations? It is said that many people don’t know they are being psychologically abused because it’s as if they are brainwashed. Psychological abuse, also known as mental or emotional abuse is a type of abuse where a person exposes someone else to behavior that may cause psychological trauma including: anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder.

An example of mental abuse Celie faced was when her own “Pa” would call her ugly and state that she wasn’t smart. This truly affected her self-esteem and actually made her believe that it was true. When Celie would speak to Mr.___ she wouldn’t look at him in the eyes she would look at his knees and feet. She felt inferior to him because she didn’t know her self-worth since all her life she was told that no one would want her because she was ugly and had a lack of intelligence. Celie had it rough because not only was she psychologically abused but she was also physically abused as well. In one occasion in the novel Mr.___ son, Harpo, asked him why he would beat Celie and Mr.___ replied with “Cause she my wife. Plus, she stubborn.” This showed that the character saw Celie as property, he felt no shame in beating her. Celie would get the belt so he could beat her, she stated, “I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how come I know trees fear men.” Celie would have to endure this abuse by finding a way to distract her from the pain which in this case was telling her self she was a piece of wood. I believe the most intense abuse that was portrayed in the novel was sexual abuse. The novel began with Celie getting raped by her father who would threaten her not to say a word or else he would kill her mother. As a result of such abuse Celie had two children whom she says were taken away. The long term effect of the constant assaults was that Celie could no longer have children because she “doesn’t bleed anymore”, meaning she was internally damaged. Throughout the rest of the novel Celie has sexual intercourse with Mr.____ but only because she feels it’s her obligation as a wife. I felt deep sympathy for Celie as a read the tragic experiences she had to face throughout her life and it makes me think about all the women who face similar