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.