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The color purple alice walker literary analysis
The color purple alice walker literary analysis
The color purple alice walker literary analysis
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It was something she had to learn to be in able to survive. She had to fight off her father, brothers, and uncles while they sexualized and assaulted her as a child. This fight she had instilled in her from childhood was taken with her into marriage. This fight is also why she ended up in prison. The mayor’s wife asked Sofia to be her maid and she said no. She kept saying no and because she was black, she was put in prison for fighting against what the mayor’s wife asked. The Olinka women that are in the village where Nettie, who is Celie’s sister, travels to is where the women in this book are mistreated the most. While the mistreatment of the Olinka women horrible it is still different to Celie’s. There is article titled Walker, Alice 1944– that has been edited by Jelena O. Krstovic …show more content…
“Nettie's letters allow her to gather and convey her understanding of cross-cultural gender parallels and differences” (Krstovic 382). What Celie and the Olinka women have in common is not getting an education. The Olinka people won’t let the girls in their village get an education. This is similar to how Celie doesn’t get an education. She was aloud to get an education when she was younger, but when she became pregnant she wasn’t aloud to go to school. When one of Olinka girls tries and that is Tashi. Tashi is one of the girls in the village and she tries to go to school with all of the boys. The Olinka people try and take her away from getting that education. They do this because they don’t believe in women getting an education; that is what their husbands are for. In The Color Purple, a letter written by Nettie to Celie says, “The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: a girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something” (Walker 156). They think the women are nothing
The woman in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and the woman in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire both struggle with discrimination. Celie, a passive young woman, finds herself in mistreatment and isolation, leading to emotional numbness, in addition to a society in which females are deemed second-rate furthermore subservient to the males surrounding them. Like Celie, Blanche DuBois, a desperate woman, who finds herself dependent on men, is also caught in a battle between survival and sexism during the transformation from the old to the new coming South.
Women had no choice but to follow whatever society told them to because there was no other option for them. Change was very hard for these women due to unexpected demands required from them. They held back every time change came their way, they had to put up with their oppressors because they didn’t have a mind of their own. Both authors described how their society affected them during this historical period.
...mply in terms of reliance upon subjugation to men. Her defiance of the custom of demurring in the presence of men stirs envy in Celie, who lacks Sofia's self-assurance, and who consequently advises an exasperated Harpo, to 'beat her' into submission. This is a point of growth for Celie who comes to realize that she has committed a 'sin against Sofia spirit'. Celie is becoming aware of the nature of her own oppression. She is able to analyze her own behavior and admit her jealousy of Sofia's ability to fight back against abuse and to resist male oppression. Here Walker, deftly illustrates the ease with which the cycle of abuse is perpetuated among the abused and the oppressed. In the story, Sofia, represents the indomitable spirit of the woman of color who is determined to be herself regardless of the pressure to submit to the indignities of prejudice and sexism.
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.
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.
anyone. Thus her relationship with Shug develops and becomes close friends. Shug fills the roles of mother, friend, sister, lover and teacher to her. With the help of Shug and Nettie Celie transforms from sorrow to happy, successful and independent woman. She starts new business sewing pants with the help of Shug and becomes a successful business woman. Mr. Albert who has changed a great deal since Celie’s departure repents and reconciles with his wife. Thus the family of Celie is reunited with the arrival of Nettie with her children and ends the novel with happy note. The message of the novel is that women must stand up against the unfair treatment they receive at the hands of men and they should do this by helping one another.
Alice Walker was influenced to write this novel throughout her whole life. Walker had a connection with the characters Celie and Nettie, because she was mistreated like Celie and hardworking like Nettie. Also it inspired her to write the novel “The Color Purple”, because she studied civil rights. Also she got invited to the home of Martin Luther King Jr. Walker then worked for the New York City Department of Welfare. More so two years after receiving her B.A. degree from Sarah Lawrence she became a civil rights attorney. The story was a reflection on everything she learned throughout her literary career (Wikipedia On Alice Walker). One of Walker quotes stated, “One thing I try to have in my life and my fiction is an awareness off and openness to mystery, which to me, is deeper than any politics, race, or geographical loca...
The unconditional love within families can be enough at times to keep people going during the hard times that they experience. This holds true between sisters. In The Color Purple Nettie and Cellie's unconditional love for one another helped them deal with the troubles they both faced. There unconditional love was shown through Cellie’s relentless writing hoping that one of her letters would get through. At no point did she ever give up. This love helped Nettie live with her verbally and physically abusive husband, Albert. Desiree on the other hand not being blood related to the women she called her mother; Madame Valmonde still had a tremendous amount of love for her. When Desiree’s husband told her to leave her mother said to her, “ Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you”. This is showing that it doesn’t take blood to create a strong bond and that no matter what; unconditional love will always help you get through hard times.
...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.
...lie make decisions in her life. Nettie's letters embrace and strengthen Celie's own identity, by showing her the world outside of Georgia, and this opens many possibilities for Celie (Bracks 87). Although she has all of these characteristics, Nettie is very lonely, because she has no one to talk to while in Africa, and no sister to be around to listen to her stories. Nettie's letters show that the oppression of men on women is universal, even in Africa. The imperial, racial, and cultural conflict and oppression Nettie encounters in Africa parallel the smaller-scale abuses and hardships that Celie experiences in Georgia. With these many influences and characteristics to observe, it is easy to see how this one novel, The Color Purple, stirred up enough conflict and interest, to become one of the most famous novels depicting the struggles of a black women's lifestyle.
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.
These women authors have served as an eye-opener for the readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in the prior centuries). These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention a...
The Color Purple depicts the struggle within the life of the female protagonist, Celie. Celie, a clear victim of abuse, narrates the story through a collection of writings that starts with her confession of “Dear God.” Celie’s story encompasses around her life and the characters that breaks the common gender depiction. The story heavily addresses the subject of social and behavioral standards for either men and women. It raises an issues on traditional marital subjects, family patriarchy, and social topics. In a traditional take of the family structure, the man often exhibits the dominant male figure head with the final say. The father provides the money and security for the wife and children as well as claim authority over the family. He becomes very work oriented and cares for the children only in times of need. On the other hand, the woman acts to be passive and pleases her husband. She plays a major role in raising and educating the children in every way possible. Often times, the woman takes a small part in maintaining a profession; although, she holds responsibility for all house work. The societal perspective of the patriarchal family system relies so heavily on gender roles that it becomes an expectation and the regulated norm. The Color Purple disrupts this gender norm by introducing characters that faces marital issues due to being the opposite of the typical gender role. Because they embody the opposite gender’s likely attributes, it becomes a questioning issue that leads to striving to live up to social norms or dealing with society disapproval. Within the progression of the novel, the women possess a sense of empowerment while as the men accept how things are in the world. The introducti...
The novel explores the idea that domestic violence is a trait that is passed on from generation to generation but can be unlearned. Domestic Violence was one of the most important and most critical topics that were explained in The Color Purple. The book begins as Celie describes her initial family. Her father beats her mother and proceeds to rape Celie after her mother becomes too ill to satisfy her father’s sexual needs. She lives in constant fear of “him” and makes it her underlining goal to protect her sister Nettie from him at all costs. In the story her father states to Celie “You better never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy” (Walker 1) making it clear that she is forced to comply with all his needs. Celie’s father impregnates her and when she is to give birth her father takes the infant away from her, and makes it seem like he has killed the baby in t...
Frances Burney’s Evelina values the struggle of a woman enduring the harsh patriarchal society of Great Britain in the eighteenth century; Evelina is constantly attacked, verbally or physically, by men and women alike and it is because of her active refusal to be made into a victim that many people label Burney’s work as a feminist novel. While Burney is making many claims about the ill treatment of women, she never claims that women should be equal to men. She directly writes Evelina under the care of Villars and later in a marriage with Lord Orville, both of whom are strong patriarchal figures. Because Evelina remains under the care of such men, she is excused from her malign treatment by men. Readers find her worthy of sympathy, which encourages