Oppression is something that can cause a lot of harm especially when it comes from many different people. This is true in The Color Purple by Alice Walker. The main character, Celie, is a victim of oppression based on her skin color and the fact that she is a female. She isn’t the only one that has to go through getting discriminated against. The other person is Sofia, these two women have very different approaches on how they deal with their similar situations. Celie’s approach is more calm and accepting of what’s happening around her. While Sofia’s approach is more to stand up for herself and not allowing men to abuse her without her saying something. The treatment of Celie and Sofia based upon their sex and race is similar to a person being …show more content…
They got me in a little storeroom up under the house, hardly bigger than Odessa’s porch, and just as warm in the winter time. I’m at the beck and call all night and all day. They won’t let me see my children. They won’t let me see no mens. Well, after five years they let me see you once a year. I’m a slave, she say. What would you call it?” (43) Sofia is being realistic about her position at the mayor’s house. See feels very defeated here and doesn’t want to fight anymore. After this Sofia is sent to jail and severely beaten. Once she returns she falls into a more servant role. This shows the oppression that she is forced to withstand and how is eventually knocks her down for good. Sofia used to be someone who was not afraid to speak her mind. Now, she has gotten beaten so many times that she no longer fights back and it content with being a second class …show more content…
Celie approach is much more accepting and doesn’t always fight back. In the novel she says “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got something in my eye but I didn’t wink: I don’t look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them.” (32). In Celie’s mind men are mean because of her treatment from Pa and Mr.???. Celie is always reminded that men are in power because she keeps get beaten. When this happens she doesn’t fight back and just lets it happen. Rather than sticking up for herself or leaving Mr.???, she is willingly beaten. Celie is used to the beatings so she doesn’t see the need to fight back. Anyone can see the oppressive state that Celie has to deal with when Mr.??? says “Who do you think you is? He say. You can’t ¬curse nobody. Look at you. You black, you poor, you ugly, you a woman. Goddam, he say, you nothing at all.” (76). Mr.??? says these things so that he can maintain power over Celie. He belittles her to nothing and makes sure that she knows it. He believes that women are worthless and doesn’t treat them with any respect. Celie accepts her role as a black woman during this time period. Their role is to be maid’s for a job and to cook and clean for their family. They have no freedom and often are on the receiving end of physical abuse by a male person. This happens to Celie from her father and
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.
Imagine that it was the late nineteenth to early twentieth century in the American South. Imagine a work environment where the only reward for hard labor and back-breaking tasks is not being beaten that day. Imagine barely getting enough to meet even one’s most basic needs, and that the only way out of this cruel cycle is by death or an almost impossible escape. This is the world in which Marriah Hines lives. Luckily for her, she only witnesses such atrocities; she never has to endure them as most slaves did during her lifetime and for hundreds of years before her.
"Life as a Slave." Life as a Slave. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. .
Which was written to demand equal education for women and to emphasize the sexualizing race. The central theme of this book was that women were a crucial element to uplift the black community. I strongly agree with this theme because women make the black community. Women have the power to create a new generation, and with a new generation comes new change. Thus, with an equal education, women can pass on their knowledge to their children which can influence a positive effect on the black community. Cooper also acknowledges how black women are inferior victims to racism and sexism. She argues that black women are unacknowledged by other races, including blacks. In addition, she argues that black women are the one’s that have a true perspective on what oppression really is. As a Latina minority, I also agree with her statement because as women we are always overlooked. Our struggles being a women are never recognized, even within our own community. The men of our community oppress us while they are being oppressed themselves. As minorities we are struggling to survive because we’re at the bottom of society’s hierarchy, but as a woman, we are even more degraded. Cooper also notes the importance of contribution that a black woman can make to correct the oppressive system. I believe in this statement because since women have the true experience of what oppression really is, they know what needs to be done in order to eliminate it. Another important central theme in this book incorporates the emphasis of respect within the contributions of each race. With this theme, I feel that respect among one another is an important factor to civilization because without it, there will always be conflict. I feel that the majority of the population should respect the hard labor that minorities face trying to survive. I believe we
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
Overall discrimination is an awful thing. It is like a STD, it can be passed from parent to child, or someone can become infected if you don’t watch out. Discrimination is also like the plague. It sweeps over a large amount of people, infecting most, and most don’t survive. Though today much of the discrimination is gone, just like the plague, but it is still there. Unfortunately for some people, they have to deal with people discrimination from others. Whether it be discrimination of one’s race, age, disability, or gender. Discrimination has numerous damaging effects to someone’s life. In Of Mice and Men the unlucky victims of discrimination also suffer from the same effects. They allow for people to have control of them and walk all over them. Discrimination is like a fire... It hurts.
Briefly introducing the background of this book, the time period of this book is in the early 20 century after abolition of slavery. But even slavery was abolished, the issue of slavery had remained in this era. This paper describes the evidence of slavery in The Color Purple after abolishing legacy of slavery.
The book The Color Purple was written by Alice Walker. The book was not written in a conventional manner. It was a series of letters spanning the life of Celie, the main character. Most of the letters were written by Celie and some by her sister Nettie. The theme of the book is to be true to yourself in spite of difficulties and never let go of what you believe in. Do not let people make you think you are something that you are not, then you have the will to survive during the worst of times.
In society, both past and present, there has been a history of domestic violence within marriages or relationships. Nowadays, in most cases if someone is abused by either a spouse or a partner, there are people that you would be able to reach out to for help, such as: family, law enforcement, and even support groups. Just imagine how it was for someone being physically, mentally, or even verbally abused back in the late 1800s or early 1900s and being totally defenseless; not having anyone to turn to in your time of need. In those days, it was rare for a woman to seek out for help or even leave her spouse after several occasions of being abused. Most people did not intervene in a family's personal life or some people just did not care. Young girls would be married off once they hit a certain age and sometimes never returned to their families. Celie is abused numerous of times and the only people who come to her
Both males and females have influences that help decide the ways in which they think, dress, speak, and act within the situation of society. Cultural and personal gender roles are a big influence on the way people live. Learning plays a role in this process of shaping gender roles. Peers, parents, movies, teachers, television, books, and movies could all teach and reinforce gender roles throughout the lifespan.
Patriarchal silencing can be enforced in three different ways: physical abuse, emotional abuse, and social demands and/or expectations. Although both books have opposite cultural and racial factors that influence the way in which the women in the books are treated, we can still see that these three ways of silencing women are present. In Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple”, the form of patriarchal silencing that is most prominent is the violent physical and emotional abuse.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Eventually she turns into a lesbian. In the book, The Color Purple, "dear God, Nettie, dear stars and trees" are the only people she communicates with. All the letters show that Celie is a very insecure person, and that reflects to her teenage years. All the abusing caused her a scar in her heart, which would stay there and wouldn't go away. Every time she thought about the abusement she felt like she was experiencing it all over again. In The Color Purple, there are many conflicts, which arise from the theme. First of all, Celie is against Pa and Mr._____, that shows the conflict of man Vs man, and unfortunately, Celie doesn't have the power to fight back physically. Secondly, Celie and herself that show the conflict of man Vs him/herself. She can't win over herself and that is why she doesn't have enough courage to stand up and be in command for her own life. Thirdly, the tradition of men had high social status then women. That shows the conflict of man Vs society. At the end of the book Celie eventually fight over the tradition. Men are no longer in charge for her life.
In today’s advanced societies, many laws require men and women to be treated equally. However, in many aspects of life they are still in a subordinated position. Women often do not have equal wages as the men in the same areas; they are still referred to as the “more vulnerable” sex and are highly influenced by men. Choosing my Extended Essay topic I wanted to investigate novels that depict stories in which we can see how exposed women are to the will of men surrounding them. I believe that as being woman I can learn from the way these characters overcome their limitations and become independent, fully liberated from their barriers. When I first saw the movie “Precious” (based on Sapphire’s “Push”) I was shocked at how unprotected the heroine, Precious, is towards society. She is an African-American teenage girl who struggles with accepting herself and her past, but the cruel “unwritten laws” of her time constantly prevent her rise until she becomes the part of a community that will empower her to triumph over her barriers. “The Color Purple” is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker which tells the story of a black woman’s, Celie’s, striving for emancipation. (Whitted, 2004) These novels share a similar focus, the self-actualization of a multi-disadvantaged character who with the help of her surrounding will be able to triumph over her original status. In both “The Color Purple” and “Push”, the main characters are exposed to the desire of the men surrounding them, and are doubly vulnerable in society because not only are they women but they also belong to the African-American race, which embodies another barrier for them to emancipate in a world where the white race is still superior to, and more desired as theirs.
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.
If we analyse the story instead of the narrative perspective can we see that the main reason of Celie's insecurity is caused by the way she is treated by men. She is sexually abus...