The American Society In Alice Walker's The Color Purple

Life is not always fair and it never was as a black woman. The American society in the early 1900’s did not encouraged women to be an independent and self-reflective person, contrariwise they were expected to be inferior to men. The epistolary novel “The Color Purple“ by Alice Walker, published in 1983, tells the story of a young black woman, Celie, who struggles with life but grows stronger and finally finds her way to herself. Sexual and psychological abuse by her stepfather and her husband, simply called Mister, shape herself as a person, and Celie is trying to find strength by writing letters to God. Eventually, she starts to write to her sister, Nettie, and finds support in Shug Avery, Celie’s friend and love interest. The novel uses African American Vernacular and is structured in letters by Celie creating a bond between her and the reader.

Since Celie’s first letter the reader feels like a part of her story. In the first paragraph of the letter, the reader can learn much about the girl, who is later to be revealed as Celie. It starts with “You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.“ (9.3 l.1). The multiple negotiation may confuse at first, but it is striking emphasis on the warning against telling. After reading the first paragraph, it gets clear that the warning was meant for the girl who should not tell anybody, especially not her mother as she then would be guilty of her death. The person threatening her wants to make her obedient and inferior