Harpo And Justification In Alice Walker's The Color Purple

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In the book The Color Purple the character Harpo is victim to society's stereotypes and destroys his marriage in his attempt to conform to traditional gender roles. Harpo falls in love with Sofia, a strong willed woman whose personality balances with his more passive one. Yet Harpo attempts again and again to be the dominant one in the relationship, to be the man his father thinks he should be. His attempts to overpower Sofia fail, and end up driving her away. Harpo struggles pointlessly to try to gain his father's approval and tries to beat Sofia into submission. “But is Harpo and Sofia. They fighting like two mens. Every piece of furniture they got is turned over.” (pg 37) He tells Celice that he does it because he wants to emulate her and