The Color Purple

A detailed Summary of The Color Purple

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, is a very intense book to read. By intense, I mean it

is a book touching very difficult and hard aspects of life of a poor, black oppressed woman in the

early twentieth century. Walker does social criticism in her novel, mostly criticizing the way

black women were treated in the early twentieth century. Walker uses the life experiences of

Celie to illustrate her social criticism.

The Color Purple is not written in the style of most novels. The author does not tell us

everything about the characters, the setting, and why the characters behave the way they do. The

novel is written in a series of letters, not dated. There are large gaps between some letters, but

this is not revealed by the author; we have to figure it out ourselves. The letters are written in

what Walker calls black folk language, which also reduces the

comes to live with them to recuperate from a sickness, and Celie becomes her nurse. Shug is a

complaining to God, she is simply confiding in him.

woman must fight back to regain the self esteem and confidence lost way back in the early

sister Nettie is taken away from her, and she marries a cruel man who really wanted to marry

By the end of the novel, Celie's new strength pays off, because she is able to live happily

Approximate Word count = 592
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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