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The color purple and the gender role
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Recommended: The color purple and the gender role
In the novel The Color Purple Alice Walker uses men to push Celie to the attraction and affection of women. Celie’s abused by the two men in her life that should protect her, her stepfather and husband. The women in Celie’s life provided her with a sense of life and motivation to continue with household duties such as taking care of her stepchildren. Sexual and physical abuse that Celie encountered pushed her to the attraction and affection of Shug Avery.
“You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t.” “He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it” (3). This scene consists of a vulgar sexual encounter occurring between Celie and her stepfather. This opening scene informs the reader to look forward to a depressing story because Celie’s 14 years old and forced to have sex with her stepfather because her mother is too sick to take care of his sexual needs. This opening scene indicates that Celie is a sexual abused teenager.
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“I won’t leave, she say, until I know Albert won’t even think about beating you” (67). Shug have a positive impact on Celie’s life. Celie can feel comfortable around Shug because she knows that she will protect her. Celie knows as long as she has Shug around she will always be safe. The men in her life lack showing that protection so she gains that from Celie.
Shug did not know her husband name until Shug mentioned it. In the novel, The Color Purple, Celie starts off as an abused teenager, she go through the abuse of her step father and her husband Albert. She is seen as a piece of property rather than someone’s daughter or wife. When Shug enters her life, Celie finds a piece of meaning, she goes from being property to being herself. Shug helps bring meaning to Celie, all she know is abuse from men so when Shug, a women comes and show interest she takes a chance and realize that women can bring the joy that she wants to experience in life better than
She wants to escape her cruel and callous relationship with Albert, yet she feels that this is something that she cannot even try to do. However, through interaction with Shug and Sofia, Celie is exposed to new ideas. At the beginning of the novel, based on her experiences with her father and Mr. ______, Celie believes that men have to keep women in their submissive place by beating them. For example, when Celie’s stepson sought advice on his new marriage to Sophia, he asked, “what to do to make Sofia mind”(Walker 35). Celie replied for him to “beat her”(Walker 34). Her action of telling Harpo to beat Sofia demonstrates her acceptance of these gender roles that have been assigned and her willingness to conform to them. However, when the stepson tries to follow this advice, Sofia instead fights back and beats her husband, until his “two eyes close like fists” (Walker 62), when he tries to touch her her. This circumstance allows for a shift in the way that Celie thinks about gender roles, because before this instance it hasn’t occurred to her to fight back and speak up for herself. Moreover, Shug finds out that Albert is beating Celie for lots of mistakes, but most of all Celie tells Shug that Albert beats her “for being me and not you”(Walker 75). Shug is horrified by this instantly comforts her saying “I won’t leave...until I know Albert won’t even think about beating you” (Walker 75). This act of love from Shug
First, by demonstrating the importance of the color purple, Celie opened her eyes towards God and then became more self-aware of all the small elements that God set to make her feel joyful, like the color purple. Then, many years pass in the book and Celie truly understand what Shug meant by the color purple in the field. She understands that “[her] ability to find a sense of self-worth, is symbolized by her attainment of color purple.” [Kerr, 177]. Celie’s life did not start on the right foot. She lived and saw a lot of things that killed her deep inside. The color purple in the story was not only an original name for a book that Walker wrote. It means something important in the story. This wonderful color, associate with royalty and prestige, follows the total progress of the young black girl who was, in some words, dead inside, that end up being a lady that now lives of freedom, love and happiness. In other words, the small surprises that, according to Shug, God puts in our life, made Celie stronger and increases her
Events leading to Celie taking control of her life began with Celie’s relationship with Shug Avery. Shug Avery embodied confidence and what it looked like for a person, particularly a woman to use their voice and defend themselves. Celie desired to inherit traits like Shug and realized how great it would be if she took control of her own life and writes, “My life stop when I left home, I think. But then I think again. It stop with Mr. ______ maybe, but start
The relationship between Shug and Celie cuts very deep. Both of them help each other become what they really need to be. Both Celie and Shug were very oppressed people. Celie was oppressed by her lack of caring, and by her lack of self esteem. Shug is caught in other people's image of her. She is not free to become what she really wants to be, which is a loving member of a loving family, which she never really had. This is shown by the quote on page 125-6. "(Mama) never love to do nothing had to do with touching nobody, she say. I try to kiss her, she turn her mouth away. Say, Cut that out, Lillie." Celie freed Shug from the role that everybody wanted her to fit into, and Shug freed Celie from the psychological bonds that were keeping her from making of her life what she wanted it to be, by being a mixture of friend, idol, lover, and teacher.
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.
Celie went through an amazing transformation throughout the course of the story and nobody played a larger part in this transformation than Shug. She helped Celie to realize her full potential as a person, and she aided her in overcoming her greatest fears and obstacles in life. Without Shug, Celie may have never seen Nettie again and would have been miserable for the entirety of her life. Celie learned that she was able to stand up for herself even against a man. Shug taught her that it was okay to love someone even if it was not considered to be “normal”.
Walker writes “He talks about [Shug] strumpet in short skirts, smoking cigarettes, drinking gin. Singing for money and taking other women. Talk about slut, hussy, heifer and streetcleaner”(44). Shug represents the ultimate freedom to Celie, she is able to control Albert and she is not owned or controlled by any man.
Celie was abused all her life, always serve and did whatever she was told or else she would be hit. Because of this she was never able to leave the house to make any friends and form any relationships. One of the biggest and meaningful friendship in the movie The Color Purple was between Celie and Shug Avery, Celie’s abusive husband Albert loved Shug, but she didn't like him and just played him. This friendship was very important because this friendship ultimately was Celie's escape to having a real life for herself. Shug gave Celie hope that someday she could become more than just a servant. Also she help Celie find the letter that Netti sent her all twenty years. Without this friendship form Celie would have never been able to escape her terrible life. In an online it says, “childhood friend who I probably have nothing in common with anymore” (Faris). The best friend other than family the more you grow up the less likely you stay together. Clearly, the message of friendship is portrayed in the
Alice Walker’s writings were greatly influenced by the political and societal happenings around her during the 1960s and 1970s. She not only wrote about events that were taking place, she participated in them as well. Her devoted time and energy into society is very evident in her works. The Color Purple, one of Walker’s most prized novels, sends out a social message that concerns women’s struggle for freedom in a society where they are viewed as inferior to men. The events that happened during and previous to her writing of The Color Purple had a tremendous impact on the standpoint of the novel.
Baga, A. (2010, June). Celie's Emancipation Process in Alice Walker's "The color Purple". Retrieved September 5, 2013, from http://www.umc.edu.dz/theses/anglais/BAG1207.pdf
In 1983 Alice Walker made history when she became the first female, African-American writer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and The National Book Award for her novel, The Color Purple (Alice Walker Biography). The book, The Color Purple, also happened to be ranked number 17 on the American Library Association’s 100 most frequently challenged books: 1990-1999 list (American Library Association) The novel is frequently challenged because of inappropriate language, racism, physical abuse, rape, incest, homosexuality, violence, and sexism. The Color Purple is a fictional novel that is told by a poor black woman, named Celie, living in rural Georgia in the early twentieth century. Her story is portrayed through letters that she writes to God and then later on too her sister. In her letters she writes about all the pain, humiliation, and struggles that she encounters throughout her life. Celie’s sister Nettie, whose story is also told through letters that she writes to Celie after she runs away from home is in the book. Through all the pain and suffering in Celie’s life, her letters help her to discover herself and eventually find joy.
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 women 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 society. In conclusion, not only leading Celies personal growth as an independent woman but also to the extraordinary establishment of a female solidarity network within the novel.
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.
Sedgewick observes, one’s social position is affected by various axis of classification such as gender, sexuality, race, class and the interplay of these social identities. In The Color Purple by Alice walker, Sedgewick’s observations ring true. Celie, the main character in Walker’s novel, is a perfect example of these observations put forth by Sedgewick. Celie’s social position is indicative of her gender, sexuality, race, and class; as a Black woman living in Georgia in 1910 to 1940, one can expect to witness the general ‘acceptable’ racism present within the novel towards people of color. Despite the ‘acceptable’ racism, the novel accentuates the hardships and struggles the women of color in this novel have to go through. The social positions of the characters, more so Celie and Sofia, in Walker’s The Color Purple are based on the social identities of their gender, race, class, sexuality, and ethnicity.
One of the most popular works by Walker was, The Color Purple. In this Alice Walker story, the reader meets a girl named Celie. In this novel, Walker takes the reader on a journey through much of Celie’s life. While taking the reader through this tale, Walker draws attention to a number of social aspects during this time period. Through Cilie’s life, Walker brings to light the abuse and mistreatment of African American women from 1910 through the 1940’s. “Women were also regarded as less important than men-both Black and white Black women doubly disadvantage. Black women of the era were often treated as slaves or as property” (Tavormina page 2...