The color purple
This novel is about an african american girl named celie, she doesn't come from much but the one thing she can say she has is her sister. growing up she was abused and raped by her step father Alphonso who fathered her two children. Cellie is infatuated with writing letters to God looking for some sort of answer, but was soon discouraged by the passing of her mother. Cellie and Nettie continue getting into heated arguments with Alphonso, who continues to beat Cellie. one day “Mr” comes looking for permission to marry Nettie, but Alphonso offers up Cellie instead because of his growing lust of Nettie. Cellie moves out to be with her new unwanted husband and this results in Alphonso starting to beat on Nettie. as the story unfolds “Mr” still wants Nettie and he decided to pursue her so she decides to run away leaving Cellie to think Nettie has died. Shugg “mr’s” other lover comes down to town and butts heads with Cellie, but then it only became a matter of time before they put their differences aside and realized that they were sexually attracted to each other. Shugg finds another man besides “mr” to form a relationship with while continuing her relationship with Cellie. while shugg was staying in cellie and “mr’s” house she finds letters from Nettie to Cellie that were hidden by “Mr”. these letters confirmed that she was still alive living in africa with two missionaries who have two adopted children. these children were cellies. this gives cellie the confidence to stand up to “Mr” saying that her and Shuggs are moving to tennessee. they both relocate into Tennessee and later Cellie finds that Alfonso had passed away. she moves back to Georgia to inherit her mother's property like she was supposed to before.
There are far more themes in “ The color Purple” than i could even tell you but one that really popped out to me is that you have to find ways to take control of your life and figure out who you are as a person. some situations in Cellies life were uncontrollable, but for other situations she let people control what she did and who she was as a person. and i know what you're thinking, it was a time where things weren't easy for woman, but she took countless years to build up courage to tell the man she was in an arranged marriage to and who was cheating on her that she was leaving, she really cared for her sister but never pursued to really search for her. there are little things she could have done, or i think she could have done to better her life even if it was by the smallest amount. This i believe also goes along with feminism, and standing up for what you know your rights are.
The tone of the book is serious, blissfully ignorent,empowered, and fearfull.
Empowered- “ Im poor, black, and i might even be ugly, but dear God i’m here. I’m here.”
Serious- “I loves Harpo, God Knows i do, but Ill kill him dead fo i let him beat me”.
Fearful- "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."
Ignorence- He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth.
syntax- Lets not forget this story is told in first person by Cellie who wasn't fortunate enough to have an education provided to her.the syntax of the story is very jumbled and uses words in the wrong place with the wrong meaning. or either her speeches just dont make sence.
"Well, us talk and talk about God, but I’m still adrift. Trying to chase that old white man out of my head. I been so busy thinking bout him I never truly notice nothing God make."
diction- the diction in “The color purple” is uneducated and illiterate.
"Us sleep like sisters, me and Shug."
symbolism- the color purple is very symbolic in the book. at the beginning Cellie is having a hard time in life, struggling with everything, her dad, her mother passing her sister and having an arranged marriage. she has no purple to show a light in her life, the light that God is giving her. then she meets Shugg, and Shugg shows her what its like to have color in her life. i believe that purple symbolizes all that Cellie has gone through to get to where she is and that she can finally be self satisfied, independent and happy.
Shugg: More than anything God love admiration.
Celie: You saying God is vain?
Shugg: No, not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off when you walk by the colour purple in a field and don't notice it.
Celie: You saying it just wanna be loved like it say in the bible?
Shug: Yeah, Celie. Everything wanna be loved. Us sing and dance, and holla just wanting to be loved. Look at them trees. Notice how the trees do everything people do to get attention. except walk?
Shug: Oh Miss Celie, I feels like singing!
Tone - the tone of “the color purple” is rather depressing
personification- “For six months the heavens and the winds abused the people of Olinka. Rain came down in spears, stabbing away the mud of their walls.”
simile- “ Sound echo across the yard like shots”
hyperbole- “When Nettie’s foot come down on the porch I almost die.”
rhetorical questions- “Did I Tell you he writes verses? And loves to sing?”
imagery- “The looking glass hang crooked, the curtains torn. The bed look like the stuffing pulled out.”
metaphor- ”They swing through every now and then, drunk from eating and enjoying the heat, buzz enough to make me drowsy.”
Characterization
Alice Walker uses direct characterization in many ways in her astounding book “The color Purple”, here are some of the few i found. One that seemed quite obvious to me was how one of the characters were named Shugg, standing for sugar. Shugg was one that everyone wanted a piece of, she was sweet and she was constantly being described as dressing desirable. "All the men got they eyes glued to Shug's bosom. I got my eyes glued there too. I feel my nipples harden under my dress. My little button sort of perk up too. Shug, I say to her in my mind, Girl, you looks like a real good time, the Good Lord knows you do." Another example is in the beginning of the book when celie is talking to God asking why she ends up in so many undesirable situations. my impression of Shugg is that shes just like everyone else, shes confused and lost but she just wants to have someone to love and someone to love her. Another example is in the beginning of the book when Celie was talking to go asking why she is always put in bad situations that she had no control over. “Dear God, I am fourteen years old. I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me.” I thought after i read this that this seemed to be a girl who had the best intentions and who deserved the world, but who always seemed to catch the hot end of the stick. some examples of indirect characterization are when Alphonso treats Nettie better than he did Celie. Also when he would beat Celie for reasons that were unexplainable.”He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens.” I believe Alice Walker heavily used indirect characterization with Alphonso because on top of that the first time we meet him in the book is when he is raping celie. “He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t.” while the rest of that quote is a bit more than a little too inappropriate to finish. to tag onto that example another one is of the character Albert. We go through the book thinking Albert is a horrible controlling human being, but then he suddenly changes and realizes that it just might be a little better to be kind. this is indirect characterization because when Celie leaves him for Shugg and shugg wants to move to memphis without him he soon realizes that he is all alone because of his actions. Albert then decides to make a kind gesture towards Celie to try to make peace with her by revealing to her that her sister is not dead by giving her all of the old letters she had sent to Celie months before.
I feel as if the Syntax and Diction stayed the same through the whole book. Celie wasn't one to put blame or judgement on anyone and since the book was told through her eyes i would say it would be hard to pick out if the syntax or diction did change at any particular point in the book. I don't believe there is an example because never once did Celie react differently from how she would have acted in any other part of the book in any one particular scene.
Celie is a very dynamic character to me, towards the end of the book you really see her start to become this confident self sure human being which is such a big change from the beginning of the book when she was timid lost scared and confused all of the time. I would consider Celie a round character, the more you read the more you see how she thinks and that there is a lot more to her then what everyone thinks. you find that she's not stupid, she just hasn't been taught what's applicable to living life, and once she starts learning she begins changing into a stronger person.
I came away from this book feeling like i met Celie and i went through some of her struggles with her. i know it may be kind of weird but i feel like you really know a person when you know or live through some of the strangest moments they have experienced in their lifetime. so i took one of Celies strangest moments is her affair with Shugg. i feel like in the beginning only close friends would know all the details along with negatives and positives of the situation. That short but detailed section really made me feel like i was one of her good friends who she was just telling a story to.
