The Color Purple Essay: It Was the Worst of Times 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. The Color Purple is about Celie’s life. In the beginning of the novel, we learn that Celie was raped by her father. We also learn that Celie’s mother is ill and is unable to take care of the family. Celie is forced to cook and clean for her family. Celie conceived two children because of her father’s continuous raping. She never sees her children and believes that her father killed them. A man from town wanted to take Celie’s sister Nettie as a wife, but her father convinces the man to take Celie instead. Celie is now forced to marry an older man who already has children. Celie’s husband constantly beats and rapes her without any remorse. He even made Celie nurse Shug Avery, his mistress, when she was ill. It is now that Celie learns from Shug Avery about love. Shug Avery encourages Celie not to take the abuse from her husband anymore and that she deserves better. Celie would finally leave her husband when she found out that he kept her sister’s letters from her. Nettie was the sole reason why Celie had managed to survive. Celie could not tolerate any more abuse and left with Shug Avery and Mary Agnes. Mary Agnes was Celie’s stepson’s mistress. Celie eventually meets up with Nettie and her two children whom she believed to be dead. She than goes back to her husband who has drastically changed since Shug Avery and Celie left. This novel was set in the early 1900’s. During this time, the black people were oppressed by white people. They were abused and taken advantage of. Not only were the black people were oppressed but also women were oppressed. They had little freedom and were unable to be self-sufficient.
This painting was inspired by the poem, “Thanatopsis”, since Durand painted the occasional narrative or literary landscape in the manner of his mentor Thomas Cole, after Cole’s death. The title of the painting is Landscape-Scene From “Thanatopsis”, it means the painter painted this painting based on his feeling from the poem “Thanatopsis”. The word “Thanatopsis”, comes from Greek which means “a view or contemplation of death”. It can also be seen as a contemplation of nature. A view of mountains and trees indicates both living and death. Bryant’s poem, “Thanatopsis”, portrays nature in the context of human life and death, thus reveal the thoughts of Durand on the relationships between nature, human individuals, and human civilizations. The fear of death and dying is felt by everybody at some points in their lives. In “Thanatopsis”, this fear is recognized as honorable unnecessary. Bryant’s use of words and thoughts emphasized that death is magnificent and not merely an end to life. Through his words, Bryant created a picture of...
The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. The second I walked in Enzo and “boyfriend” stared me down as he started to get all over Enzo to make me jealous. At this point I did not care. I was past livid, they meant nothing to me. I finally expressed openness with Enzo and told him, “That the hardest part isn’t being here with these people who I should be furious with, especially you. The hardest part is that despite it all, I still love you. I don’t want to do this anymore. If you want to be with your sexually anorexic “boyfriend” who can’t even tell that you’re dying to kiss him or knows the difference between you giving him a high five from holding your hand, so be it; but we can’t be friends. I’m tired of always having to hold back and suppress my feelings because your bubble gum bitch is too damn insecure. I’m tired of you holding me and acting like we have something special when we both know I mean nothing to you. I’m tired of feeling like I need a miracle to bring us back together as friends. You know I’m not spiritual, but when I’m with you, it’s nothing but pure bliss, I think you’re a saint, an angel, you’re my little taste of heaven. You’d give me something to think and talk about when I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders, but now you’re just shit in my head. I don’t deserve this; I’m not going to put up with this nonsense. I have my whole life
The Color Purple by Alice Walker was a particularly enjoyable book. One reason is because the book relates to my own life in some ways. The main character, Celie, feels isolated because her father abuses her. She writes letters to God because she has no one else she can connect with. “Long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along” (Walker 17). Celie writes to God because she feels loved by him and she needs a companion or a friend to talk to. I, myself, am a Christian and I feel the same way. Although I am not abused, I feel her sense of loneliness. Sometimes I feel as if I have to go through all of the stress of school and studying alone, but then I realize many of my peers are feeling the same way.
The story of ancient Rome is a tale of how a small community of shepherds in the central Italy grew to become one of the greatest empires in history, and then collapsed. According to Roman legend. Rome was founded in 753 B.C. By 275 B.C., it controlled most of the Italian Peninsula. In the A.D. 100’s, the Roman Empire covered about half of Europe, much of the Middle East, and the northern coast of Africa. The empire then began to crumble, party because it was too big for Rome to govern.
The Color Purple is a novel that is a series of letters written by a young black girl. The letters are from Ceilie to God and then later from Celie to Nettie and from Nettie to Celie. Throughout the novel Celie tells God and Nettie about the poverty, rape and cruelty that she has endured from when she was a young girl either at the hands of her step-father, her husband, or the whites. She writes these letters to God because she has nobody else to write to. She is alone and she feels that God is all there is to write to. She has been betrayed by everyone else in her life that was supposed care for her.
Dualism is the concept of good and evil within man. The concept of good and evil are dualistic because they are two different embodiments of something. Good is represented in Christianity as God, while Satan is the embodiment of evil. These two concepts contain different embodiments however, what it represents is the human personality and the two sides of our
Roman religion was highly influenced by the Greeks, the the sense that there were multiple gods who controlled different aspects of the world. (The Twelve Caesars, pg.103) “As for Augustus’ attitude to religion: he is recorded to have been scared of thunder and lightning.” This shows that thunder and lighting were considered to be entities higher than what the leader of Rome was, and that it was good to be the positive sides of the gods. During the time of Augustus as emperor the rise of Christianity began but also the shift from a polytheistic view to a monotheistic view. This shift was very concerning to the Romans, so bad that they began to persecute Christians. (Shaping Of Western Civilization, pg. 146) “This persecution made sense to Romans for various reasons. First Christianity was as insistently monotheistic… This belief could only be an affront to all the other gods.” Christianity believed that God was one entity and was above the rest, but the Romans viewed this as almost a sign of treason to the rest of the gods. To the Romans cultus was considered to be a public thing, while the Christians wanted their cultus to be private which made the Romans question the Christian faith. The Fall of the Roman Empire lead to the full shift from a polytheistic view to the establishment of Christianity.
One of the scenes from the movies that really described what the theme of The Color Purple means was when Celie helped Sofia grocery shop when she had just gotten out of jail. Sofia was now a maid for the mayor and his wife and that was one thing that Sofia hoped that she would never do in life. When this happens you first realize how broken Sofia had become in jail. She used to be so full of life, knew exactly what she wanted; that was the reason that she had ended up in jail. Sofia was asked by Miss Mille, the mayor’s wife, if she wanted to come and work as a slave for her and Sofia’s response was as simple as, “Hell no.” This surprised everyone and the mayor e...
In contrast, God notified Noah to create an ark to harbor him, his wife, his three sons, and their wives, along with two of every animal, male and female, and seven of each “clean” animal, which were fit for sacrifice. This lead to eight human survivors in total, whereas in Zeus’s flood, only two people survived while floating in a chest: one man and one woman. The account of Zeus’s flood also does not mention how animals returned to earth, except for the existence of a small safe haven on the peak of Mt. Parnassus.
One reason may be because each civilization’s ancestors experienced slightly different events during that time period causing them to believe the flood was necessary for different reasons. An example of this today is how everyone has their own beliefs as to how humans were created either by God, science, evolution of monkeys, etc. depending on their past or religious beliefs. Each flood myth story was written at different times and in different territorial regions of the world, providing for distinctive twists to each of them. These civilizations all had their own understanding on how things came to be and why they did. Myths are passed down and told orally from generation to generation and it could definitely have been altered while being passed
Throughout the Color Purple, Alice Walker, uses many different aspects of feminism. Two of the main female characters are Celie and Nettie. Both Celie and Nettie started at a disadvantage because of the treatment of their “father”. This novel shows how women can face many obstacles and still overcome them.
The 1985 film Color Purple directed by Steven Spielberg based off of the book Color Purple written by Alice Walker, delivered many messages about racism, abuse, gender roles, love, family, and redemption. Throughout the movie the main character, Celie, endures many hardships. In the beginning she is abused and raped by the man she believes is her father and she gives birth to two children. Both of which are taken away from her. Their names are Adam and Olivia. Then she is married off by her father to a man who abuses and rapes her as well. She receives small glimmers of happiness through her life, but a reoccurring darkness comes and tears the happiness away from her. The
Alice Walker's book The Color Purple is about a young girl who has to grow up faster than most fourteen year old girls. The controversies that arise that we’ve learned about are gender roles, infidelity, and violence/abuse. Reading this book one can tell that these issues not only existed during the 20th century but also in times of today. Going on to analyze these issues from what the writer portrayed in this novel. The Color Purple is about a young girl, Celie, who lives in Georgia.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a story about a poor, uneducated black women named Celie who has a sad personal history. She survives an abusive stepfather who rapes her and steals her babies, then marries her off to a man who is equally debasing. As an adult, Celie befriends and finds intimacy with a blues singer known as Shug Avery, who gradually helps Celie find her voice, by teaching her how to stand up for what she wants and believes in. Celie believes that the world around her is a mans world, where she is suppose to please and obey their every wants and desires until she learns the power of her voice and that by using it she is her own person and nobodies servant. By the end of the novel, Celie is a happy, independent, and a self-confident
Just about everyone has heard a story about the Great Flood. Where you live and your religious beliefs impacts which myth you’ve heard. They all have the same basis; mankind is going to be destroyed because of their sins, a man is told to build an Ark, which he does, sacrifices to birds searching for dry land and ends up saving mankind and gaining immortality. Although the basis of every story is the same, they have their differences. I will be comparing three versions of the Great Flood, the Sumerian flood myth, the Babylonian flood myth and the version told in the Bible.