The Color Purple By Alice Walker

The female sex has faced inequality, exploitation and abuse at the hands of the patriarchal society that rules the globe and these problems were highlighted in major parts in history; they form an integral part of the building of a society in a number of ways, whether it be in silencing the voice of women by depriving them of education and equity in income, or in depriving them from the basic quality of life. Literature is a tool that has been used for aeons to express the thoughts of the subconscious, to give voice to the voiceless and to speak out against discrimination. In Alice Walker’s most famous novel, The Color Purple, she weaves a story that traces the gradual physical, emotional and sexual growth of an uneducated, abused girl in 1930s

By the time she is fourteen, Celie is raped twice by her step-father, has both her babies stolen away (one, she believed, was killed in the woods) and lost her mother, who died cussing at her ‘ugly’ daughter. Soon after, she is married off to a widower, “Mr-“, in whose home she is merely a maid, a caretaker of his children. The physical abuse Celie faced with her step father continues with her husband. Her step-father forced her to be silent about the raping, and she endured it in the same manner with her ‘husband’. Celie’s development, emotionally and mentally, is entirely stunted from the time she was a child and hence, when the novel progresses and she encounters women much different from her, we see how feminism becomes a theme that is central to the

According to society and the church, Shug is a promiscuous woman who has little respect in society. A lounge singer and Mr-, or Albert’s lover, Shug stands up to the double standards set by the patriarchal society on sex. She is the first person to whom Celie opens up, after her sister, Nettie whom she has not seen for more than half her life. The relationship between Celie and Shug is complex and nebulous, for the two engage in sexual action together and also share a maternal, sisterly bond. Shug serves as a completely different perspective to Celie, as she pushes so many boundaries and redefines herself on her own terms, as opposed to society. The fact that Shug can suddenly term a married woman with two children a virgin introduces the possibility that there is a submerged, untold story in Celie’s life. Shug helps Celie realize that there are alternatives to the mainstream ways of thinking, perceiving, interpreting, and behaving that the dominant members of society impose upon her. Recognizing the existence of these alternatives gives Celie a sense of control and is an important step in her move toward independence. Only when she talks to Shug is Celie able to realise the entirety of the abuse and psychological torment that she has faced all her life. For the first time, she cries and feels the