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Comparing The Color Purple And The Age Of Innocence

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Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence are extreme opposites in society. The Age of Innocence takes place in late 1800s high New York society. The Color Purple is set in the south in the 1930s, and is about poor, oppressed black families. The people from these polar opposite communities are still human; relationships and patterns in social code can be found even when not looking for them. There is a pattern between Shug Avery and Ellen Olenska in that they move the main characters from being naive to being knowing. Alice Walker's The Color Purple is a novel about a young girl named Celie. She grows up impoverished with a father who rapes her routinely. Since her mother died, she also takes on the responsibility …show more content…

He is a man from an upstanding family in New York who is engaged to a virgin dame, May Welland, from another upstanding family (Wharton 15). This is how the social norms of the time and place go. As far as they know, that is how it is, and that is how it always will be. As stated by Sara Constantinakis: “For all of their worldliness, their travels and purchases and parties, the people depicted in this novel are quite childlike in their view of the world. They think that they can know what people are all about through gossip and hearsay, and that love is an inconvenience that can be controlled with enough willpower" (Constantinakis). Ellen Olenska is introduced at an opera, where she sits down in her cousin's - the Wellands - viewing box. She wears a provocative and untraditional dress that sparks controversy and Archer feels embarrassed to have her sitting next to his betrothed. Archer's fascination eventually turns into romance and he ends up chasing her around the country for a chance with her (Wharton 283). “When he voices his desire to Ellen that they might live happily outside of all social constraints, Ellen replies that such a life is not possible since too many other people would be hurt by their actions” (Hynes). He ultimately grows old with May Welland, having rejected Ellen’s exposure to change. Although he did not decide to abandon his marriage and his position in society to marry her, she did change …show more content…

Society has conditioned Celie to stay within herself - only speak when spoken to - and live entirely for others. She is so absorbed in this she does not even know selfishness. Shug breaks this barrier by teaching her about God and how "he" is an "it" and rather than judging you for arbitrary things, it wants more for you to enjoy life's many pleasures.
Before Ellen, Archer lived by strict rules of society, most of which he believed in and supported. Ellen shows him that he is willing to throw all of this away for a chance to be with her, and that worlds exist outside of the New York upper class.
Another notable difference is the outcome of these changes. Celie and Shug live together in a big house with other characters that had their own coming-of-age subplots. Celie escapes Mr. ____ and starts her own clothing business. They are happy together in the end.
Archer decides to reject the change brought by Ellen and grow old with May. He lives mundanely, letting life pass him by. After May dies, his son brings him to Ellen Olenska in her new house. He refuses to go inside, which acts as a final rejection to

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Although the main characters lack self-confidence early on, through the guidance of a potent mentor, they are able to develop into empowered women. Initially, both Celie and Evelyn exemplify the archetypal character of the oppressed by their unwillingness of speaking up for themselves. As a result, both Celie and Evelyn struggle to perceive themselves as actual human beings but instead view themselves as objects. This comprehension authorizes the oppressive characters to inflict further agony.

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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

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Alice Walker is considered a Revolutionary for many people because of the struggles she fought through as an African American woman, novelist, and activist living in the mid to late 1900’s. Alice Walker shows how women have struggled in America with having similar and equal rights to white men. She also shows how African Americans struggle with the same problems when it comes to achieving similar or equal rights to a white male. In the novel, “The Color Purple”, written by Alice Walker, the main protagonist, Celie, learns to find her own voice and own self worth through a series of obstacles that she had to overcome throughout her journey; similar to the way Alice Walker also had struggles of being an African American woman during the mid to

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Once Shug is able to feel acquainted with Celie they find themselves doing everything together. Shug teaches Celies about herself mentally, spiritually, and physically with her body. The book captures the feelings held between the Celie and Shug with vibrant words and sentences between the two characters. ¨She say, I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me on the mouth (Walker, 1982).¨

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When Ellen arrives in New York, she challenges society through her foreign upbringing and traditions. The upper class begins to gossip about Ellen when the narrator remarks, “[Ellen] received an expensive but incoherent education, which included "drawing from the model," a thing never dreamed of before, and playing the piano in quintets with professional musicians” (49). Since New York is so rigid and stagnant, they fail to adapt to European society. Therefore, Ellen is ignored because she struggles to fit the mold of a traditional New Yorker. While Ellen’s attempt to transform New York fails, Ellen is able to use her influence over Archer’s heart.

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The Color Purple by Alice Walker should be kept in school libraries because it conveys the importance of family, shows examples of overcoming hardship and discusses serious topics such as rape and death. The Color Purple is an inspiring, beautiful, and powerful read for teens. The Color Purple is important for teens to read because its most prominent theme is how family sticks together through thick and thin, and it talks about the value of it as well. Within the first 20 pages of the book, Celie is separated from her sister, Nettie.

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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.”

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Literary Analysis: The Color Purple Every individual learns something new or different every day, whether it is somebody’s favorite color or learning something new about yourself. Many people can either learn from their hardships and past experiences, while others may learn from other people’s past through stories or guidance. Throughout the novel, The Color Purple written by Alice Walker, the main character, Celie, learned how to love herself, that everyone makes mistakes, and face her fears.

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"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.

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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.

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