Quotes From The Grapes Of Wrath By Alice Walker

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1. “He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don't never git used to it. And now I feels sick every time I be the one to cook.” (Pg 11)
Domestic Abuse
Effect
Walker argues that men expect women to submit to domestic abuse and that women should accept such acts as normal.
Walker uses wording that is different that how most people speak today. The effect of this is that it gives the reader a better sense of the time period and the setting of this scene.
2. “Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr. ___ say, Cause she my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for-- he don't finish.” (Pg 22)
Domestic Abuse
Cause
Walker argues that men expect women to allow themselves to be beaten just because they are married. …show more content…

She makes Mr. ___ list the reasons why he beats his wife. The effect of the list makes the reader realize how Mr. ___ has no reason to beat his wife.
3. "I'm gitting tired of Harpo, she say. All he think about since us married is how to make me mind. He don't want a wife, he want a dog” (Pg 64)
Domestic Abuse
Effect
Walker argues that men treat women like animals, as if they are sub-human.
Walker has Celie use the metaphor of her husband wanting a dog instead of a wife. The purpose of this is to convey to the reader how badly Celie’s husband treats her. He treats her not as a human, but as an animal, like a dog.
4. "I don't say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don't fight, I stay where I'm told. But I'm alive." (Pg 29)
Domestic Abuse
Effect
Walker argues that no matter how hard a woman tries to escape domestic abuse, it will only bring more pain.
Walker uses anaphora of the words ‘I’ and ‘she’ to compare how Celie deals with domestic abuse to how Nettie dealt with domestic abuse. The purpose of this is to make the reader feel the guilt that Celie feels because Nettie stood up for what she believed in and died because of it. Celie, however, did not take a stand against domestic abuse and submitted to it, yet she is still …show more content…

Harpo want to know what to do to make Sofia mind. He sit out on the porch with Mr. ___. He say, I tell her one thing, she do another. Never do what I say. Always backtalk… You ever hit her? Mr.___ ast.
Harpo look down at his hands. Naw suh, he say low, embarrass.
Well how you spect to make her mind? Wives is like children. You have to let ’em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating. (Pg 35)
Domestic Abuse
Cause
Walker argues that men abuse women because men want to have the upper hand in the marriage and the only way they can assert their dominance is by beating their wives.
Walker make Mr. ___ use the simile of comparing wives, in general, to small children, stating how the husbands have to assert their dominance and have to do so by beating them. The purpose of this is to make the reader understand the logic of why husband beat their wives.
6. "When I see Sofia I don't know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs. They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She swole from head to foot. Her tongue the size of my arm, it stick out tween her teef like a piece of rubber. She can't talk. And she just about the color of a eggplant." (Pg 87)
Domestic Abuse

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