Lesbianism In The Color Purple

For instance “Determined to create a better world beyond her walled‐off cul‐de‐sac, Lauren eventually leads several characters of diverse races, genders, and ages on a quest to establish a community in the spirit of Earthseed—a religion Lauren crafts in the wake of a world literally on fire” (Hill). Butler demonstrates how Lauren is uniquely qualified to lead Earthseed to become a widespread religious movement due to the convergence of her gender, race, and disability. In many ways, Lauren's position as a Black woman in such a violent world makes her extremely vulnerable. ’’ Earthseed deifies the cosmic pervasiveness of change with a simple statement: “God is Change” (Morris). However, because of this vulnerability, Lauren is better able to understand the value of interdependence and community, which improves her ability to reach out to others and convert them to Earthseed.

Her faith is weakened at a certain point but then she starts to develop a new perception of God, she begins to see God as a universal being with no gender and race who is present everywhere and in everything that we love or do. She is now able to see God through people, nature, sex, and in the color purple. Alice Walker also gave importance to the value of female bonds and relationships or sisterhood as a means of coping and social support against the alienation experienced by Celie and other black female characters in the novel. Celie’s friends, mainly Shug and Sofia helped her to find her voice and stand up for herself. As the novel progresses, Celie develops strength and eventually gains her freedom towards the end.

A lesbian is a woman- indentified woman and Adrienne Rich calls it ‘Lesbian continuum’ she explains lesbian continuum is “Include is a range through each woman’s life and throughout history of woman indentified experience no simply the fact that a woman has had consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman (25)”. Rich argues to embrace many more forms of primary intensity between and among women including the sharing of a rich inner life. Their Eyes were watching God is overwhelmingly centered on Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake. Whereas certain critics recognize the female search for self and need for community as key issues in the novel, most still give priority to heterosexual love and experience as the sole informers of Janie’s existence.

Having a different sexuality than the one expected of you, doesn’t change who you are as a person. Yes it might change how people see, or treat you, but it should never cause you to hate you uniqueness. You are who you are and nothing should ever come between you happiness even if others can’t accept it for what it is. In “Drowning in Fire” by Craig Womack, the author talks about homosexuality with the help of his central main characters that happens to be Native American.

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.”

Firstly, the author represents how a women’s search for identity is complicated by the sexual references directed to Cheryl within the novel. Cheryl encounters many different people on her journey and while so many of the people she meets are good and have good intentions, the

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.

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.

At the end of the book, Celie said that everyone is contented and that she felt younger than ever before; this shows that Celie had dropped her fear and kept her faith. Learning is inevitable. In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Celie learned a lot of life lessons throughout the novel. She learned to be compassionate by getting the love that she deserved from the people around her, she also learned that forgiving others for their mistakes and dropping her fears will lead to peace and freedom of

The conversation takes place in letter seventy-three where Celie learns that Shug had also believed in a conventional stereotyped God at one point in her life but had since advanced and developed a pantheist belief. This reassured Celie greatly and gave her a focus to her

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.

There are elements of realism intricately woven within the fabric of the novel. Its depiction of sexuality is a positive portrayal of lesbian love, both sexual and non-sexual love. While Celie compares male sex organs to frogs, Sofia is tired of Harpo’s mechanical lovemaking. On the other hand, Celie’s act of lovemaking with Shug is devoid of any guilt and is liberating. Further, it is a powerful ‘womanist’ text showing productive and strong bonds between women characters and their work culture which together combat the elephantine patriarchal exploitation.

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.

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).¨

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.