Celie's Struggle for Freedom in The Color Purple
Events in history have influenced writers’ style, genre, and emphasis in their stories. 1 Alice Walker was greatly influenced by the time period of the 1940’s. There was much racism and oppression during that time, especially for black women. Women were beaten and abused simply because of their color and gender. Celie, a young black woman, endured many hardships reflective of the time period including racism, oppression, and sexism but remained strong in her faith in God and overcame these obstacles to show the quiet strength of a woman. The oppression of black women is very evident in The Color Purple (Ryan 3062). It is especially shown in the relationship between father and daughter, Alphonso and Celie(Fulmer 1). From the time Celie is very young she is subject to oppression. She is raped repeatedly by her stepfather and is told to keep quiet about it (Walker 1). This is very demeaning to Celie and it causes her to fear men for a good portion of her life (Walker 6). Celie gets pregnant twice with her stepfather. He takes the first baby and “ kilt it out there in the woods.” The other he sells to a family in a nearby town (Walker 3-4). Celie is oppressed all throughout her life, but she learns to overcome it and support herself (Ryan 3062).
Celie also endures other forms of both physical and mental abuse. “He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway” (Walker 8). Abuse was very common in those times. It was used for control and ultimately complete domination. Celie could not run from her stepfather because she had nowhere else to go. Alphonso later forces Celie to marry the Reverend Mr.______. This is not that bad for Celie because she no longer...
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... body of the black family and of most black mothers” (Ryan 3062). The same oppression is still seen today and black women across the globe are still fighting for freedom. The Black Feminist Caucus (BFC) is fighting to ensure equality between women and men. They are also battling with the different forms of violence that black women deal with because of black males (BFC 1). Oppression is a battle that must be fought and won to ensure that America is the land where all men (and women) are created equal.
Works Cited
Black Feminist Caucus.
Fumler, Constance M. “The Color Purple.” Masterplots Complete. CD-ROM. 1999
Paul. The Holy Bible. 1 Corinthians 6:10 and Romans 1:26.
Ryan, Bryan, ed. “Alice Walker.” Major 20th Century Writers. Vol. 4. R-Z. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1991.
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Pocket Books, 1982.
The woman in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and the woman in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire both struggle with discrimination. Celie, a passive young woman, finds herself in mistreatment and isolation, leading to emotional numbness, in addition to a society in which females are deemed second-rate furthermore subservient to the males surrounding them. Like Celie, Blanche DuBois, a desperate woman, who finds herself dependent on men, is also caught in a battle between survival and sexism during the transformation from the old to the new coming South.
...mply in terms of reliance upon subjugation to men. Her defiance of the custom of demurring in the presence of men stirs envy in Celie, who lacks Sofia's self-assurance, and who consequently advises an exasperated Harpo, to 'beat her' into submission. This is a point of growth for Celie who comes to realize that she has committed a 'sin against Sofia spirit'. Celie is becoming aware of the nature of her own oppression. She is able to analyze her own behavior and admit her jealousy of Sofia's ability to fight back against abuse and to resist male oppression. Here Walker, deftly illustrates the ease with which the cycle of abuse is perpetuated among the abused and the oppressed. In the story, Sofia, represents the indomitable spirit of the woman of color who is determined to be herself regardless of the pressure to submit to the indignities of prejudice and sexism.
Whitaker, Charles. "Alice Walker: 'Color Purple' author confronts her critics and talks about her provocative new book." Ebony, May 1992, p. 86+. General OneFile, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A12290929/ITOF?u=wylrc_wyomingst&sid=ITOF&xid=fadfb6f0. Accessed 28 Nov.
Kessler, Carol Parley. "Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1860 -1935." Modem American Women Writers. Ed. Elaine Showalter, et al. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991. 155 -169.
Thesis Statement: Alice Walker, a twentieth and twenty- first century novelist is known for her politically and emotionally charged works, which exposes the black culture through various narrative techniques.
Critical Essays on Alice Walker. Ed. By Ikenna Dieke. Greenwood Press, Westpoint, Connecticut, London, 1999
Briefly introducing the background of this book, the time period of this book is in the early 20 century after abolition of slavery. But even slavery was abolished, the issue of slavery had remained in this era. This paper describes the evidence of slavery in The Color Purple after abolishing legacy of slavery.
Whitted, Qiana. "Alice Walker (b. 1944)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 26 November 2013. Web. 02 May .
The book The Color Purple was written by Alice Walker. The book was not written in a conventional manner. It was a series of letters spanning the life of Celie, the main character. Most of the letters were written by Celie and some by her sister Nettie. The theme of the book is to be true to yourself in spite of difficulties and never let go of what you believe in. Do not let people make you think you are something that you are not, then you have the will to survive during the worst of times.
2. Write a brief summary of the events that made Celie decide to take control of her life.
Alice Walker, "The Color Purple." ENGL 3060 Modern and Contemporary Literature, a book of 2003. Web. The Web. The Web.
Women have battled for centuries to be equivalent to men. In “The Color Purple," Alice Walker illustrates the theme of women’s heartache, racist acts, and complications of a day to day woman. The Color Purple took place during a demeaning era to not only African American women but African Americans in general were treated inhumane. African American women submitted themselves to controlling men due to the belief of that’s how it should be. During this time, women were used for manual and sexual labor. They were referred as one’s property, hardly spoken of or treated like human-beings. Women faced lack of self-love and identity therefore the definition of love was clouded.
Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, is about the severity of discrimination and its effect on an individual. This illustrates the idea that discrimination and prejudice can ultimately curve someone's view of the world around them. Through motifs in the novel, the point of view of the characters, and the foils seen in the characters, we can see this theme take effect through the main characters in the novel.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a story written in 1982 that is about the life struggles of a young African American woman named Celie. The novel takes the reader through several main topics including the poor treatment of African American women, domestic abuse, family relationships, and also religion. The story takes place mostly in rural Georgia in the early 1900’s and demonstrates the difficult life of sharecropper families. Specifically how life was endured from the perspective of an African American woman. The Color Purple is written in the form of letters that Celie narrates explaining the events that took place at certain points in her life. Celie endures physical and emotional abuse by some of the people around her including her own family. But in the end Celie finds a new and fulfilling life through relationships with her sister and good friends.
In 1982, Walker published her most controversial and famous book, ‘The Color Purple’. It is written in the form of epistolary (letter), the novel included vivid descriptions of rape, incest, bisexuality, lesbianism, and “black- on – black” violence and abuse. It recounted the tragic but ultimately triumphant life story of Celie, a young victimized black woman. A year later it appeared it got Pulitzer Prize in fiction and National Book Award, and in 1985 it was adapted as motion picture. Walker’s longtime best- seller transcended black and gender