This quote means that Celie is taking the role of her mother, as Celie’s mother is ill and is unable to do what Pa wants, so he turns to Celie. Raping, abusing and making her do work. Celie is a 14-year-old girl living with her sister,
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.
She believes that “Pa” has either killed or sold her children. Celie’s mother dies soon after she finds out that Celie has given birth to two children by Alphonso. Additionally, Albert, who is referred to as “Mister,” wants to marry Celie’s little sister Nettie, but “Pa” does not want to give Nettie away to him. Instead he gives Celie away for “Mister” to marry.
For the entirety of Celie’s youth, she believed that Pa, the father to her two children, was her father. Pa and mammy, Celie’s adopted parents have repetitively engrained in Celie and her sister Nettie that Pa was their father. This is so extreme that Celie did not know Pa’s name until he was dead. Pa knew that Celie thought that they have committed
Celie is pulled out of school, beaten, raped, and forced into marriage at an extremely young age. All of these sacrifices kept Nettie safe and educated, but hurt Celie, who only thought of her sister and not of herself. Firstly, Celie sacrifices her childhood to keep
twice referring to Celie’s two pregnancies as a result from her stepfathers abuse. Firstly the objectification is evident in the ownership the stepfather has over both Celie and Nettie and the unemotional approach to marriage. The refusal of ‘giving’ Nettie to Mr Albert is significant as
If she cannot feel, then how can she care about anyone. She may have blood relatives, but only one is family to her. Nettie is her sister, and is everything Celie isn’t. She is a smart, independent woman with a bright future. Celie has been there to support her, as she cares for her as a true sister would.
Celie was sold to Albert at a young age, and was abused, a victim of domestic violence and ultimately oppressed. She is usually characterized as being kind-hearted, loving and sensitive. Overall, she was a polar opposite of her husband Albert, with whom had to live with for years on end. After a period of approximately fifteen years, Celie had enough of Albert. At a family gathering, she demanded that she was to bring her kids with herself, rather than leaving them with Albert.
This epistolary form allows one to analyze and compare the life of Celie who is settled in Georgia and the life of her sister, Netti, who also endures discrimination at an African missionary. Walker
There’s rape, death, and many other aspects covered in the book. In this first page, readers are immediately met with a rape scene. While this is shocking to many, Celie recovers and gets through it. She was born with all odds against her, but she is a strong and selfless woman. Celie becomes prosperous and content, and the book executes a joyful end that is satisfying.
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.”
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.
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)
Celie did not even know that her daughter is alive. She thinks “He took it. He took it while I was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods.” (Walker 4).
It aims at building up a new ground for expressing female voice. The text is in complete conversational format rather than being a narration of events. Through her letters, Celie tells her audience something that they already know. She primarily subverts, deconstructs and eventually reconstructs the mainstream patriarchal discourse that has kept her and many of her kind at the periphery. The letters create a productive space where the hitherto oppressed voices are finally heard.
