A feminist critique takes aspects of feminism and applies them to literature. There is an article written by Michael Delahoyde titled Feminism that discusses feminism criticism. Delahoyde explains a feminist critique as, “It examines gender politics in works and traces the subtle construction of masculinity and femininity, and their relative status, positionings, and marginalizations within works” (Delahoyde). A feminist critique can help further feminism by understanding literature that has changed the way society view things. Feminism is wanting women to have to same rights as men. In other words, it is the advocacy of equal treatment for men and women.
In Alice Walker’s book, The Color Purple, female characters are trying to be treated
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Not only did her “father” rape her, but she had to carry his child. In an essay written by Carolyn Williams, she discusses the roles the women had in The Color Purple. Williams does talk about how Celie’s “father” did rape her. She says, “The first letter initiates the story of Celie's unrelenting the victimization, until by little she manages- through identification with other women- to find her strength and identity” (Williams 120). This is a horrible thing that what she thought was her father at the time did to her. She was so young that she didn’t know at first that she was pregnant. She didn’t even know what being pregnant looked like. Celie was confused on why her father wouldn’t let her go to school after she started to get big. Its depressing that this happened to her when she was so young. She was still so innocent and Celie’s father ripped that away from her. From one action her childhood was ripped away from her. Not only her childhood, but her education was taken from her. Even though she didn’t get to finish her schooling, several years later she was able to start her own business of making pants. Though horrible thing that happened to Celie, she was able to overcome it all and make a great life for …show more content…
Husbands are men who need to be partners with their wives, but not these men. These men are horrible to their wives. These men think they are in control of their wives. This may have something to do with the time period the story was written in, which is the 1920’s. Women weren’t considered equal to men. This is definitely seen in the way the husbands treat their wives in this book. Most of the husbands beat their wives because that is the norm to them. They were expected to treat their wives this way because it was the only way to keep women in line. Women needed to be beaten so they would know that they must listen to everything her husbands says. In The Color Purple one of Celie’s letter to God what Mr. says about beating a wife is, “Wives is like children. You have to let’em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating” (Walker 36). You can see Harpo trying to do this with his wife Sofia. In their relationship is where the husband beats his wife so she will obey is prominent. Her husband Harpo, who is Celie’s step-son, beats Sofia. The two have intense fighting scenes in the book. The surprising part of the fighting is it's not just one way. It's not a one way fight with the husband beating his wife. Sofia beats Harpo as well. The essay Language, Gender, and Power in The Color Purple: Theories and Approaches, written by Pi-Li Hsiao discusses how Sofia
In Hillary Potters “Battle Cries” Black women are constantly abused by their intimate partners. Abuse is described to be triggered by a number of different factors. Factors were the entitlement of the man, age of the victims, socioeconomics, race, and repeated victimization, termination of the relationship, jealousy, and substance abuse. First, you have men who believed they were entitled to control the women. He was the hierarchy figure in the relationship. The woman’s respect towards the man was demanded rather than earned. She was to obey his orders and comply with his every decision. If not, she was to be punished by any means necessary. Along with this you have men who felt that “It’s a man thing.” This was the way of life of which they felt was a part
Beaten wives are not such ideal victims because males want power and dominance (Christie (1986). The development has taken place ‘because we have improved morally, not because we are becoming more kind but we are now so affluent that party’s can leave- divorce (Christie (1986). It is no longer acceptable to put up with a domestic beating or raping, however this was not the case for Sarah (Christie (1986). However; for Steven Hunter was jailed for life with no parole for murdering a young Melbourne wo...
Astonishingly, when Tea talks with the men about beating Janie, the men respect Tea Cake and admire the way Janie stays quiet during the ordeal, saying, “wouldn’t Ah love tuh whip a tender woman lak Janie” (Hurston 148). They ignore the fact that Tea Cake beats her just to show other people that he is in charge; he beats her because of his own insecurities. In Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, it is shown that the men as well as the women encouraged spousal abuse. When Harpo seeks advice on how to deal with Sophia, it is Celie, another woman, who advises him to beat her. Although spousal abuse still occurs in many households today, it occurs in secrecy because there are laws that have been erected to protect against this type of abuse, and the punishment for this crime is harsh.
In the documentary Crime After Crime, Deborah Peagler suffered abuse from her intimate partner through her life. The abuse started in High School. When her mother introduced her to Oliver Wilson, his charming personality fooled everyone. Oliver forced her into prostitution to make money for him. When she refused, he beat her until she promised to sell herself. The beating gradationally evolved to bull whipping. In addition, all of this occurred during her junior and senior year in high school. Oliver felt it was his right to have ultimate control over Deborah, this fact is generally accepted in the society (Belknap 247). The male dominance, male authority over women is something taught to young children. It is sought to be the place of women to wait for the husband by the door when he comes home. The male masculinity fact kicked in and it drove him to force his dominance over Deborah into physical abuse. When Deborah refused to do his bidding, he felt it was necessary for him to show her who is in control by beating her. This is the message sent to young boys of past generations and a bit less for the current one through media and entertainment.
Within The Color Purple by Alice Walker, women are treated as inferior to men therefore they must obey them. Through the strength and wisdoms Celie gains from other women, she learns to overcome her oppression and realize her self worth as a woman. The women she has met throughout her life, and the woman she protected since young, are the people that helped her become a strong independent woman. Sofia and Shug were there for Celie when she needed someone to look up to and depend on. Nettie was able to push Celie to become a more educated, independent person. The main source of conflict in this book is Celie’s struggle with becoming an independent woman who needs not to rely on a man. Throughout the book we see her grow as a person and become independent in many ways through her experiences with the powerful women in her life.
Feminist criticism is a literacy form of criticism that gives the perspective of writing through a feminist perspective. It is a political form of literature that analyzes the questions of how male and females relate to each other and the world, the repression of women and how women are portrayed in literature. From a feminist perspective
The opening line of the story starts with “You better not never tell nobody but God” which Celie’s stepfather tells her after he rapes and abuses her at the age of 14.She was a downtrodden,objectified young girl who was robbed of her freedom. Notwithstanding throughout the novel we witness her character growing and changing as a result of finding uplift and comfort from making pants. This activity with the help of Shug and her sister Sophia influences here life drastically. For Celie pants symbolises independence.
jealousy as an excuse for beating their wives; violence became a way for husbands to
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism is a major part of the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which is a story that portrays women’s lack of freedom in the 1800s. Women had no rights, and had to cater to all of their husband’s needs. The main character in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman who suffers from heart trouble, named Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard was told about her husband’s death, she was initially emotional, but because of her husband’s death, she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy.
Feminist criticism is a study of works written by female writers, describing women's life or representing women's consciousness. Arlyn Diamond and Lee R Edwards, in the foreword to The Authority o Experience: Essays in Feminist Criticism, point out that "feminist critics, obviously, are distinguished by virtue of their particular concern with society's beliefs about the nature and function of women in the world, with the transformation of these beliefs into literary plots, with the ways in which artistic and critical strategies adjust and control attitudes toward women. Compared with the long tradition of...
_______ and Harpo were the most influential male characters in The Color Purple. Each man viewed women as being below men and servants and concluded that violence against women is what made men strong and that wives were meant to be weak and submissive. Celie quotes Mr. ______ saying, “Wives is like children. You have to let’em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a sound good beating”(35). Alphonso showed his possessiveness over Celie when he repeatedly raped her and threatened to kill her if mother if she told. Despite Harpo being possessive and abusive, Harpo struggles with dominating over his wife unlike the other characters in the story. Harpo’s first impulse isn’t to be his wife, but does so after be told to do so by his father. Walker generalizes that men are abusive and harmful and hold a meanness that women can’t. This became evident when Celie writes, “I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them” (5). Celie doesn’t fear women because she doesn't see women as a threat like men. Celie associates violence and abuse a trait that men
The novel, The Color Purple, is an epistolary novel. In the letterforms, Alice Walker gives several ideas, such as, friendship, domination, courage & independence. She impacts readers by looking at the story through the eyes of Celie and Nettie. The book describes the fateful life of a young lady. It tells how a 14 year old girl fights through all the steps and finally she is in command for her own life. Celie is the young lady who has been constantly physically, sexually, and emotionally abused.
Battered husbands have historically been either ignored or subjected to ridicule and abuse. In 18th-century France, a battered husband "was made to wear an outlandish outfit and ride backwards around the village on a donkey" (Steinmetz & Lucca 1988).
For the majority of the novel, Celie was never told she was or could be beautiful by men, she was told how much of nothing she was to them. Beauty was something Celie learned was for women who enjoyed having sex, something for women who had confidence, which was something she could never feel for herself. She was constantly mis treated and told what to do by men like her father and Albert. The book opens with her being raped by her father. He tells her to tell nobody but God, and she begins to be scared of saying “no” to men, she feels she needs to take the abuse, Celie would “be wood” because wood does not feel pain. Her father dominates and makes Celie feel like she was bad, like she did something to deserve this. She felt she was worth little because she should allow her father to do thing like this to her. She felt controlled, dominated and therefore subordinate to men. Her self worth had gone from little down to nothing, and she was told by her father how ugly she was.
Alice Walker's use of characterization in her novel The Color Purple depicts her main theme of female empowerment and the importance of maintaining an assertive voice. The tyrannical male characters, the victimized female characters, and the development of the protagonist, Celie, express Walker's firm views of female independence in a male dominated society. Her feminist views have been influenced by her experiences with discrimination as an African-American woman as well as her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. These experiences serve as an inspiration for developing the character Celie, a young black woman discovering her own sense of self while battling a male dependent environment.