The Color Purple Essay

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Title
The color purple according to Shug, is a color that God created in order to make his creations happy; but for Celie who’s never noticed the flowers, purple are the bruises in her skin after being beat or the sense of pride that she never believed in. Alice Walker was discovering religion at the time of this book, she believed that the color purple held both of these meanings. “If it is true that we run from that chases us, then The Color Purple (this color that is always a surprise but is everywhere in nature) is the book that ran me down,” (Alice Walker). This story is about a woman rediscovering life and religion and the author wanted Celie to express that through the small wonders in nature. Alice Walker and Celie are both …show more content…

It’d kill your mammy.” (The Color Purple 1)
This quote is the reader’s introduction to Celie’s abusive childhood. Here, the reader learns that her stepfather is her abuser and why many of her letters are written to God. Unlike the letters that are written to Nettie because of love, Celie writes to God because He is the only one that Celie can tell her story to in moments of need.
“My little girl she look up and sort of frown. She fretting over something. She got my eyes just like they is today. Like everything I seen, she see, and she pondering it. I think she mine. My heart say she mine. But I don’t know she mine. If she mine, her name Olivia. I embroder Olivia in the seat of all her daidies...He took the daidies when he took her.” (The Color Purple 13)
Olivia in this scene is revealed to be Celie’s daughter from the rape and while Celie portrayed her as if Pa killed her, the reader actually learns that she is alive and well. Even though Celie is slowly becoming numb to the world, she still harbors love for her family which is seen in the bittersweet reunion she has with her daughter. Unlike Mr.__’s children who Celie zones out because of their lack of love towards her, she feels this unconditional love for her little