Themes of the Color Purple By Alice Walker

A detailed Summary of Themes of the Color Purple By Alice Walker

The Color Purple is a story that is told openly and sincerely by a black woman named Celie. Throughout the course of the story, we are shown Celie's struggle to find herself, love, confidence, independence, and the courage to fight and fend for herself. The novel is written in first person by Celie through letters that she wrote to both God and her sister Nettie, as well as letters written by Nettie to Celie. Through their letters, we become familiar with their emotions, thoughts, and sense of their reality in an honest and genuine manner. In addition to knowing Celie and Nettie, we become acquainted with their family, friends, and way of life. By the time we reach the end of the novel, we are aware of the many different themes like independence, gender issues, and race relations.

A struggle for or possession of independence of mind, body, and soul, especially for women, is widely seen throughout the book. We see a transition in Celie from being a timid, young girl with little self worth to a strong, independent woman. She once was a slave to her step-father and later on her husband, but eventually found her own freedom and peace of mind through Shug Avery and other influential women wa

The gender issues in this book are very prevalent, in both America and Africa. Many of these issues deal with men versus women, mostly men domineering over their wives or other women in general. In the very beginning, Celie is victimized by not only her own step-father (Fonso), but her husband. Many men in this novel try to treat women like slaves, or like they are of little importance. Fonso and Albert talk about her like she's an animal, when talking about the possibility of Albert's and Celie's marriage. Fonso told Albert, "She ugly. Don't even look like she kin to Nettie. But she'll make the better wife. She ain't smart either, and I'll just be fair, you have to watch her or she'll give away everything you own. But she can work like a man." They present her as less than human, like she was an "it". It is only the exceptionally strong woman like Shug and Sofia that stand up to the men. When Harpo, Sofia's husband, tries to physically domineer over Sofia, she defends herself aggressively and successfully. Like the black men in America, the black men in Africa treat as if they were lesser human beings. The women are not educated, and have strictly determined roles. Nettie stated in her letter: "There is a way that the men speak to women . . . They listen just long enough to issue instructions. They don't even look at women when women are speaking . . . The women also do not "look in a man's face" as they say. To "look in a man's face" is a brazen thing to do." The men in this novel all seemed to have the idea that women were inferior, whi

Some common words found in the essay are:
Harpo Sofia's, Celie Nettie, Color Purple, Albert Celie's, Celie Throughout, America Africa, Albert's Celie's, Sofia Celie's, Shug Avery, Nettie Celie, color purple, color purple story, black people, purple story, race relations, strong woman, independent woman, gender issues, themes independence, celie nettie, celie letters,

Approximate Word count = 1057
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English