Celie's Pain in The Color Purple
Molestation is a topic that is painful to think about, and even more difficult to write about. Yet Alice Walker chose this as the central theme of her novel The Color Purple. Walker's work centers around a poor African American girl Celie. Celie keeps a diary, and the first section of the novel is an excerpt from her diary. After reading the excerpt, the reader comes to realize that Celie is a fourteen-year-old girl who has been molested by her father. Through this, she has lost her innocence as well as her self-worth, evident when the reader sees that the diary's words have been altered to say "I have always been a good girl" as opposed to "I am a good girl." From the moment her father molested her, Celie ceased to see herself as a good person.
The events following the molestation only serve to lower Celie's confidence and hurt her relationship with her father. Her sister Nettie attempts to protect her, Nettie being the closest thing to a best friend that Celie has at this point. Nettie is the only person in Celie's life who cares enough about her to stand up to their father.
"The first time I got big Pa took me out of school. He never care that I love it. He say 'You too dumb to keep going to school'. But Pa, Nettie say, crying, Celie smart too. Even Miss Beasley say so." Nettie gets Miss Beasley to go to the house to convince 'Pa' "She see how tight my dress is, she stop talking and go"
The way Celie writes in her Diary reflects her lack of education and class status. She writes in the most basic and colloquial language that she would use when speaking. She spells many words incorrectly such as "git" and "Naw". She also uses her words in the wrong tense saying " I say" instea...
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Romeo and Juliet is a famous play that was first performed between 1594 and 1595, it was first printed in 1597. Romeo and Juliet is not entirely fictional as it is based on two lovers who lived in Verona. The Montague’s and Capulet’s are also real. Romeo and Juliet is one of the ten tragedies that William Shakespeare wrote. In this essay, I aim to investigate what act 1, scene1 makes you expect about the rest of the play.
Act 1 scene 5 is very important in the play because it is when Romeo
Over the course of the novel, Celie, became a confident, independent, strong woman. The novel begins with fourteen year old, Celie, As the novel progresses
Act 3 scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most dramatic of
The Ways that Shakespeare Makes Act 1 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet Dramatically Effective
Alice Walker, "The Color Purple." ENGL 3060 Modern and Contemporary Literature, a book of 2003. Web. The Web. The Web.
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.
Walker brought most of the horrific and even sickening scenes of the book to life, with the help and influence of society in history. One of the greatest influences to have an effect on Walker's style of writing and especially The Color Purple, were instances from slavery and prejudice. The whites owned and empowered America during the time of slavery. They had no respect for any other race, which they thought of as substandard. As Lean'tin Bracks stated, blacks were considered to be racially inferior, and they were used for the exploitation of the white culture. The whites used the black people as animals, and made them do their every bidding. Blacks and whites were separated form each other and this segregation of the two races barred blacks from legal and economic access, and they were put to punishment by the white culture. Interaction between the two races rarely occurred other than specific affairs or whites intruding on blacks. There were no penalties to pay by whites, therefore intrusions were common, and they took advantage of the African-Americans. The intrusions varied from breaking and entering to rape and murder for no apparent reason (84). Walker used this basis of racism to grip the reader and take them through a story of a women, who survives physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, everyday.
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 the color purple, we can see how Celie develops an identity for herself throughout the novel. At first we can appreciate how Celie does not longer believe in herself and looses all trust she had on herself. When Nettie gets older, about 12 years old, their father Fonso tries to get to Nettie, but Celie protects her and lets Fonso rape her instead of him raping Nettie. This at the beginning shows that Celie has enough strength to take decisions that will affect other people, however, this strength starts to disappear as the story continues.
The Dramatic Significance of Act III Scene I of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
The initiation of her fight back is when Squeak finally speaks for herself, that day when Harpo say “I love you, Squeak”, and “kneel down and try to put his arm around her waist”. Squeak finally stands up and indicates “ my name is Mary Agnes” (letter 95). Although Nettie, Shug, and Sofia all shows Celie what she can do, Celie notice herself is not as smart as Nettie which and teach around the world, and is not as independent as Shug which she can be self-sufficient, definitely is not strong enough like Sofia who can use violation to speak for herself. However, Mary Agnes creates a shocking moment for Celie which proves to her that without being strong or independent, ones’ voice can be powerful enough to express someone as a person. This inspires Celie to become more self-confident and helps Celie finally stand up on the table and shouting out all her depression to her repressive husband, “ You a low down dog is what’s wrong. It’s time to leave you and enter into the creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need” (letter 134). This is the first time where Mr.__ has nothing to say in front of Celie, the first time where Celie know she can do whatever others can, and the first time understand she can be something which will change her life to be
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.
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
The novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the story of a poor, young black girl, growing up in rural Georgia in the early twentieth century. The novel follows the protagonist, Celie, as she experiences such hardships as racism and abuse, all the while attempting to discover her own sense of self-worth. Celie expresses herself through a series of private letters that are initially addressed to God, then later to her sister Nettie. As Celie develops from an adolescent into an adult, her letters possess m...