Role Of Religion In The Colour Purple

How is religion presented in the novel The Colour Purple and how does it change?

Cosmos Guo

The Colour Purple, told through a series of letters mostly addressed to God, depicts a strongly conservative and religious community where characters become empowered through religious development. In the characters’ liberation from the traditional definitions, Walker advocates pantheism over the obsolete religious interpretations forced on the community by white imperialism and colonialism.

As the novel is set in the rural South of USA at the start of the twentieth century, the society in question is very conservative and religious, and thus most of the characters are. This is noted in Celie’s first words: "Dear God" and that people regularly attend church. The general consensus is that God is “big and old and tall and graybearded and white. He wear white robes and go barefooted”, which is merely a personage invented by white men, loosely based on the Bible. This reveals how people took even religion, a vital aspect of their lives, for granted. Due to the immense importance of religion to the community, it has a profound effect on how society is defined. As God is male, it is believed men are superior to women and have the natural right to control them. This is reflected in Mr. ___’s, Alphonso’s and Harpo’s behaviour. They exert (or in Harpo’s case, attempts to exert) irrefutable dominance over women and treat women as tools. Such conduct is also made possible by the submissive,