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The Color Purple And Shug's Influence On Religion

1204 Words5 Pages

In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple the ideologies around religion change drastically throughout the novel. These changes are aided by Walker’s assertion of the corruption of organized religion, along with the common ideology of a while male God figure in Christianity. In the beginning of the novel, Celie and Shug’s ideology of God are completely different; however Celie goes through the process of defining her faith so that it aligns with Shug’s. In The Color Purple the protagonist, Celie, redefines her spiritual relationship with God and religion, which debunks the ideology of a white male God and aides in commenting on the corruption of organized religion. Throughout the first half of the novel, Celie’s idea of God is someone she can tell her secrets to; however, as the novel progresses Celie becomes more frustrated with God and blames him for the bad things that have happened to her. In the first letter Celie writes, she explains that her father has told her that only God can know about her secrets. Celie uses God as a way to cope with the abuse from the males in her life. …show more content…

Shug does not see God as a white man, but as an ‘it.’ Shug explains to Celie how she sees God when she says, “I believe God is everything. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that, and be happy to feel that, you’ve found It” (197). Shug sees God as everything, which is why when Celie is writing her last letter, she addresses it to ‘Everything.’ Shug believes that if she enjoys her life, God will be happy with her. She also says that she thinks God wants her to enjoy the things he has created, such as the trees, grass, flowers, etc. This ideology is what causes Celie to address her last letter to the stars, trees, and sky. Shug has a completely different ideology of God compared to Celie, which is what ultimately causes Celie to adopt Shug’s way of looking at

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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.

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On the contrary, the use of religion within The Color Purple is used as a way to provide Celie with strength during the most trivial times. Hall makes this connection with Celie’s trauma and religion as “the victim of incest [Celie] had told her mother upon the birth of her child that it was ‘God’s’. Destructive Patriarchal power is associated with God even though this same power is Celie’s textual partner” (Hall). This defiance toward the patriarchal ideas of God is best seen through her writing letters to him as a way to seek peace and refuge, as she explains in a letter, “You better not tell anybody but God. It’d kill your mommy” (Walker).

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