Celie's Transformation In The Color Purple

Another transformation of character after closure occurs in the book The Color Purple by Alice Walker. In this book, the main character, Celie, lives an extremely unpleasant life in 20th century rural Georgia. At a young age, Celie’s stepfather, called “Pa,” sexually abused her, causing her to fall pregnant twice. Furthermore, Pa forces Celie to marry another abusive man: ‘Mr. ____’ or ‘Albert.’ As a result, Celie continues to live a miserable life while with ‘Mr. ____,’ who simply uses her for pleasure. Later in the novel, Celie discovers that ‘Mr. ____’ has been hiding letters from her sister, Nettie, from her for many years. Around this time, ‘Mr. ____’ also falls very ill, to the point where he “couldn’t sleep” (Walker 224). After he sends Celie the remaining letters from Nettie, his health begins to improve—revealing that his guilt caused his health to

By relieving his built-up guilt, ‘Mr. ____’ allows himself to let go of the past and no longer worry and wonder about what would occur if Celie found the rest of her sister’s letters. Additionally, ‘Mr. ____’ begins to transform from a cruel man into a very amiable human being, allowing Celie to develop a healthy friendship with him after all. Similar to in Crime and Punishment, reaching closure by relieving guilt allowed a character to positively change their life.

Although Crime and Punishment and The Color Purple take place in very different settings, Dostoevsky’s ideas on closure apply to The Color Purple very well. Both Raskolnikov, from 19th century Russia, and ‘Mr. ____,’ from 20th century Georgia, face extremely similar situations. Both characters fall ill due to guilt that they experience after hiding secrets, as their minds become absorbed by thoughts regarding their secrets. Later, they realize that the only way to regain their health is to resolve their situations through