The Color Purple Essay - 1061 Words

In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Celie leads a life filled with abuse at the hands of the most important men in her life. As result of the women who surround and help her, Celie becomes stronger and overcomes the abuse she experienced. The three most influential women in Celie’s life are her sister Nettie, her daughter-in-law Sofia, and the singer Shug Avery. These are the women who lead Celie out of her shell and help her turn from a shy, withdrawn woman to someone who was free to speak her mind and lead her own independent life. Celie is inspired by her sister’s independence, determination and perseverance in Africa among foreign people whom Nettie cares about deeply. Celie saw the impact that a woman could have on others and felt†¦show more content†¦Shug Avery is someone Celie admired from a young age. Shug’s exuberance and charm with people are qualities Celie never dreamed of having herself until Shug walks into her life and Celie does mo re with her life by actually overcoming the abuse and becomes someone more. â€Å"I ast her to give me the picture. An all night long I stare at it. An now when I dream, I dream of Shug Avery.† (Walker 7). Shug comes into Celie’s life as her husband’s mistress who was very ill but not lacking in character. She treats Celie with disrespect at first, but after living with her for some time and being nursed back to health by her Shug gains a respect for her. She teaches Celie how to speak for herself and to defend herself against Mr. Shug is the one who helps Celie escape by taking her on her tour where Celie learns how to expertly sew pants. This is another major step towards independence because Celie is no longer financially dependent on anyone but herself because she creates a successful business by making pants. Upon her return to her home, she inherits her father’s home thereby completely separating her from the men who held control over her. She can now receive her sister’s letters and make her own money. The people who love her surround her and her personality develops unhindered by abuse. Celie’s idol came through to set her free and now idolizes her to an extent. After Celie’s new independence, herShow MoreRelatedCritical Essay on the Color Purple1343 Words   |  6 PagesWalker’s Purple is Not Just a Color Alice Walker’s epistolary novel The Color Purple demonstrates how the mistreatment of a woman cannot prevent her from fulfilling her destiny. The protagonist and narrator of the novel, Celie, is a young, uneducated black girl who is verbally and sexually abused by her supposed father, Alphonso. He fathers two children with her, kidnapping both and presumably killing one, if not both. Because of the unwarranted trauma, she struggles for the rest of her lifeRead MoreEssay The Color Purple876 Words   |  4 Pages The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a very controversial novel, which many people found to be very offensive. It is basically the struggle for one woman’s independence. The main character in The Color Purple is Celie a coloured woman with little or no education at all. She is one who has been used and abused by all the men in her life, and because of these men, she has very little courage or ambition in her life. She has so little courage, that all she wants to do is just survive. Through the variousRead More the color purple Essay1840 Words   |  8 Pages There are many racial components in this novel that are easy to point out. These take place in the American South and also in Africa. It starts with the way that all the black men and women are treated at the start of the book. The main character’s real father was a successful store owner who was black. This man was hanged for a reason that is known only as him being a successful black man. All the characters that w e are introduced to in this book by Celie are exploited by the fact that they areRead MoreEssay on The Color Purple2329 Words   |  10 PagesThe Color Purple BSHS 422 May 7, 2012 Erik Holmgren The Color Purple Human service specialists need to be proficient in different cultures. By being aware of how different cultures think and react it allows for the delivery of services to be accurate. Cultural competency is described as. â€Å"The understanding of diverse attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, practices, and communication patterns attributable to a variety of factors (such as race, ethnicity, religion, SES, historical and social contextRead MoreEssay on Color Purple1320 Words   |  6 Pagesthird novel, The Color Purple. These aspects had a lasting impression upon ideals and beliefs of the time period. Her writing’s helped to break the racial tension and barrier that was present in some people’s minds. One of the ways that the barrier was eliminated was through her depiction of an imperfect black person. If a white person were to write about an imperfect black person it would be considered racist. â€Å" I think the most chilling thing to me about the response to The Color P urple was that peopleRead MoreThe Color Purple Essay954 Words   |  4 PagesAn Analysis of three messages from The Color Purple â€Å"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are† Some people cant wait to grow up, whereas others want to hold onto the past and not see what is to come. Those people that hold onto the past or live in the past dont know how to move on. An author by the name Alice Walker(b. 1944) a woman that believed she could do a lot. Alice Walker wrote a book and it was also turned into a movie but a man stated, â€Å"the book — about the abuse andRead MoreThe Color Purple Theme Essay1400 Words   |  6 PagesBeasley, Taliah Mr. Neill Language Arts 11 December 2017 The Color Purple In The Color Purple, there were several themes such as Violence, Sexuality, Power, God or Spiritually. Power is a key role in this novel. Walker focuses throughout the novel that the ability to express someone’s thoughts and feelings is critical to developing a sense of self. Initially, Celie is truly unable to resist those who abuse her. Remembering Alphonso’s warning thatRead MoreEssay Sisters in The Color Purple777 Words   |  4 PagesIn The Color Purple, written by Alice Walker, Celies life was falling apart. Due to her step-fathers actions, she became pregnant and then quickly had her children whisked away from her. She was sent away to marry a man she didnt know, and experienced more hardships than many could even attempt to fathom. Thankfully, she had her dear sister, Nettie, to think of and lean on both mentally and emotionally even when she wasnt able to be with her physically. In the beginning, the girls motherRead More the color purple Essay examples1243 Words   |  5 Pages Color of Purple is a Novel by Alice Walker, published in 1982. It won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983. A feminist novel about an abused and uneducated black womans struggle for empowerment, the novel was praised for the depth of its female characters and for its eloquent use of black English vernacular. African-American people have had to climb over many obstacles to get to their position today. First, was the selling of their people into slavery. Then, they endured slavery itself, being treated likeRead More Summary of The Color Purple Essay2651 Words   |  11 Pages Alice Walkers The Color Purple is a touching story of one African American womans journey through abuse and oppression to finding her own voice and self-worth as well as definite place in the world around her. The novel is written in an epistolary format and has a very confessional and emotionally raw tone. Through using this format, Walker has more freedom to weave an impressive network of heartfelt themes and colorful characters, in addition to displaying her talents for delivering to