One thing I notice the author emphasize a lot is that you need to express yourself to be somebody. Celie wouldn’t tell anyone because Alphonso told her she better not tell anyone but God, so she listened stayed quiet and never expressed herself. Her only escape were those letters to God, but everyone needs someone to vent to, which is where Shug comes into play. She talks to shug and they solve her problem and everyone is reunited. The symbol that caught my attention was God, she didn't really know who God was or even an image of him to think about. Shug tells Celie to think of something radically different, So she gets rid of the patriarchal image of God, she then sees him as a different God. Which is why her journal entries started with :Dear
They say don’t judge a book by its cover, yet everyday people are judged just based on skin color, gender or anything else that sets them apart. Walker’s pulitzer prize winning novel “The Color Purple” talks about the struggles of an African American woman, Celie, and the journey she goes through in order to overcome the barriers of sexism to become a stronger woman and discover her independence. Similarly, “In Love and Trouble: Everyday Use” - also written by Walker - goes into a story about an African American woman, Dee, and her struggles with sibling rivalry, racial identity, and racism during a chaotic period of history. Through narrator point of view, symbolism, setting, and imagery, Walker illustrates the prominence of discrimination
There have been many powerful women in history who have left their mark by changing the status quo. For instance, Oprah Winfrey was the first African-American women to become a billionaire. In addition, Ruth Bader Ginsburg serves today in the United Stated Supreme Court. Hillary Rodham Clinton is the United States Secretary of State in the exact place where once woman were forbidden to participate in politics. Also, when it comes to news and special reports, the best is Barbara Walters. According to Forbes, the world’s most powerful celebrity is Béyonce Knowles, who earns $115M a year. Five of the ten world’s most powerful celebrities, as said by Forbes, are women. All of them have something
The book I chose is called “ The Color Purple.” The author’s name is Alice Walker. This book was published in 1982 and won a Pulizer Prize in 1983. It is now a Broadway musical and also won the National Book Award. In total this book consists of 300 pages. Section
African-American male and female writers have dealt with the sufferings, slavery and freedom. Being Black male and female writers Langston Hughes and Alice Walker play an eminent role for the Black people’s welfare. In the novel, The Color Purple author Alice Walker introduces Southern Black female characters not only faced slavery, but sexism, racism and oppression .Throughout the novel Walker not only describes the injustices against African-Americans but focuses to read an oppressed races and struggles underwent by Celie .The Color Purple is an extraordinary account of a Black women 's plight as Celie strives towards acceptance, freedom and independence. Langston Hughes is Black American’s most representative writer and a significant figure
The Color Purple is a novel that falls under the genre Historical fiction. It is consisted of letters to god. We read Celie’s letters in order to understand the story. The author, Alice Walker, composed Celie’s letters in an illiterate way. She showcased Celie as a poor, uneducated African American
The Color Purple is a novel, made up of letters written by Celie to God. Celie is a fourteen year old black girl, who has been raped by her father. She falls pregnant twice, but both children are taken away and put up for adoption illegally. Even she had got married off to “Mister”. Things are becoming a little bit better for Celie for a short while after her sister Nettie comes to live with her. But Mister refuses to allow Nettie to stay in his house unless he may rape her. Nettie escapes and promised Celie to write, but Celie never got a letter. Later it turns out Mister restrained them. After finding her sister’s letters, Celie decides to leave and to go to Memphis with Shug, an old mistress of Mister with who she became friends. When Celie’s
Lenny Henry of Daily News describes The Color Purple by Alice Walker as, “One of the most haunting books you could ever wish to read…...it is stunning-moving, exciting and wonderful.” By saying that, I think he perfectly describes how this book makes you feel and I didn’t realize how much
Celie explains that she doesn’t look at men because they scare her. Instead, she looks at women because they are kind to her. Shug, for example, has helped her become confident and brave. Therefore, Celie falls in love with her but as an expression of gratitude she owns Shug for teaching her self-respect and worth. Celie 's sexual identity becomes of a woman who loves another woman.
Celie and her sister, Nettie, learn that a man Mr. ______ wants to marry Nettie. Alphonso, their dad, refuses to let Nettie marry, and offers Mr. ______ Celie as a bride instead of Nettie. Mr. ______ eventually accepts the offer, and takes Celie into a difficult marriage. Nettie runs away and stays at Celie’s house. Mr. ______ still wants to marry Nettie, and when he makes it known to her she escapes. Celie never heard from Nettie, she now thinks Nettie is dead. Mr. ______’s sister Kate feels sorry for Celie, and tells her to fight back against Mr. ______ rather than submit to his torture. Harpo, Mr. ______’s son falls in love with a large girl named Sofia. Shug Avery comes to town to sing at a local bar, but Celie can’t go see her. Shug returns
The Color Purple is one of those movies that you can watch an endless amount of times and find a new layer every time. The film adaptation of Alice Walker’s critically acclaimed novel stars Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Danny Glover. The storyline highlights the struggles and strife of Celie, a young black girl who is raped by her father repeatedly and conceives two children. Celie writes letters to God, documenting the hardships she faces.
The Color Purple depicts a story of Celie – an African American woman who fights for acceptance and fulfilment in her marriage and as well as within her community. She is victimized by racism and sexism at the same time which means that in the novel there are some instances in which the dimension of intersectionality is noticeable. Confined by the patriarchal stiff rules, Celie gradually begins to make her voice heard. She does not want to be a passive observer of her own life. Obviously, it does not happen in the blink of an eye. Her self-development proceeds in a linear and stable manner (Kristeva, 1986). Celie`s development as a woman has its source in her fight in which she faces many problems mainly connected with her self-awareness and her position in the society. Rima Namhata, a contemporary literary critic, claims that The Color
Sofia as a self-confident woman bought progression and change to Celie life, in a sense that she taught her how to fight and to stand up for herself. In the beginning of the novel Celie wasn’t confident in herself, she couldn’t stand up for herself and what she believed in she was simply weak, and this weakness was bought because of what she was going through all the man in her life that were abusing her and treating her like dirt and the fact that she never had a mother figure in her life to protect her and to teach her to be strong independent woman. So when she met Sofia she was jealous about Sofia character and she wanted to be like her she envied her- “…I say it cause I’m jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can’t” (Walker, 2014,
There are many instances in the novel in which feminist ideology is visible. Traumatized by her childhood experiences, Celie seeks acceptance and fulfilment in relationships built with women. As has been mentioned in the first chapter, Alice Walker states that women may love other women “sexually and/or nonsexually” (1983). This passage becomes one of the main statements defining the term womanism discussed previously in the thesis. Walker supports and develops this term with the representation of the relation between Celie and Shug. Celie’s growth as a woman is visible in her relation with Shug Avery who teaches her how to enjoy life and to accept herself wholly. Some researchers support this argument by stating “Walker always emphasizes the importance of sisterhood in black women`s emancipation” (Singh & Guphta, 2010: 218). Shug introduces Celie to same-sex relationships and masturbation. At this point, the protagonist begins to address her letters to her sister Nettie rather than to God in order to tell her about her experiences.
Alice Walker’s explosive epistolary novel which made her the first African American woman writer to win Pulitzer Prize. The Color Purple discuss the issues of wife abuse, incest, lesbianism, suppression, and dehumanization. The protagonist of the novel, Celie writes letter to God, Nettie to her sister Celie and vice versa. The letters disclose the injustice women suffering from men in United States and in Africa. This novel accounts Celie’s development from a dependent, conquered personality to an independent, liberated woman with purpose and determination. The novel is without its controversial aspects, and the film adaption directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985 intensified the controversy which is a characteristic of Postfeminism.