Alice Walker's The Color Purple: Celie's Struggles Expressed in Letters

546 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Spirituality in the color purple

Alice Walker's The Color Purple: Celie's Struggles Expressed in Letters

"Dear God,

Gets me out of here. I needs to love and laugh. I needs to be free of this bastard and these white people."

At a very young age, Celie begins writing letters to God. In her letters she explains her fears about her stepfather raping her, her mother and sister being beat, and her fears for her sister, Nettie. This epistolary novel (a novel in which the narrative is carried forward by letters) takes place during the early twentieth century, where slavery still existed in the South, and black people lived discriminating lives. Even though many black Southerners formed tight-knit communities, physical, mental and sexual abuse was still brought on to many of the black women living in the frame of male civilization. In The Color Purple (1983), Alice Walker portrays these harsh realities and struggles through the letters of a young woman named Celie.

Celie turns to God after her father says, "You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy" (1). This passage was used by Celie and...

Show More
Related

  • Pros And Cons Of Horse Slaughter

    1747 Words  | 4 Pages

    The use of horses for human consumption dates back to the earliest use of animals for human consumption. Horses are used for food in many counties but are also considered inhumane in other countries. In the United States specifically, horsemeat is not the norm for consumed meat. There seems to be a problem that has arisen. It is suspected that horses being slaughtered at horse slaughtering factories are not the most up to date, pain free for the horse, and human as people suspect them to be like beef kill floors. There are many pros and cons to horse slaughter that accompany the pressure groups on each side of horse slaughter. Another big controversy with horse slaughter is the argument of legalizing horse slaughter and what those details will entail in the law.

    Read More

  • The Creation of Women's Identities in the Color Purple by Alice Walker

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    If we read The Color Purple with 'gender on the agenda' as required we can identify how the form contributes to the impact of the narrative. The Color Purple is a story that unfolds through the writing and exchange of letters. Opening with the line 'You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy.' A warning issued by the abusive 'father' (later and importantly discovered to be step-father) of the central character Celie who indeed pours out her secret to God and later to her sister Nettie about her life and her pain.

    Read More

  • Comparing Ursula K. LeGuin’s Forgiveness Day and Nicola Griffith’s Ammonite

    1859 Words  | 4 Pages

    LeGuin, Ursula K.  “Forgiveness Day.”  Four Ways to Forgiveness.  New York: HarperPaperbacks, 1995.  Pp. 47-124.

    Read More

  • Livestock: Horses Should not be Slaughtered in the United States

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    This destroyed the image set by Americans, a great strong champion reduced to a pile of steaks, or put into dog food. Where is freedom and liberty in that? But, though they excel at it, horses are not just made to run, some horses are used as guides for the blind. Horses contribute so much to society and all that potential is wasted in each horse sent to slaughter. Another cultural reference is the mustang, a strong free animal that roams the range. Mustangs were formerly protected from slaughter until recently in 2005 when a bill killed a 1971 law that prevented feral horses from being sold to slaughterhouses. Now any horse older than ten years old, or any young horse that has not been to three auctions and been sold is to be sent to slaughter. These horses have bloodlines of nearly pure Spanish stock and are an essential part of America’s living history. Congress needs to understand that the American’s perspective of a horse has shifted from being livestock to being a companion animal. For example, in a US survey by the Huffington Post, only thirteen percent of Americans sa...

    Read More

  • Analysis on Forgiveness

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sidelinger, R. J., Frisby, B. N., & McMullen, A. L. (2009). The decision to forgive: Sex, gender, and the likelihood to forgive partner transgressions. Communication Studies, 60(2), 164-179.

    Read More

  • Redemption in Wit

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    Margaret Edson explores an unpopular theme (redemption) using the changes in the character of the protagonist, Dr. Bearing. After her ovarian cancer diagnoses, she realizes that she lives an incomplete life with excess devotion to her career and academics and less regard for humanity. She faces heart breaking loneliness that makes her regret the fact that she listened to and followed her English professor’s advice that scholars are unsentimental. Margaret Edson’s “W; t”, therefore, has a thematic bias on the redemption of Dr. Bearing as she tries to emerge from her arrogant self and shed her unsociable character. Dr. Bearing interacts with two contrasting characters in the play that leads her to a state of self realization making her change for the best.

    Read More

  • Alice Walker's Color Purple - Historical and Political Insight

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Alice Walker’s writings were greatly influenced by the political and societal happenings around her during the 1960s and 1970s. She not only wrote about events that were taking place, she participated in them as well. Her devoted time and energy into society is very evident in her works. The Color Purple, one of Walker’s most prized novels, sends out a social message that concerns women’s struggle for freedom in a society where they are viewed as inferior to men. The events that happened during and previous to her writing of The Color Purple had a tremendous impact on the standpoint of the novel.

    Read More

  • Intervention Studies of Forgiveness: A Meta Analysis

    1286 Words  | 3 Pages

    The purpose of this paper is to examine current research on forgiveness, by conducting a Meta-Analysis multiple studies on forgiveness. By conducting Meta-Analysis a latest research, will provide guidance for the configuration and expansion for future research on forgiveness.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: The Color Purple

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, numerous symbols influence and drive the plot of the novel. One of the most important symbols that Walker incorporates into the plot is the letters written by Celie to either God or Nettie, signifying the power of voice. The epistolary format of the novel itself enables readers to understand Celie, whose letters are initially addressed to God. After being raped by her stepfather at the age of fourteen, he tells her to “never tell anybody but God” (Walker 1); thus, Celie’s original letters are presented more as confessions and prayers. This first letter itself “initiates the story of Celie's unrelenting victimization” (Bloom, and Williams 77-88), and the audience notices that the way in which Celie narrates the events occurring in her life over the course of the next several letters lacks sentiment and opinion....

    Read More

  • Prosocial Emotions Essay

    1976 Words  | 4 Pages

    There is usually a feeling of change and attitude that regards positive alternatives towards an offender. In this situation acts like vengefulness is overlooked. In short, contrary or deconstructive emotions are not included in the predicament. Forgiveness is one of the best elements of the pro-social emotions that assist in improving the mental position of an individual including the surrounding environment. Forgiveness also leads to peaceful environments. It is also described as a legal terminology for giving up all claims on the perception of debt or duty to do something (Kimonis et al., 1249). Forgiveness on social grounds is not considered in politics. This pro-social emotion gives a relief on things that cannot be replaced. The term is mostly used in religion. People spiritually understand why forgiveness is appropriate and spread it. Therefore, the mental situation of the kind person and the one forgiven is stable and at peace. Activities run well without fear of meeting the party one has offended. Thus freedom of mind and operation is restored. This implies that physical health, well being, of the human body is at peace too. Those who apply forgiveness many times achieve a lot because they save time in doing constructive

    Read More

  • Positive And Negative Effects Of Forgiveness

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.” Martin Luther King. The concept of forgiveness comes easily to some people but hard for others. It is a choice that every human being is faced with in one’s lifetime. Forgiveness is a deep-rooted emotion that controls the process of forgiving or being forgiven. Forgiveness requires compassion and a caring heart; it is truly a selfless act. There are many views and effects when discussing the topic of forgiveness, some of these include, the religious views as well as the positive and negative effects of forgiveness.

    Read More

  • What´s Positive Psychology?

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Forgiveness is a feeling or action that another person does when a wrong has been done to that individual he or she may or may not forgive. Even though some ...

    Read More

  • Intersection of Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality define Social Positions in Alice Walkers The Color Purple

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alice Walker’s The Color Purple takes place in Georgia from 1910 to 1940. During this time racism was easily visible and apparent in society. Black people were seen as lesser beings in contrast to their white counterparts. However, not only are all of the colored characters within The Color Purple forced, by means of oppression, into their social positions because they are not white, but also because some of them are women, lesbian, and lower class. As Crenshaw explains, “[b]ecause of their intersectional identity as both women and of color within discourses that are shaped to respond to one or the other, women of color are marginalized within both” (Crenshaw 5). Celie, the main character in the novel, is given enormous adult responsibility from a young age. After the death of her mother, she is pulled out of school in order to...

    Read More

  • Female Empowerment In The Color Purple By Alice Walker

    1840 Words  | 4 Pages

    The novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the story of a poor, young black girl, growing up in rural Georgia in the early twentieth century. The novel follows the protagonist, Celie, as she experiences such hardships as racism and abuse, all the while attempting to discover her own sense of self-worth. Celie expresses herself through a series of private letters that are initially addressed to God, then later to her sister Nettie. As Celie develops from an adolescent into an adult, her letters possess m...

    Read More

  • The Process Of Forgiveness

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Forgiveness, however you see it, from spiritual to psychological, it is surely a process. But what is forgiveness and how can one achieve it? There are many blogs, books, and scriptures to show how forgiveness is a necessary step into growing as a person. Dr. Wayne W. Dryer, Zack Carter, Michelle Rad, and Diana Gruver all have research points or have previous experience within forgiveness to give advice and to help understand it, along with how to forgive. This research will point out main topics and/or steps on the spiritual aspect and psychological understanding to forgive and how it progresses for one’s self.

    Read More

More about Alice Walker's The Color Purple: Celie's Struggles Expressed in Letters

Open Document