Wherever There's a Man, There'

A detailed Summary of Wherever There's a Man, There'

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, is structured as a series of letters written by Celie and her sister, Nettie. Celie is a troubled young woman with no self-worth, little confidence, and no self-esteem. Miller shows how Celie changes into a mature, whole, and true woman.

In the beginning of the book, Celie does not sign her name at the end of her letters, and she is afraid to stand up for herself because she has no self-worth, no self-esteem, and little confidence. People usually take pride in signing their names, but Celie does not. This is partly due to the fact that Celie's father rapes her and beats her, starting at the age of fourteen. Celie becomes pregnant and is not able to go to school. She is confused by this and has no way to know that her father's actions are wrong. Celie's mother is not in a mental or physical state in which she can explain or stop anything done to Celie. So, Celie grows up believing this is how she is supposed to be treated.

Celie feels unloved. No one has ever showed her any sort of love except for her sister Nettie. When Celie marries Mr.______, she is separated from Nettie. Mr.______ does not treat Celie any better than her father did and only marries her to take care of his four c

Celie is left unable to trust men because her whole life she is treated poorly by them. Celie refers to most men, including her husband, as Mr.______. She thinks so little of them that to her they do not even have a name. "Well, you know wherever there's a man, there's trouble (212)." This has become Celie's opinion of most men because every man she has ever know has done something horrible to either her or to another woman.

Celie writes to God because she needs someone to talk to. She loves and trusts God and knows that he loves her. Since she knows that Nettie is unreachable, she feels that God is the only other thing she has that cares about her.

In the end, Celie is a changed person, self-confident, strong, and has learned to love herself. All of her suffering has paid off and she is reunited with her sister Nettie (293). She can now, after forty or more years of suffering, spend the rest of her life truly happy.

Sofia, Harpo's wife, shows Celie, through example, how to stand up to men and how to stand up to prejudice. When Sofia and Harpo are first married, Harpo thinks that he must beat Sofia to make her do what he wants her to do. Sofia, who is a rather large woman, can and does fight back. Celie sees this when she stumbles upon one of their arguments (39). Celie has never seen a woman stand up to her husband. She begins to think that maybe she too should stand up to her husband.

Celie finally begins to learn that she does not deserve what happens to her when s

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1012
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels