What Is Feminism In The Color Purple

In the book Celie is a young girl near 20 when she gets married. She is writing letters to God and going through her emotions, thoughts, and feelings on the way. By the end with knowing Shug Avery and Sofia she learns to embrace her womanhood and stands up to Mister. In the end she states, “And us so happy. Matter of fact, I think this the youngest I ever felt.”

Once Shug is able to feel acquainted with Celie they find themselves doing everything together. Shug teaches Celies about herself mentally, spiritually, and physically with her body. The book captures the feelings held between the Celie and Shug with vibrant words and sentences between the two characters. ¨She say, I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me on the mouth (Walker, 1982).¨

As black women always conform under patriarchal principles, women are generally silenced and deprived of rights because men are entitled to control everything. Women are silenced in a way that they lose their confidence and hesitate to speak up due to the norms present in the society they live in. Hence, even if women have the confidence to try to speak, men wouldn’t bother to listen since men ought to believe that they are superior to women. In addition to that, women often live in a life cycle of repetitions due to patriarchal principles since women are established to fulfill the roles the society had given them. It is evidenced by Celie as she struggles to survive and to define oneself apart from the controlling, manipulative, and abusive men in her life.

There’s rape, death, and many other aspects covered in the book. In this first page, readers are immediately met with a rape scene. While this is shocking to many, Celie recovers and gets through it. She was born with all odds against her, but she is a strong and selfless woman. Celie becomes prosperous and content, and the book executes a joyful end that is satisfying.

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.

The problem of Mr. ____ gets taken care of when Shug and her discover the letters that Mr. ____ has been withholding. Shug can see that he does not care for Celie at all, and that Celie has to get away from him. After reading the letters, they just lie together and for the first time since Nettie, she has a family member. She calls Shug her sister.

Before delving into the types of identity that black women face on a daily basis, to understand where I am going with this paper it is first necessary to define what exactly identity is for the African American race as a whole. The social identity that is apparent for most people is usually linked to their racial and cultural identities, which give them a sense of purpose in life. African Americans have been the subject of racialized and discursive discourse that has socially constructed them as criminals and amoral human beings, which challenges their humanity and their right to a legitimate social and racial identity. Such racialized discourse has its roots in slavery, which was reproduced during the Jim Crow era, and is maintained today through systemic racism to keep them from having a healthy identity, one that the world can appreciate and respect. During this course we have discussed female characters that have been subjected to “enslavement and the construction of stereotypes” when gathering information for this paper three characters stuck out to me,

She states that “I don’t write to god no more, I write to you.” to Nettie in letter seventy-three shortly after. This is a significant turn in Celie’s spiritual journey as she abandons God – which she deemed unhelping and unresponsive, in favor of her sister who has always been there for her as a source of comfort to her from the beginning. Celie began to turn away from religion and begins to search the spaces of spirituality in her life, which are namely Shug and Nettie. When Shug describes her journey from religious to spiritual and how she discovered her spiritual state became the ultimate turning point in Celie’s development away from stiffly structured religion.

Shug helps Celie find the letters her sister had been sending over the years since Albert made Nettie leave. Albert had hide the letters from Celie in a box under the floorboards in the closet. Shug showed Celie the love she had been lacking in her life. Near the end of the story Celie finally acquires enough courage to stand up to Albert at the dinner table. Celie defends herself and says the things she’s been holding back.

“Everyday Use” is one of the most popular stories by Alice Walker. The issue that this story raises is very pertinent from ‘womanist’ perspective. The term, in its broader sense, designates a culture specific form of woman-referred policy and theory. ‘womanism’ may be defined as a strand within ‘black feminism’. As against womansim, feminist movement of the day was predominately white-centric.

As this idea is presented by means of a statement, it also highlights the fundamental differences between men and women which appear in the novel. Compared to Celie who has more girlish features and less experience, Shug is able to teach her about the world and men. Eventually she becomes the main supporter in the form of a role model. “Shug Avery teaches her to value herself as a woman, and as a black woman with creative talents and the ability to earn her own keep. Shug helps to educate Celie out of her ‘triple oppression’, step by step.”

Name Instructor Course Date Analysis of Sisterhood Redemption through unity in The Color Purple shows ways in which sisterhood can produce and reinforce newly-formed unions between women, resulting in a sense of autonomy and independence. Sisterhood offers women the chance to gain self-discovery and the capacity to define their lives and sexuality.

Shug Avery comes into Celie’s life on a miraculous whirlwind of fame and misfortune. When Shug falls ill, she finds herself ostracized by a society that dismisses her as “a tramp… a strumpet in short skirts… [a] slut, hussy, heifer, and streetcleaner” (pgs 45-46). A talented vocalist, the entirety of Shug’s accomplishments were promptly dismissed by society on account of her gender- while attempting to hide behind criticisms of the way she dressed and behaved. And so Shug comes to live with Celie and Mr. _____, where she slowly reveals to Celie how she refused to be tied down- not by

women live in a pain and anger from their date of birth although De Beauvoir believes in her book the Second Sex that woman’s inferiority in society is a result not of natural differences but of differences in the upbringing of man and woman. Celie begins with her inner conflicts and thoughts inside herself. First, she is rejected by the society because of her dark skin as she is an African Amerian black women. Then, she starts with a

Walker exposes the patriarchy that condones male domination of women. The novel is about the trials and tribulations faced by a black woman under colonialism and black male oppression and her journey to attain knowledge, identity and freedom. Walker’s womanism stems from her mixed ancestry-