English Language, Literature and Creative Writing Blog

 The Power of Strong Female Relationships    Throughout The Color Purple, female relationships are a means for women to summon the courage to tell stories. In turn, these stories allow women to resist oppression and dominance. Relationships among women form a refuge, providing reciprocal love in a world filled with male violence. Female ties take many forms: some are motherly or sisterly, some are in the form of mentor and pupil, some are sexual, and some are friendships. Sofia claims that her ability to fight comes from her strong relationships with her sisters, and they sing about being each other’s rock and tree “to hold on to in your time of need.” Nettie’s relationship with Celie anchors her through living in the unfamiliar culture of Africa. Most important, Celie’s ties to Shug bring about Celie’s gradual redemption and her attainment of a sense of self.    God and Religion   As the narrative perspective shifts and develops, so too does Celie's view of God. As teenagers, we

African-American Life in Georgia   The Color Purple is set in rural Georgia near Eatonton, where Alice Walker was born. The novel takes place from 1911-43. In 1865, the end of the American Civil War led to Congress passing the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Known as the Emancipation, this act prohibited slavery.    Slavery, the forced servitude of one person by another, was brutal and inhumane. Besides having to perform incredibly difficult labour, slaves were subject to horrific physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Slaves were viewed as property instead of people, and there was no regard for any family ties from capture to being sold to different plantations. Husbands and wives were separated, and children taken from their parents. Amy and Andrew Billingsley note “Slave women were exploited by white owners...for pleasure and profit. A role for the Black man as husband and father was systematically denied...In a word, the black family had no physical, psychological, socia

 Fourteen year old Celie has led a very rough life. Her mother is very sick, and when she goes to visit the doctor Celie is left alone with her father, Fonso. While the mother is gone, Fonso rapes Celie. Celie's mother dies soon after and now Fonso rapes Celie more and more often, saying "You gonna do what your mammy wouldn't" (p. 1). Celie has two children by her father, both of which he takes away right after they are born. Celie assumes that he has taken the children into the woods and killed them, but actually he has sold them. Fonso eventually remarries, and Celie is a constant reminder to him of his sexual abuse. To get rid of her and the guilty feelings he has he gives her away to be married to a man that is only described as Mr. _____. Life with Mr._____ is no better than life back with her father for Celie. Mr. ____ feels that the only way to keep a woman in her place is to beat her, and he beats Celie very often. Mr. _____ does not love Celie. He simply want