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what are the central issues raised in Alice Walker, the color purple
gender and roles of women in literature
gender and roles of women in literature
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Women Relationships Break The Norms of the Patriarchy
Sisterhood does not only bring women together, it also helps make women stronger individuals in a patriarchal society. For instance, The Women of Brewster Place is an African American novel by Gloria Naylor that takes place in 1982 in Brewster Place. This novel contains several stories which focus on the lives of each of the seven women that live there. These women come to Brewster Place to find comfort. Eventually, the women build bonds that help them deal with the negativity of the society that they live in. In addition, The Color Purple by Alice Walker is an epistolary novel that takes place in rural Georgia during the 1980’s. Celie, who is the protagonist in The Color Purple, is a poor and uneducated fourteen year old African American girl. She is constantly physically and mentally abused by the men in her life. She forms strong friendships with women whom she idolizes and women who stand up to the social norms of society. In the end she gains confidence and becomes a stronger individual. The women in the novels The Color Purple and The Women of Brewster Place have shown that the only way to survive in a patriarchal society is through sisterhood.
The sisterhood between Celie and Sofia teaches Celie that women are just as powerful as men. In a feminist society, women have the same rights that men have. Feminism is a belief system that allows women to be equal in all types of ways, such as work ethic’s, politics and even financially.In most cultures women have practically the same job as a man and make much less than him. Research indicated from the Institute For Women’s Policy Research states that “On average women earn less than men, in virtually every single occupation ...
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...lank and even her own father. Shug Avery saw her true beauty that beauty that she was never able to see. Shug constantly told her in order to help her gain condifence and embrace the beauty that she has. This type of sisterhood is important because Shug was able to be a great friend by supporting her and constantly showing Celie the real beauty that she has always had. Sisterhood is able to make one another realize and see things that are often ignored.
In conclusion, Gloria Naylor and Alice Walker show that sisterhood is possible and can turn out to be a successful relationship among women; most importantly it is the only way that the women in both novels can survive in a patriarchal society. Sisterhood is very necessary because it breaks the barriers that women have in a patriarchal society. It makes an individual stronger, independent and confident in society.
Alice Walker’s love of Zora Neale Hurston is well known. She was the only one who went looking for Hurston’s grave. She describes her journey to get to the unmarked grave in her book, In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens. During that journey, Walker started to feel as if Hurston is family to her, an aunt. “By this time, I am, of course, completely into being Zora’s niece… Besides, as far as I’m concerned, she is my aunt – and that of all black people as well” (Ong). Walker’s book, The Color Purple, was influenced by Hurston and her works. Walker was greatly influenced by Hurston and her book The Color Purple has similarities to Hurston’s book Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Since Sister was affected the most by certain actions of the family, Welty narrated this short story through Sister’s point of view to show how the function of the family declined through these actions. Sister was greatly affected when her sister broke the bonds of sisterhood by stealing her boyfriend and marrying him. Secondly, Sister was affected by the favoritism shown by her family towards her younger sister. Since her sister was favored more than her, this caused her to be jealous of her sister. For example, Sister shows a lot of jealousy by the tone she uses when describing what Stella-Rondo did with the bracelet that their grandfather gave her. Sister’s description was, “She’d always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away. Papa-Daddy gave her this gorgeous Add-a-Pearl necklace when sh...
Sister lives in China Grove, Mississippi presumably a very small town with only a few occupants. She lives with her mother, grandfather and uncle in their home, being the center of attention for the duration of the time until her younger sister, Stella-Rondo returns home. The return of Stella-Rondo sparks a conflict with Sister immediately because Sister is obviously envious of her and has been even before she came back to China Grove. The reader gets clear evidence of Sister’s jealousy toward Stella-Rondo when Sister says “She’s always had anything in the world she wanted and then she’d throw it away.”(594). Clearly Sister has a predisposition toward Stella-Rondo returning for many reasons, and this is the beginning of the conflict that she begins to have with herself.
Celie’s life is sad from the beginning. First her biological father is murdered and then her mother dies. Her mother is mean to her the entire time she’s sick. Celie can’t do anything right for her. She is later raped by her step-father and gives birth to two children that were conceived from the rapes. The step-father pawns her off on a man that Celie calls Mr. throughout her letters. Her marriage is loveless. She’s not only mistreated by her husband but also by the children. Celie married this man only to save her sister Nettie from having to. Nettie comes to live with them, but when Mr. makes advances towards her and she rejects him, he makes her leave.
The sister's fights are usually underlined with their desires to make each other into better people. The sisters are connected by their pursuit a better life causing them to push each other towards their goals. When Emily gets herself
As a woman Celie is expected to stay home and take care of things around the house. Celie's father puts her out because she was “a bad influence on his... other girl”. If Celie was the one daughter who was ruined he did not want his other girls turning out the same because they actually have “value” something. Celie is the only one that “can work like a man” because that's the only thing she is excelled in. Harpo, for example, beats Sofia only after his father implies that Sofia’s resistance makes Harpo less of a man. That is an example of sexsism because he feels as if he has to be more of a man and take control. Mr.___, also mistreats his family because that is the same thing his father used treat his family. “African American women’s experiences with pornoraphy, prostitution, and rape demonstrate how erotic power becomes commodified and exploited in social institutions”(Collins 167). Shug is viewed as the sexual attractive one. We start to see a sexual relationship developing between shug and celie. There is also a problem with the disruption of gender roles. Harpo's insecurity about his masculinity makes him lose power which eventually causes problems in his marriage. Shug is another fights sexsism by being extremely independent. Celia is pretty afraid to take control of her life and also afraid of men. Shug guided her telling her that she does have what it takes to gain her power back. Once Celia gains
The overall message of the book is that woman should stand up to men if they are being oppressed by them. Celie learns that she can be who she really is instead of shying away from reality. "Celie, she say, Do you love me? She down on her knees by now, tears falling all over the place. My heart hurt so much I can't believe it. How can it keep beating, feeling like this? But I'm a woman. I love you, I say. Whatever happen, whatever you do, I love you” (Walker 250). A woman named Shug is brought into Celie’s life and they have a deep love and respect for one another. Shug really cares about Celie and she helps Celie learn how to love herself. Feminism is a key theme of The Color
An example of the term “sisters” relating to more than just kinship would be Robert Harling’s film, Steel Magnolias. In this film, there is a group of women who all have to endure bleak circumstances. One of the main characters, Shelby, has many complications regarding her condition and strains to keep going. She breaks down multiple times mentally as well as physically. However, she has a support group who picks her up and gives her the assistance she needs to stay strong. This movie “suggests the capacity of women, given the right environment, to connect across differences in ways that empower them all” (Scanlon n.p.). All of these women come from different backgrounds and different social classes; however, they rise above what society typically
Sister’s perspective is very self-centered and designed to manipulate the reader for selfish purposes. When the story first begins, Sister is trying to get the reader to see that “Of course [she] went with Mr., Whitaker first…and Stella Rondo broke [them up].” Sister wants the readers to know this piece of information so we will think she is a victim in the story. This is a way of getting us, the readers, on “her side” so we will begin to think like her and dislike the person or people that she dislikes.
Jealousy between siblings materializes because one of them feels overshadowed by the other. For girls, this results in a lack of confidence. If a girl loses to her sister, younger or older, insecurity builds underneath often causing hostility between them. In Eudora Welty’s “Why I Live at the P.O.,” Sister’s resentfulness towards her sister hinders her ability to become independent.
Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men. (Sapiro 441)
Alice Walker conveys the importance of the need to unite. Walker sees the possibility of empowerment for the black women if they create a community of sisters that often can alter the unnatural definitions of woman and men. The only way Celie is able to find her individuality is through the help of the women in her life. With the encouragement of these women, Celie successfully reaches the point in which she, too, is strong and self-able. No one should face his or her problems alone. Standing alone will only diminish our self-confidence. Together, as a group, venturing for a common cause or simply just to share experiences will strengthen and help one grow spiritually. It will also establish our self-determination, as it did for the female in The Color Purple.
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...
Alice Walker vividly explains the difficult, yet realistic, life of blacks in their communities. She writes of how the black men, who at this point in time are inferior to the white men, use their wives to provide them with feeling of importance. Women, in this period of time, were viewed as workers, housekeepers, and objects. “Celie’s object status is evident in the beginning when she is given to Albert [Mr.___] in the place of Nettie [Celie’s sister] … she is also a substitute for Albert’s true love Shug” (Tucker 84). In The Color Purple the relationship between Celie and Mr. ___ undergoes many changes. Throughout the novel, you begin to visualize the unpleasant relationship they have and you start to see how this will ultimately transform Celie into the strong individual she really is.
Throughout The Color Purple, Alice Walker conveys the importance and the power of female friendship in all forms. It shapes and forms the strong bond of female companionship as means of refuge from oppression, male dominance and a world full of violence perpetrated against woman which the female protagonists wish to break free from. Walker constantly reminds the reader of the gruelling pursuit of identity that all are in search for, both in Africa and America; for females to gain equal recognition as individuals who deserve fair and just treatment in a patriarchal society where as Albert states “Men suppose to wear the pants" in soceity. In conclusion, not only leading Celies personal growth as independent woman but also to the extraordinary establishment of a female solidarity network within the novel. It is this network of female friends that wages a potent challenge to dominate over the patriarchal structure in the text.