This novel deals with the hostile treatment of women, especially African American women, and the emotional and physical struggles many had to face. The protagonist, Celie, is abused by both her father and husband, both physically and emotionally. All she is familiar with is pain and suffering and doesn’t realize that living under someone’s authority isn’t the way to live. Alice Walker is an African-American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, “The Color Purple”. She was born on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia. Before writing, she was a social worker, teacher, and lecturer and took part in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. She was born into a poor and hardworking family, and her childhood helped shape her into …show more content…
For a long time, I thought I was ugly and disfigured, she said in an interview with John O’Brien, This made me shy and timid, and I often reacted to insults and slights that were not intended. (Walker) “The Color Purple” has been challenged and banned by many school districts and libraries for a list of reasons. It is, for the most part, very explicit and there’s no censorship as to Ibarra 1 aspects like sex and violence. Many parents argue that this book shouldn’t be accessible to their children because of its content. They don’t want to expose their children to this kind of content because many people can relate to it and it’s reality for many individuals. Many people realize that this is the case, including Amy King, who stated, “Some contend that their children don’t live in proximity to the issues Walker raises, thus it has no bearing- or that the book doesn’t speak to them because it isn’t about them.” Although this is the most common reason, it is believed there’s another reason lingering beneath the surface. In the book, Celie finds the strength to stand up for herself. This idea of rebellion from a woman is scary for many …show more content…
Especially when these are women who, as anyone who has read the book knows, have been treated their entire lives as if independence was not only not in reach, but a concept too foreign to understand. (Chelsea) The language, sex, and racism aren’t why this book was banned; it was because a woman actually had a voice and fought back against her abusers and her limitations. Shug Avery spends her entire life fighting back against people (and her father’s) expectations of her, as a woman and an African American woman to boot. But it is Celie herself that who finds the independence and strength she needs to fight back. (Walker) Ibarra 1 Walker believes that schools banned her book because of the sexism in our culture. She believes that most of the people complaining about her book were people who had sexually abused children or were sexually abused themselves and couldn’t bear to relive it. I realized, given the sexism in our culture, that some of the complainers were probably people had at one time sexually abused children. Or, they had been sexually abused themselves and could not bear thinking about it, as