The Color Purple by Alice Walker
by Elizabeth Moss
Summary Paragraph
The Color Purple is the story of Celie,
a black woman living in the south. Celie faces sexual and physical abuse at the
hands of her father and husband, about which she writes in her letters to God.
When her husband's lover, Shug Avery, comes to stay with them, Celie learns that
she is capable of giving and receiving love and that she deserves a better life.
Through Celie's own eyes the reader is able to understand the hardships she
faces and the strength she must have to overcome those hardships.
Character Descriptions
Celie -- complacent, afraid, used, lonely
Shug Avery -- outgoing, unique, flirtatious, volatile
Mr. ---- -- abusive, uncaring, selfish, somber
Sofia -- fiery, unmoving, strong, grounded
Discussion/Essay Questions
1. When Celie’s sister Nettie travels to Africa as a missionary with her married friends Samuel and Corrine, the Olinka natives assume that Nettie is Samuel’s wife too. How could this relate to our modern-day "classification" of people?
2. Sofia and Celie are almost complete opposites: Sofia is strong-willed and refuses to let her husband beat her, and Celie is acquiescent and abused. How could these two characters represent the changing roles and values of women in our society?
3. As an alternative to killing Mr. ----, Celie
begins making pants, a type of clothing reserved for men only. Of what could
this be symbolic? Explain.
Key Passage—p. 182; as Celie and Shug are leaving for Memphis
"I should have lock you up. Just let you out to work. [Mr. ----]
The jail you plan for me is the one in which you will rot, I say. Shug come over to where us talking. She take one look at my face and say, Celie! Then she turn to Mr. ----. Stop, Albert, she say. Don't say no more. You're just going to make it harder on yourself.
I'll fix her wagon! say Mr. ----, and spring toward me. A dust devil flew up on the porch between us, fill my mouth with dirt. The dirt say, Anything you do to me, already done to you.
Then I feel Shug shake me. Celie, she say. And I come to myself.
I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I'm here.
Amen, say Shug. Amen, amen."
Explanation
Earlier in the novel, Shug and Celie had had a
conversaion about God's true identity. While Celie said that God was just
another man and, "act like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful, and
lowdown," Shug insisted that the portrayal of God as a physical being was simply
a white man's creation. Shug encouraged Celie to see God inside of everything,
as an "it" instead of as a "he". In the key passage above, Celie finally
confronts Mr. ---- and stands up for herself. Calling on the presence of God in
the wind and trees, Celie curses him and promises that everything he has done to
her he will experience twice over. Earlier in the passage, not included in the
exerpt above, Celie says that her strength "seem to come to [her] from the
trees." The last three lines of the above passage are possibly the most powerful
lines in the book. Throughout the story, Celie had been physically and
psychologically abused. The men in her life apparently wanted to make sure that
she had no opinion whatsoever of herself. But at this point Celie finally is
able to acknowledge her self-worth and put her history of abuse behind her.
Recommendation
I would recommend The Color Purple to
anyone who wants to read a book that challenges their preconceived ideas. The
Color Purple is incredibly powerful because of its intense themes and deep
philosophies about life’s tough questions. The reader experiences what Celie
experiences, and learns and grows as she does. The Color Purple is a
beautifully written book that anyone would enjoy reading.