Literature Analysis 2

The Color Purple

Alice Walker

1) This novel is about Celie, a poor, black girl and her younger sister Nettie. Alphonso, the girls' farther, beats and rapes Celie. She has two children with him, both of which he steals and kills. Their mother dies, and Alphonso continues to beat Celie. The girls realize that a man, Mr.____ wants to marry Nettie, but Alphonso instead offers him Celie, and he finally agrees. When Celie moves out, Alphonse begins to beat Nettie and she runs away to her sister. Mr.____ still wants Nettie, and when he tries to pursue her again she runs away from the house, and Celie thinks she is dead.  Shug Avery, Mr.____'s lover comes to town and is invited to stay in the house.  At first she & Celie don't get along but they eventually become friends are sexually attracted to each other.  Shug gets married to a man but continues her relationship with Celie.  Shug finds letters from Nettie to Celie that Mr.____ has been hiding.  Nettie is still alive and is living with two missionaries, who have two adopted children.  These children turn out to be Celie's, who weren't really dead.  Nettie also explains that Alphonso wasn't really Celie & Nettie's father, only a man who took their mother's land when she died.  Celie starts a business in Tennessee and Shug works for her.  The missionary's wife dies and Nettie marries him.  Celie comes back to Georgia when Alphonso dies and she takes the property that is rightfully hers.  


2) The theme is feminism and the power of feminine relationships.  Throughout most of the book, Celie can't speak for herself or believe that she is worthy of even having her own ideas.  Her relationships with Shug and Nettie are what finally help her to realize that she is a person with feelings and that she can be whoever she wants to be.  She also realizes that she needs to stand up for herself and not let herself be put down by others.  She learns from Sofia, Mr.___'s daughter-in-law, that women can be just as powerful as men and that they have all the potential to succeed.


3) The tone of the novel is very sincere and personal.  It is told in Celie's letters to God, so she is being completely open and searching for herself.  

He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth.

But what bout me? First time I got the full sight of Shug Avery long black body with it black plum nipples, look like her mouth, I thought I had turned into a man.


What I love bet bout Shug is what she been through, I say. When you look in Shug’s eyes you know where been where she been, seen what she seen, did what she did. And now she know.


4) Syntax- This story is told in the first person, through Celie's letters to God.  This shows exactly how Celie is thinking and you can completely see the change in her once she realizes she can really be herself.
"Well, us talk and talk about God, but I’m still adrift. Trying to chase that old white man out of my head. I been so busy thinking bout him I never truly notice nothing God make."


Diction- Celie is uneducated, so the speech she uses is not always grammatically correct.  This is sometimes hard to read but it shows that she she also didn't value herself because she had no education.
"Us sleep like sisters, me and Shug."


Symbolism- Purple is a color that symbolizes royalty and beauty.  Celie never sees herself as beautiful or worthy until her relationship with Shug becomes closer.  The color of her new room at the end of the novel is purple, symbolizing that now she finds herself beautiful.


Characters- Celie makes a complete change because of the new characters in her life.  Shug and Sofia are both independent and teach Celie that she can be too.

Tashi is very intelligent, I said. She could be a teacher. A nurse. She could help the people in the village.

Contrast- Celie is drastically different from Shug and Sofia.  They are everything that she wishes to be, and you see the huge difference between who Celie was at the beginning of the novel and who she becomes at the end.
The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something.