The Color Purple Research Paper

Behavior: What Is Done To Us We Do To Others According to Webster’s dictionary, abuse is treating (a person or an animal) with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly. In The Color Purple, abuse appears to merge into daily routines; whether it is physically or mentally, all characters appear to face abuse. The way people are abused can directly relate in how they treat others. Those who are abused often end up abusing others as well. Throughout The Color Purple, Mr.--, later to be revealed to be Albert, oppresses many of those in his life because when he was younger, he himself was oppressed, but as things in his life change, he learns how to love and to ignore the societal norms around relationships. When Albert was a young adult he falls in love with the “wrong” woman, Shug Avery. Shug is a blues singer, who has a poor reputation in their little town. Shug doesn’t follow the typical role of women; she sings, dresses in revealing clothing, and she sleeps with men whom she is not married to, like Albert. Old Mister, Albert’s father discovers that Albert wants to marry Shug, rejects the idea, and forces him marry Annie Julia, his first wife. Albert submits to his father's order out of fear, and

When Albert first tells Harpo he can’t marry Sofia, Harpo is depressed and barely leaves from sitting on the front porch next to Albert. While the pain in Harpo is apparent, the hurt in Celie from her abuse on top of the abuse from Albert is hidden well. From the day Celie marries Albert she has to hide how she feels to perform her wifely duties. On her wedding day one of her new stepchildren hits her with a rock, and shortly after she had to cook dinner for the family, and all Albert did was tell the kids to knock it off (12). Albert shows no acknowledgment to the pain and suffering he causes to those in his life, and as a result continues oppressing Celie and