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Themes of racism in color purple
Critical analysis of the colour purple
Themes of racism in color purple
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Themes of racism in color purple
Critical analysis of the colour purple
Themes of racism in color purple
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Recommended: Themes of racism in color purple
The Color Purple tells the story of a young girl, Celie, who lives in the early 1900’s in the South. By the age of 14, she has been raped and pregnant twice by her stepfather Fonso. Celie has a deep relationship and love for her younger sister Nettie, just like Esch is valued and supported by her brothers Randall, Skeet, and Junior. Both girls face struggles with men and are pressured to mature at a very young age due to the responsibilities that life, and men, throws at
Her faith is weakened at a certain point but then she starts to develop a new perception of God, she begins to see God as a universal being with no gender and race who is present everywhere and in everything that we love or do. She is now able to see God through people, nature, sex, and in the color purple. Alice Walker also gave importance to the value of female bonds and relationships or sisterhood as a means of coping and social support against the alienation experienced by Celie and other black female characters in the novel. Celie’s friends, mainly Shug and Sofia helped her to find her voice and stand up for herself. As the novel progresses, Celie develops strength and eventually gains her freedom towards the end.
Sophia, Shug, and Nettie are a strong, independent women who instructed Celie to fight Mr.. Nettie advised Celie that “[you] need to fight” and Celie responded that “I [do not] know how to fight. All I know is how to stay alive” (17). Celie thought that quiet being submissive was the only way to stay alive. Nettie said to fight and Celie thinks she is dead. Sophia fought the Mayor and the white townspeople beat her up so badly that Celie was shocked that Sophia survived.
Celie and Nettie relationship display the bond that they share as a family. Being separated from her family for many years Celie maintains her love and affection for her sister and two children. During her separation from her biological family,
Sacrifice can reveal what people value the most in their life. In the book The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Celie sacrifices her childhood, her education, and her freedom for her sister Nettie. Celie’s sacrifices are not only representative of her value of Nettie, but also of the lack of value she has for herself. Throughout the book, Celie sacrifices the majority of what she has and gets extremely little in return. She never fights for herself and does whatever people ask her.
The problem of Mr. ____ gets taken care of when Shug and her discover the letters that Mr. ____ has been withholding. Shug can see that he does not care for Celie at all, and that Celie has to get away from him. After reading the letters, they just lie together and for the first time since Nettie, she has a family member. She calls Shug her sister.
Celie is forced into a marriage, so Nettie doesn’t have to be. Celie takes all of her father’s sexual abuse, so Nettie doesn’t have to suffer. “They cry theirselves to sleep. But I don’t cry. I lay there thinking bout Nettie while he on top
Family Through According to Alice Walker Alice Walker had a lot to say about family in her book, The Color Purple, in this book family had loose conditions and was often inter tangled. Celie’s friends and family were remarkably confusing and complicated at times, because many people were sleeping with people they were not married to and that was married to their friends. However, no family is perfect, so why would this one be, in the end it was all Celie and everybody else really needed.
In the book Celie is a young girl near 20 when she gets married. She is writing letters to God and going through her emotions, thoughts, and feelings on the way. By the end with knowing Shug Avery and Sofia she learns to embrace her womanhood and stands up to Mister. In the end she states, “And us so happy. Matter of fact, I think this the youngest I ever felt.”
Reflection What inspired your writing? My independent book, the Great Gatsby, and my grandparents inspired my writing. My independent book, The Color Purple, was a personal story of a young girl where she was able to find, throughout her life, confidence and her self worth. She stands up for herself and other women, by changing her life by becoming more independent. The Great Gatsby, also inspired my writing because it showed how different people viewed the American dream, and it did not have a set definition.
She states that “I don’t write to god no more, I write to you.” to Nettie in letter seventy-three shortly after. This is a significant turn in Celie’s spiritual journey as she abandons God – which she deemed unhelping and unresponsive, in favor of her sister who has always been there for her as a source of comfort to her from the beginning. Celie began to turn away from religion and begins to search the spaces of spirituality in her life, which are namely Shug and Nettie. When Shug describes her journey from religious to spiritual and how she discovered her spiritual state became the ultimate turning point in Celie’s development away from stiffly structured religion.
In the film, The Color Purple, generalizations of and men are made that can also been seen in Alice Walker’s book. Men are portrayed as violent and rough, which can be strongly seen between Celie and Mr.___. As Celie brushes Mr.___ daughter's hair, she remarks, “The girls hair ain’t been comb since their mammy died. I tell him I’ll just have to shave it off. “ She questions why the girl’s hair hasn’t been brushed.
Since Celie was raped and used by her stepfather and Albert, Nettie and her separated; she blamed God for everything that have happened to her, she lost faith but she never gave up. Celie faced her fears by accepting her past and by forgiving people who have done her wrong. When she fully forgave those people who thinks that she was not worth it, she also learned that forgiving them made her life so much better and easier, realized that they can rely on one another as a family, and just live happily ever after. “It refers to the person’s desire for self-fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially.” (McLeod 3)
"The color purple" is a reflection of reality in 20th century. The African American women isolated from the white society as Walker in The color purple talks about racism and discrimination of society in 20the century. Celie, the heroine was born in Rural Georgia where is known as a harsh place for poor and uneducated black women who were servants to their husbands and fathers. Throughout the novel, Celie tries to overcome her psychological anger and becomes independent. At the beginning of the novel, Celie appears like other women 20th century as they oppressed by men and lived under men 's dominance and violence.
Introduction The Color Purple is a novel written by an American author Alice Walker and was published in 1982. It won numerous awards in literature and film as it had many musical, film and radio adaptations, particularly the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction. It primarily involves the subject of feminism and addresses issues in sexism and racism in the early 20th century in the United States. The story is all about a girl named Celie, a black woman who lives in the Southern part of US.