Essay On Symbolism In The Color Purple

3.2 Female Character and Symbolism

The Color Purple presents a story of Celie – an African American woman who fights for acceptance and feminine space in her marriage and as well as within her community. She is oppressed by racism and sexism at the same time which means that in the novel there are many scenes in which the dimension of intersectionality is easily noticeable. Confined by the patriarchal stiff rules, Celie gradually begins to make her voice heard. Obviously, it does not happen in the blink of an eye. Her self-development in a male-dominated community proceeds in a linear manner (Kristeva, 1986). Celie`s awakening as a woman has its source in her fight in which she confronts “obstacles, prohibitions, authority or law” (Kristeva, 2000). Rima Namhata, a contemporary literary cricitc, claims that The Color Purple presents Celie “in relation to man, society, white people, financial freedom, sexual freedom, and identity” (2011).
It is worth mentioning here the genesis of the title of the novel and its symbolism. Walker writes about the color purple in her essay mentioned in the first chapter: “Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender” (Walker, 1983). Interestingly, purple is associated by some researchers with the suffragette movement as well as with the women`s liberation movement (Diwakar, 2014). They organized The Purple

Walker herself admits that story-telling became an only mean for African American women who do not have an access to written works. She writes in her essay that story-telling made her mother an artist who passes her knowledge and wisdom to the next generation. (1983). Being deprived of power and a platform to express their thoughts, storytelling becomes, according to Lizbeth Goodman, “a way of presenting self in opposition to a language which is not your own, not part of your people’s tradition” (in Hsiao,