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Symbolism in Alice Walker's color purple
Symbolism in Alice Walker's color purple
Symbolism in Alice Walker's color purple
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What would it be like to live in a world where you don’t have any say in what goes on in your own life? While The Color Purple doesn’t ask think question directly it really causes its viewers to begin to wonder what it would have been like to live in the world that Alice Walker creates with her novel. In this story the main character is Celie. She is a black woman who never has had a choice in her life. From a young age her father abused her and then sent her off to marry a man who he did not know at all. Her father also got her pregnant two times and both times her forced her to give away her children. Mister was just as abusive as her father had been to her and she was still never given a choice. This begins to change as she meets people in the story like Shug and Sofia. Both Shug and Sofia are strong willed women who don’t let men control their lives because they have their own agendas and they will not let people get in the way of that. One of the hardest things that she has to face is her sister Nettie leaving her because Mister kicked her out of his house. After this Celie is basically alone and she doesn’t hear from Celie again for a long time because Mister always gets the mail and he will not let Celie go and get the mail. Throughout the story you see how Celie is constantly shut down, but one day she gets the courage to stand up for herself and it is one of the turning points in the story. With a story as dramatic and powerful as this one there are a lot of scenes that impact viewers as the watch the movie. There are so many pivotal moments that change the story that you almost have to watch it twice just to pick up on everything. In The Color Purple by Alice Walker my three favorite scenes are when Shug and Celie begin ...
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... the beginning for a change in Celie. The last time Sofia stands up for herself in this novel is my favorite scene because it shows how powerful she was and even though it ends bad, Alice Walker teaches people something by it. . Being able to keep your cool in certain situations is something that would be very tough when faced with many of the situations that appear in this story because they address issues that go so deep. This is my favorite scene because it shows the strength of Sofia. The best scene in The Color Purple is when Celie stands up for herself and leaves Mister. I just love the fact that she is finally going after what she wants and won’t let anyone get in her way. She has gone through so much that I am glad she finally chose to get something good out of her life rather that just heartache and pain. This is why this is my favorite scene from the movie.
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
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.
Most of all, without Shug, Celie would have never been reunited with her beloved sister Nettie. The Color Purple is a tale of epic proportion and is beautiful, tear-jerking, passionate, and suspenseful. Even after all of the abuse that Celie received and after all of the struggles that she faced, she found it in her heart to forgive and move on. Her life was truly remarkable, and she was a brave woman who defied the odds in a time of division and hatred. The love that was shared between Celie and Shug was extraordinary and went against all customs of the time period.
In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, numerous symbols influence and drive the plot of the novel. One of the most important symbols that Walker incorporates into the plot is the letters written by Celie to either God or Nettie, signifying the power of voice. The epistolary format of the novel itself enables readers to understand Celie, whose letters are initially addressed to God. After being raped by her stepfather at the age of fourteen, he tells her to “never tell anybody but God” (Walker 1); thus, Celie’s original letters are presented more as confessions and prayers. This first letter itself “initiates the story of Celie's unrelenting victimization” (Bloom, and Williams 77-88), and the audience notices that the way in which Celie narrates the events occurring in her life over the course of the next several letters lacks sentiment and opinion....
In the book “The Color Purple” the writer Alice Walker illustrates a story of bravery, struggle and oppression. The main character in the book, Celie, is shown as a submissive woman with no intention of changing. Celie turns into a strong independent woman at the end of the novel, but first she faces some very large obstacles. Walker, from the beginning, illustrates what the story will contain: “You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mommy.”
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.
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.
The naivete of a child is often the most easily subjected to influence, and Pearl of the Scarlet Letter is no exception. Throughout the writing by Nathaniel Hawthorne, she observes as Dimmesdale and the rest of the Puritan society interact with the scarlet letter that Hester, her mother, wears. Hawthorne tries to use Pearl’s youth to teach the reader that sometimes it’s the most harmless characters that are the most impactful overall. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Pearl has learned the greatest lesson from the scarlet letter through her innocence as a youth and her realization of the identity of both herself and her mother.
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.
...ce of social gender departure releases her from oppression that came with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The significant change from her passive self to a feminine assertiveness develops out of her encounter with the people and events that goes against traditional views of social acceptance as it breaks common views on behavior and attributes. The development allows Celie to identify the people around her as the people she loves and care for, essentially becoming her people. The Color Purple becomes a contemporary text that becomes relatable to issues of identity and acceptance as well as addresses the existence of the continuing problem. Just as Celie says at the end of the novel when she narrates the conservation she shared with Mr. ____, the ability to “live her life and be herself no matter what” becomes a capability to her and the other characters.
The Color Purple follows Celie's transformation from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. What is remarkable is the fact that this transformation does not merely compose the plot of the novel, it also dominates the layout of the pages. The book's chapters are not written in a typical fashion as each chapter is a letter written from Celie to God, Celie to her sister Nettie, or Nellie to Celie. Alice Walker utilized this method of storytelling to give the reader a very personal glimpse into Celie's mind and soul. The writer gets a feel for Celie through her writing style- she uses specific phrasing to express herself and, over time, her mechanical writing skills improve greatly. We see Celie's thought process as she makes decisions and then writes about them. This powerful narration is the main driving force behind the words.
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.
Celie endures physical and emotional abuse by some of the people around her, including her own family. But in the end, Celie finds a new and fulfilling life through relationships with her sister and good friends. 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 discussed in The Color Purple. The book begins as Celie describes her initial family.
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple takes place in Georgia from 1910 to 1940. During this time racism was easily visible and apparent in society. Black people were seen as lesser beings in contrast to their white counterparts. However, not only are all of the colored characters within The Color Purple forced, by means of oppression, into their social positions because they are not white, but also because some of them are women, lesbian, and lower class. As Crenshaw explains, “[b]ecause of their intersectional identity as both women and of color within discourses that are shaped to respond to one or the other, women of color are marginalized within both” (Crenshaw 5). Celie, the main character in the novel, is given enormous adult responsibility from a young age. After the death of her mother, she is pulled out of school in order to...
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...