Theme Of Womanism In The Color Purple

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“Every time they ast me to do something, Miss Celie, I act like I’m you. I jump right up and do just what they say” (88). This line conveys how obedient Celie is towards others, which she learns from her own people. The black community degrades black women to make it difficult for them to become independent (Tanritanir and Aydemir 438). Alice Walker experiences this and understands the need to express the struggle of the black woman to the world. She, along with other black female writers, coins the term womanism to explain the idea of prevailing over this struggle. By having Celie overcome the oppression she faces, Alice Walker illustrates the theme of womanism in her novel The Color Purple. Womanism is the black woman’s version of feminism. …show more content…

in Collins S17).
White uses this analogy to express that the white woman has been oppressed, but not to the extent the black woman has. The brutality she describes is illustrated in The Color Purple through the way that men treat Celie. This, along with other forms of oppression, is what pushes Celie to embrace womanist ideals and overcome these …show more content…

Celie finally embraces womanist ideals and stands up for herself. After many years, she is able to realize that she does not have to listen to men’s demands, and she has the right to live her own life (Tanritanir and Aydemir 443). Once she reaches this point in her life, she lets her husband know how she feels and says “You a lowdown dog is what’s wrong, I say. It’s time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need” (199). The power in these lines shows that her change is very drastic. She suddenly understands that she is a strong woman that can stand up for herself. Celie then moves to Memphis with Shug. Celie finally has the space and freedom to become independent and express her creativity with her business (Nguyen 6). This is the next important step to her transformation. With men no longer around for the first time in her life, she is able to find herself and discover her passions; she can finally grow to be a happy, independent woman. Along with this vital personal transformation, Celie’s views of God also change. Up until Celie grows close to Shug, she views God as the stereotypical white male. She believes that He, like the other men in her life, does not want her to be happy. Because of this, she has many misfortunes. Shug is able to show Celie that she should not view God as a man but rather as an “It” to try to suppress

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