Analysis of the Color Purple
Alice Walker's depiction of a southern black woman in the novel The Color Purple was the most powerful I've ever read in my life. One reason this was so was because Walker applied a variety of literary devices to the story, giving it more of an impact. She used symbolism, applied her tone as an author, and used a specific dialect for her characters, all in letter form. It's important to the author to use these devices in their novels, especially if they are trying to convey a certain message or issue to their readers. A particularly weighty one at that. If it had not been for the vivid vernacular placed upon her southern-born characters or the use of written letter form as an alternative to the form frequently utilized in novels, this story wouldn't have left such a mark or rather, a stamp, on my soul. The appearance of symbolism in The Color Purple is not as glaring to the readers' eye as one may think. Though you don't read the actual words of the title until towards the end of the book, Alice Walker didn't just pluck the name of her award-winning novel out of thin air. On page 291, Celie is showing Shug her completely purple and red room. She even shows her a little purple frog perched o
Using symbolism to give meaning to the title of the novel, infusing tone to express her feelings towards certain issues, an authentic form of dialect to portray the real nature of the characters, and the ubiquitous letter form of writing for exposing Celie's personal feelings for which she did not dare share with any other mortal soul than her sister Nettie, were each used to Alice Walker's advantge throughout the novel. Without any of these four devices, you couldn't have made such an impact or gotten any message across to readers. With no symbolism, one cannot understand the title, or it may not have been named The Color Purple in the first place. An absence of tone would leave the story naked of a purpose or attitude. Specialized dialect and unortodox writing form of letters lend to the novel's originality and authenticity, which also makes this one of the best written and most fascinating books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's almost impossible to read a novel without experiencing the presence of the authors' tone. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker is able to candidly address her feelings towards the role of black women in society and whites' treatment towards blacks down south. Such was with the situation between Sofia, a big, strong, "amazon girl" who took care of herself and was considered slightly eccentric for a black woman in those days, and her smaller, shorter, much more reliant husband, Harpo. His father said he should make her "mind", as in "teach her the woman's role" by slapping her around. When he took his father's advice, Harpo got nothing but a black eye and a split lip. The reader knows who put the bruises there: his wife. Without even hearing Sofia admit to her self-protective violence, you can deduce that she had hit her husband because of her previous displays of a rebellious and determined temperament. The author makes it seems plausible to the reader that Sofia would resort to violence when he
Some common words found in the essay are:
Alice Walker, Color Purple, Celie's Nettie's, Harpo Harpo, Shug Avery, Celie Shug, Alice Walker's, What's Walker, Shug Nettie's, color purple, letter form, sister nettie, alice walker's, black woman, written letter form, written letter, form writing, feelings towards, nettie's letters, color purple alice, celie's writing, Purple Alice,
Approximate Word count = 1316
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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