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.
