The Color Purple by Alice Walker (November 9-11, 2003)
The Color Purple was an interesting read, being written completely as personal letters written to God, or between two sisters. Spanning the course of over 30 years, Celie and Nettie write their thoughts and story, though they have no personal contact with one another. The first page of the novel is offsetting. Celie, at 14, is raped by her "Pa". She begins protecting her younger sister, Nettie from her father. Eventually, Celie marries Mr. ___ (or as I called him: Mr. Blank), who beats her for any whim. Nettie escapes her home and comes to Celie, but Mr. ___ looks at her with lustful eyes, and she must depart again.
Celie’s life is one of drudgery for years. She hears no work from Nettie, and doesn’t know if she is alive or dead. Meanwhile, she falls in love with a singer, Shug. Shug is Mr.____’s lifetime love. Nettie has joined two missionaries, and their adopted children, and journeyed to Africa. The adopted children are Celie’s offspring by her "Pa." Nettie writes letters to Celie of her children and life, but Mr.____ intercepts them. When Celie learn of her deception and finds the letters, her indifference to her treatment is shattered. She leaves Mr. ___ and joins Shug. Celie begins sewing pants as a business. Nettie writes to her sister of her discovery that "Pa" is not their Pa, but their mother’s second husband. Their father was lynched and their mother went crazy. Celie is stunned. When her father dies, Celie learns that her step-father stole her and Nettie’s inheritance, and that she owns her own home. Shug abandons her for a 19 year old boy, and months later returns to Celie. In the meantime, Celie has reconciles with Albert, who finally becomes human. Nettie returns home, eventually married to the husband missionary (whose wife died in Africa). The children, Olivia and Adam, are grown and Adam marries Tashi. They return to America, and the sisters reunite.
The contrast between Celie and Nettie’s use of English is vast. Celie’s dialect was difficult to read in the beginning. I wish it had improved with her writing, but it never seemed to. I was annoyed that Mr. ____ had no last name, so I decided to call him Mr. Blank, instead of Mr. Underscore. Finally, you learn his name is Albert. It was surprising to me that both Celie and Mr. ___ fell so in love with Shug. She seemed to love in such a short-term, inconsistent manner, that it was hard for the reader to like her at all.
The books beginning was grating. Watching Celie’s troubles and hardships, I was stifled that nothing seemed to change. It was awful that the women didn’t stand together until over halfway through the story. When they laughed together at the table at the men in their lives, I felt the women, repressed by society and their own husbands, at last had their way (at least for those few seconds). When the women became allies, they grew stronger.
The message of the book was mixed. I felt that in some ways it was not empowering since the story ends with Celie learning that no matter what, she was resigned to forgive, and forgive any wrong committed against her in the end.
