Everyone has varying purposes for life. Some people are meant to be doctors, teachers, or maids, while others are meant to change the world. These purposes are found through a journey of self-discovery. This journey through self-discovery is also called life. This proves to be true for Celie in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Celie’s personality was introverted and invisible during the exposition of the novel. She rarely expressed herself for fear of retaliation from those who abused her. Her character traits transform into strong-minded and independent as she travels through her journey of self-discovery. Alice Walker uses literary elements such as foils, conflict, and symbolism to determine the theme of her novel The Color Purple as life is a journey through self-discovery. The first literary device Walker uses to convey the theme is foil. Shug Avery, a glamorous and sultry blues singer is Celie’s foil because she has everything Celie does not; she has charm, appeal, and the ability to make other people (especially men) listen to what she has to say. She also brings out Celie’s best qualities while guiding her through the journey of …show more content…
In the novel, the former half of Celie’s letters were written to God. At the time, she had no other form of self expression, as any other form led to abuse from her father or husband. She sees God as a person that will listen to what she has to say, although she does not fully understand who God is. She is then led to think of God as anything she wants him to be. She decides on the belief that God is a something (rather than a someone) that brings happiness and joy. She has finally discovered herself in letter 90 as she addresses it “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear everything. Dear God.” (page 242) This transition from the belief that God is a person to the belief that God is a figure depicts Celie’s journey through
Life is defined by moments and humans are defined by life. We aren’t defined in the sense of how we react to the problems that arise when it comes to our life. Some people are strong and fight. They fight for their life and for all that they stand for. They never give up and will be confident. They still have trials and problems, but they know how to make it through the trials without it controlling them. On the other hand there are the people that don’t know how to fight. All their life they have been given trials that have controlled their lives, but now they have no way to escape. Instead of fight they let everything pass them by. Instead of facing their problems they just pretend it isn’t happening. Their challenge controls them. Celie knows that there are people who fight. Her sister, Nettie fought, but she has no fight in her. It died when every person she loved was taken away. She now has no reason to fight. She wants to live and the only way to live is to be passive and survive. Being passive is all that she can do, until being passive will destroy her. Within the text Color Purple there are three pivotal scenes for Celie, when she meets Shug, while reading the letters from her sister and when she has her own shop.
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
Alice Walker grew up in rural Georgia in the mid 1900s as the daughter of two poor sharecroppers. Throughout her life, she has been forced to face and overcome arduous lessons of life. Once she managed to transfer the struggles of her life into a book, she instantaneously became a world-renowned author and Pulitzer Prize winner. The Color Purple is a riveting novel about the struggle between redemption and revenge according to Dinitia Smith. The novel takes place rural Georgia, starting in the early 1900s over a period of 30 years. Albert, also known as Mr._____, and his son Harpo must prevail over their evil acts towards other people, especially women. Albert and Harpo wrong many people throughout their lives. To be redeemed, they must first learn to love others, then reflect upon their mistakes, and finally become courageous enough to take responsibility for their actions. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker effectively develops Albert and Harpo through redemption using love, reflection, and responsibility.
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
It is this epistolary form of storytelling that allows the characters introduced to the reader by the character of Celie to reveal themselves their roles and their culture in an authentic sounding way. Celie, writes as she speaks, in a colloquial manner not normally considered 'proper English' For example the word 'us' is substituted for 'we' and there are misspelled and phonetically spelled words throughout. In other novels, when a character's speech is written in colloquial language it usually signals their comedic role in the story. However, in the beginning of The Color Purple, Celie's letters to God, poignantly (sometimes painfully so)reveal the confessional narrative of a young girl whose sex and race excludes her from formal education. She can say plainly what is happening to her but she cannot interpret he actions of the people around her. She must unburden herself somehow and courageously breaks the silence with her letters to God.
In one of her most world known books, “The Color Purple”, she predominantly puts her focus on the empowerment and strong building of African Americans. She shadows every vulnerable piece that each of the female characters portray and exposes Celie to feel that the only way to persevere is to remain silent and invisible. The Color Purple is narrated by the main character, Celie. Celie is a victim of sexual, physical and verbal abuse. Her letters to God, in which she begins to pour out her story, becomes her only outlet. She has a difficult time trying to find out who she is and her voice. She feels that she has no power to assert
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.
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....
The overall message of the book is that woman should stand up to men if they are being oppressed by them. Celie learns that she can be who she really is instead of shying away from reality. "Celie, she say, Do you love me? She down on her knees by now, tears falling all over the place. My heart hurt so much I can't believe it. How can it keep beating, feeling like this? But I'm a woman. I love you, I say. Whatever happen, whatever you do, I love you” (Walker 250). A woman named Shug is brought into Celie’s life and they have a deep love and respect for one another. Shug really cares about Celie and she helps Celie learn how to love herself. Feminism is a key theme of The Color
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.
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.
At the beginning of the book Celie announces her dependence on God by recognising that she can “tell nobody but God” about the abuse she is receiving from her stepfather.
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.
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.
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... ... middle of paper ... ... bservations of her situation and form an analysis of her own feelings.