Should The Color Purple Be Banned

ELA 10H Research Paper The Color Purple: A Color That Cannot Be Ignored Kornacki, Carrie Mr. Pokrywczynski English 10H Period 4 Due Date: 3/20/2024.

“He starts to choke me, saying you better shut up and get used to it. But I don’t never get used to it” (Walker 1). Does this quote concur with feelings of distress? Does it stir feelings of extreme anger towards the person committing this act and deep sorrow for the person experiencing this abuse? This quote from The Color Purple is taken from the very first page of the novel and foreshadows the suffering and misery that will present itself in the following events of the book. The first event described in the novel recounts the main character Celie being sexually abused by her step-father.

These challenges were all eventually overruled” (The Banned). This quotation outlines all of the reasons that a person may have to challenge or ban The Color Purple. There are many compelling arguments that counter the reasons this novel should be challenged and support the belief that The Color Purple should be taught in 10th grade classrooms. One strong argument is that this novel teaches many lessons about forgiveness and compassion. The novel also teaches students about sex and sexuality. These topics are prevalent in today’s society and are important for students to learn and comprehend. In addition, The Color Purple contains many marginalized and often stereotyped characters which can help students relate to someone who has had similar experiences to them. The novel also contains strong female characters that female students in 10th grade can relate to. These characters are beneficial role models for students and can provide lessons such as mercy and the importance of connection. The novel, The Color Purple, should be included in a high school English Language Arts curriculum because its characters convey many important messages about forgiveness and

Reading this novel can give a student the awareness that they are being sexually abused and the courage to report their situation. For others, this book can help them to show empathy to their peers and classmates who are experiencing these difficult situations. They may be able to offer help or understand what they are going through by reading a book that is from the perspective of a teen who has gone through this themselves. This article provides another lesson The Color Purple teaches us, “ ‘YA has always been a ground for ideological struggles and social constructions of what sex'should look like' for young adults,” Nic Hilton, a Ph.D. candidate in education and children's and YA literature at Cambridge University, and Gabriel Duckels, a Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholar at Cambridge, wrote in the International Journal of Young Adult Literature in November 2022. “Emphasis on certain types of representations of sex and sexuality—such as losing your virginity, teen pregnancy, and sexual identity—ensures YA's place as a space of exploration, and for figuring out our relationships to difficult topics; YA can act as a powerful tool in dismantling repressive and contradictory ideologies about youth