A theological work? How grim

Walker juxtaposes the contradiction of the theological explanation of the text in the preface with the religious references within The color Purple itself. Walker establishes The color Purple as a "theological work" (preface) and refers to her utilization of "the transformation of God from patriarchal male supremacists into trees, stars, wind" (preface). Thus she sets up the reader to expect a separation between God and the construct of the male-dominated culture. within the novel, however, god is associated expressly with patriarchal figures. This is illustrated by the instance when Celie's mother inquires about the origin of her illegitimate child, "She ast me bout the first one Whose it is? I say God's." (Walker 2). Thus Walker sets a tone of connection of God with the patriarchal figure from the start of the novel. In addition, each chapter is headed with "dear God," in the beginning of the novel which further reinforces the idea that Celie does not escape from patriarchy and oppression in God, as Walker has eluded to in the preface. In fact, it is after she diverts from her theological diary of sorts and begins writing to her sister, Nettie, that we see the shift in Celie's character to one who is empowered and liberated from the cage of her world of oppression.

 At this point we must considered this discrepancy between the authors intent and the evidence within the novel. To start, the phrase Walker employs when describing her theological work, The color Purple, is "the pagan transformation of God" (preface). Herein she alludes to the fact that she masks her theological themes within motifs of nature, such as the continual allusion to the strength of wood in describing Celie in her oppressed environment. The novel serves as sort of anti-theological text in reality. Celie comes to be empowered and find solace in a word where she is free to live in harmony with the left over symbolic figures of her oppression, specifically Mr.__,  and the dominance of her own empowerment and that of other strong female characters. Therefore it is evident that Celie has made a transformation to become the master of her own life as reflected by the world around her falling into place, just so. The problem that remains though, despite this victory and reversal of fortune for Women, is that of the theological theme in The color Purple. For it is not some sort of communion with nature that gives Celie the strength to overturn the patriarchal construct in her own life, but rather, her connections and relationships with other strong female characters. Thus in the preface Walker would have been truer to her novel to speak of a transformation of God from a male figure to a female one. But she does not do so. This leaves the reader to beg the question "Why?". In what way has Walker fulfilled her promise in the preface and if not, are we to believe that she has so little a grasp upon the implications of her statement or of the course of the The color Purple.

Witty and semi-inappropriate tittle relating to The Color Purple

              The Color Purple uses imagery and language to display themes regarding a women's relationship to others after being abused for the majority of their life. As we learn at the very beginning of the novel, Cecile has suffered a lot of physical and mental abuse throughout her life starting at a young age of fourteen. This book attempts to enlighten us as to the the way in which she must then interact with people. When a person is abused from such a young age, they begin to think that the way it is treated is the norm. Any person to prove to her differently becomes a fascination. For example, she is fascinated with Shug Avery, "My ears perk up when they mention Shug Avery." Demonstrating her interest in the woman. "I feel like I want to talk about my own self." Despite how little she knows about Shug, she sees someone who is different in how they present themselves and act. Shug appears to act upon her own free will and is not controlled by men like she is.

               Another instance of the interactions between Cecile and another person is apparent through the way she talks to her "husbands" son, Harpo. At one point, when Harpo is in the midst of having a nightmare, Cecile comforts him. "I light the lamp and stand over him, patting his back," she shows some form of a mothering nature despite the fact that she is not his biological mother and she has not forged the most loving connection with the children she was brought in to take care of. However, a more interesting interaction is that in which she encourages Harpo to hit his wife. Sofia does not want to take the same role in her marriage to Harpo as Cecile has taken in her marriage with Mr. _____. When Sofia is seen as disobedient to the demands of her husband, Cecile encourages the abuse. Proving how she believes a marriage is supposed to work and how she believes the roles of a woman and a man have been previously laid out and it does not include a woman not listening to her man.

              The Color Purple sets out to explore the relation between how a woman who has suffered much abuse sees society and views the role of a woman in a marriage.

Silent Strength

     Throughout The Color Purple, a recurring theme is the ability of people, particularly women, to remain strong despite unimaginable oppression and abuse. This theme is brought to light through many of the central characters stories. The best example of this would be that of Celie, the main character herself. Celie is subject to domestic violence, rape, and symbolic oppression perhaps more than any other character; however, despite all of this Celie has remained strong. For example, when she is young, Celie protects her young sister, Nettie, from rape and incest by offering herself up instead, "I ast him to take me instead of Nettie" (7).This singular act symbolizes tremendous strength on Celie's part as she sacrifices herself to protect her sister.  Another example of an enduring strong character is Shug Avery. Despite an anti-woman, anti-black  sentiment at the time, Shug Avery (who is both) rose to significant fame and success. She endured harsh criticism, scrutiny, and illness even, to rise to the top, exemplifying tremendous strength along the way. This theme could be Walker's attempt to empower the oppressed people of the world. She illustrates the fact that it is possible to be 'strong' in an oppressive environment.

Mix Match (fe)Males

In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, a theme indicated so far is the disruption between gender roles.  Society portrays males to be masculine and robust; while females to be fragile and weak.  Furthermore, Celie actually plays her gender role right.  She is delicate and weak overall.  Celie appears to be the silenced figure, who we are starting to see emerge from the shadows gradually.  However, we witness a clash between the traditional male or female gender roles of some other characters.  Sofia’s strength and Harpo’s insecurity are major examples of such disparity between a character’s gender and the traits he or she displays.  “Some womens can’t be beat.  Sofia one of them” (Walker 63).  Celie is astounded by such strength in a female character.  She seems rather a bit jealous her because Sofia has the power and ability she desires for herself.  On the other hand, we witness Harpo with a delicate and feminine character, “Harpo sitting out on the steps, crying like his heart gon break” (Walker 62).  The disruption between gender roles can cause conflicts such as that Harpo’s insecurity lead to his attempt to beat Sofia, which apparently backfired at him.  Also, Shug’s abnormal role of female resistance to male domination caused her to be labeled a tramp. Gender roles are complex in the novel, and Walker emphasizes this disruption.   

Strong Independent Black Women, who don't need no men.

The presence of strong female characters in The Color Purple is a frequently reoccurring and interesting motif that significantly contributes to the development of theme, mainly through its empowerment of women in general, and by extension, Celie. Although only superficially through the book, the emergence of this theme has become quite evident. Celie has already met Nettie, Sofia, and Shug, all of which are some source of empowerment of women. At present, the contention that Celie herself represents a strong female character has little validity. The importance of this theme, the power of strong females, is particularly obvious when looking at how Celie herself is becoming empowered. Celie tells Harpo to hit Sofia to keep her in line, and is absolutely shocked when Sofia hits back, and wins a fight with Harpo. When Harpo complains about this, Celie tells him to not hit her. This small act of rebellion against a male figure demonstrates that strength is growing inside Celie, something which has been sapped by the rape and abuse she has endured since her childhood. It is the presence of these strong characters which gives Celie the courage to tell her stories, and create the novel. Nettie presents the character that Celie deems as perfect — she is better than Celie at everything, but when Celie garners praise from Nettie, it means a lot and is a significant boost to her self-esteem. Celie experiences a strong sexual attraction towards Shug, and although their relationship is at first volatile, Shug soon helps Celie explore her sexuality. Shug plays the role of a strong female in a markedly different way than Sofia. Whereas Sofia physically resists Harpo, Shug uses her sexual and physical attributes to control Mr. ____ and other men. Inevitable, the theme of power through female characters will be explored further, and other such characters will be found.  

The Color Purple: Quotationless.

     The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the exploration of the protagonist, Celie's discovering of power, sexuality, and self in general. One thing that I have found intriguing within this epistolary, is that Walker chose not to use quotation marks with character interactions, and how this choice characterizes Celie. In fact, sometimes this makes it difficult to distinguish when she is speaking to "God", or whoever she writes to in her letters, and when she is showing what she had said/is saying to other characters. For example, on page two the passage:
     "I say God took it.
     He took it. He took it while I was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods. Kill this one too, if he can".
This makes it hard to tell whether or not she stops vocally speaking after "God took it". I first began analyzing this during our first Socratic Seminar. Regarding the voice and structure of the novel, other books we have read this year have also chosen not to use quotation marks for dialogue, such as Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo. Initially, I found this to mean that Celie is only telling her story. The lack of quotation marks is hinders others the ability to tell Celie's story. This is certainly an aspect that displays metaphorical author intent, but one thing I failed to realize until today is that, when this is viewed considering the persona, it demonstrates Celie's ability to write in general. Although certainly not an unintelligent character, Celie was not allowed the education that would give her the knowledge of knowing when to utilize quotation marks to differentiate dialogue and prose. And quotation marks isn't the only thing that demonstrates this, the diction in the novel (the way Celie spells words), show this, as well. Clearly, she was taught to spell words the way they sound (the foundation for learning how to write). Back to the passage on page 2, she spells "kilt" instead of "killed", although she means the latter (considering the word "kilt" really means a Scottish man-skirt). Also, on page 47, she spells correctly, but uses technical "improper" grammar when writing "She just sick". This proves to show that Celie is not only characterized through her story, but her medium, and how she tells her story.

#wcw

In the novel, The Color Purple, Shug Avery serves a goddess-like icon to Celie. Celie finds herself with an instant crush on this women before even meeting her. After meeting Shug, Celie is especially captivated by Shug's confidence and sexuality. With Celie's past of being raped, she had never thought of sex as a pleasurable experience. She was so used to being used like an object for men's pleasure to the point where sex wasn't believed to be for the women's benefit at all. When she was introduced to a new perspective of sex from Shug, not only did this shift her mindset on the act but also introduced different feelings towards Shug. Throughout the novel, there are several indications that Celie may even be a lesbian because of the way she describes Shug. Celie even experiences masturbation for the first time to the thought of her (77). I personally do believe Celie is a lesbian. This demonstrates the first time in which Celie feels an attraction or an indication of love towards another person. These two women share a relationship that is much more than just sex. The connect deep with each other and Celie describes how comfortable she is with Shug. She gives Celie a feeling of worth and also makes her feel sexually and emotionally more comfortable. Although some may argue that Celie is not a lesbian and is just experiencing something new, I argue that because of Celie's traumatic experiences in the past it pushed her away from men and towards women.