The Colour Purple Essay Example

The Colour Purple Essay From reading the novel it could be said that the first half is concentrated on how men hold the power over women. This view is supported by Stuart who highlights the exploitation of black women by black men. However I do not agree with this view. I dont think the focus is jus on gender itself although it does play a part, but I think their sex and colour was also brought up. During the novel we see that males dominated females and white families were classed as more important than black families. This was caused by the time in which the novel was set in, slavery had been abolished however it was still in peoples minds and we see it still carried on in some areas of the novel. One example of this is when Alphonso is almost selling Celie. He barters by adding a cow to the deal and points out her positive sides, she aint no stranger to hard work, and she clean. Celie has the power to move on and almost start life again, partly through gaining financial power. This is portrayed to us when Celie leaves with Shug and sets up her own business making pants for women, which had only started as a hobby. We will write a custom essay sample on The Colour Purple specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Colour Purple specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Colour Purple specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer However Celie made it work for her, she started making money and became independent as she was making her own money now. I am as Mary O Connor quoted an extract by Gates, Celie writes herself into being. This shows a change amongst Celie showing she believes in herself whereas before at the beginning of the novel she crossed I am out and replaced it with I have. Celie making trousers may have given here this power because they are often looked at as a symbol of freedom for women. Within the context of the time period in the novel, women wearing trousers would have been looked upon as rebellious which itself gives that person a form of power. This however was not true for Albert; after Celie left him he became a mess. He locked himself in the house and Harpo had to go and get him out. Albert, probably shocked that Celie had actually left him later became a changed man who Celie began to like as he was into all kinds of new things like nature. We also find Albert used to sew with his mother, something Celie and Albert now have in common. He says people used to laugh at him and Celie said, well, nobody gon laugh at you now here help me stitch in these pockets. We now see that Albert has started to respect Celie and doesnt just look at her as his own property, took me long enough to notice you such good company. Mary OConner says that Alphonsos exhortation towards Celie at the beginning of the novel gave her a way out. He threatens Celie that she cannot tell anyone what he had done to her apart from god. He tells her she can tell god but no one else or he will kill her mother, you better not never tell nobody but god. Itd kill your mammy. Through the threat from Alphonso, Celie may feel he has power not only over her but also over her loved ones as her mothers life is at risk, as shown by O Connor speaking would be an act of murder, a matricide. By giving Celie the right to write to god he had given her a way out and saved her from becoming insane or mentally ill. Although she cannot tell another person, she has someone to confide in and to share her problems with. The threat from Alphonso supports Stuarts perception that men are mostly troublesome, sometimes cruel. Alphonso here has shown a psychological strength because by threatening her, hes forced her into not speaking to other people about any of her problems and teaching her to keep all her problems to herself. However he is not aware that Celie writing to god allows her to offload and share her problems with someone other than herself. O Connor says that Celies existence to be denied this explains that in her rape experience and also in the fact that she has a lack of voice she is therefore not able to share her bad experience with anyone. However I think she is able to express her feelings through writing so is therefore giving herself a voice and existence which goes against what O Connor states. Walker shows Alphonsos psychological power over Celie in the beginning of her writing letters. Celie crossed out I am. This is almost as if she is crossing herself out. She changes it to, I have always been a good girl. It seems that Celie is taking the blame for what Alphonso has done to her. This is the first time we see an authority figure abuse Celie which reinforces male dominance in her life. The rape not only shows physical power strength and power but also emotional authority, due to Celies naivety, for his own pleasure. Another time in the novel in which we see Alphonsos power over Celie is when he is trying to get rid of her by marrying her off. However its more like he is selling her as they barter, he even throws in a cow. This again relates back and shows how black females in this time period were still being treated as slaves. O Connor tells us her feminist analysis is interested in the voices, as its a male dominated conversation where Celie only gets in a few words on a highly important decision which can affect her whole life. Here Alphonso shows his total power over Celie and the fact that not only does he control her life now, but he also controls her future and how or who she will spend it with. The fact that she cannot decide herself who she wants to marry takes all control away from her. Throughout this Celies voice is absent, and even when its important decisions about her own life she still seems to have no voice. Religion to the lives of the people in the novel was not the sanctuary it might have been according to Mary OConner, Alphonso gave Celie one way out perhaps the result of some dialogical residue of his Christian culture. However Celie received a beating after church, cause he say I winked at a boy in church. The colour purple itself is a symbol of violence which runs throughout the novel as its the colour of bruises. However it can also portray authority as its the colour of royalty. Walker symbolises power through this quote, womanism is to feminism as purple is to lavender. This tells us Walker thinks womanism as a stronger form or feminism as the colour purple is brighter than lavender. Shug tells us that the colour purple is everywhere and that God has used this colour to portray beauty, I think it pisses God off if you walk pass the colour purple in a field somewhere and dont notice it. It can also be said that Gods love for this colour made black people in this complexion as in one of Netties first letters to Celie when she arrives in Africa she talks about the Senegalese peoples skin, So and so is blacker than black, hes blueblack. Celies getting married and it looks as if shes getting away from Albert and also from the abuse and suffering. However we find its going to be the same life for her its just a different set of males throwing and shouting abuse at her, The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. Thats how come I know trees fear man. We can see how unhappy Celie really is, she explains she trys to make herself like wood so that they cannot affect or hurt her anymore. Another section of power in the novel is the physical domination of the women. Celie being a black woman is disadvantaged as not only is she looked upon as a slave but she is also dominated by the male authorities in the novel. She suffers at the hands of men. We can therefore argue that the emancipation proclamation of the post civil war era freed men but not the women because the male authority then saw the woman as their slave which is how Celie is treated by both Albert and Alphonso, we see this when Albert does not get off his horse to meet Celie but also speaks about her in third person, Hes still on his horse. He look me up and down. This shows us his power over her. Alphonso treats Celie like a slave. He shows no respect towards her, from this we can learn that men are not in Celies heart which is why I agree with what Andrea Stuart says, Rather like the weather, men are part of womens (usually) hostile environment, a perennial force to be dealt with daily, but not the centre of their emotional existence. Another male figure that dominates over Celie is Albert. The main and the most obvious way we can see Albert dominates is that Celie does not call him by his name, she calls him Mr. This gives us evidence Albert controls the relationship. This again links back to slavery as slaves would not call their master or owner by their first name. When Albert went to see Celie he did not get down from his horse showing more power due to the fact he is higher and therefore in a higher position than she is, He still on his horse. He look me up and down. Another view of Celie as a slave is the fact that no loving relationship exists, it seems like Celie is there to cook, clean, look after the kids and Alberts needs, so therefore he just uses her, Mr clam on top of me, do his business. She says do his business. From this we see its for Albert and that Celie is being used like a piece of meat and gets no pleasure out of it, He abuses her physically and verbally, humiliates her publicly, and is responsible for her decades-long separation from her much loved sister Nettie. Celie doesnt say anything she lets Albert get on with it, Mary OConnor says, Celies voice would seem to be absent from this account of male voices around her. I also agree with Mary O Connor at this point in the novel, I think Celie had lost her voice from the time Alphonso had told her to write to God but not to tell anyone. However later in The Colour Purple we find that Celie with help from Shug regains her voice, takes a stand and calls Albert by his name and threatens him. She later leaves with Shug and her full confidence back. Albert acts totally different in the two relationships he is in, with Celie he dominates and controls the relationship however in the relationship Albert and Shug share he is the opposite. Shug controls what happens and Albert does anything she tells him to. This also shows us the difference in character of Celie and Shug, Celie is easily controlled but Shug is a strong character. One critics view is some women wear pants; and some of the men wear dresses. Mary OConnor is telling us that in some relationships women can rule and have the men listening to what they say and do as they tell them, this is defiantly true for Shug. We also see that when Albert is with Celie he wears the pants but when hes with Shug he would appear to be wearing the dress. Another relationship where the woman dominates is between Sofia and Harpo. Sofia has total control over their relationship, she holds the power and it seems Harpo hates this. On the other hand it may not be that he hates it but the pressure from society forces him to act in certain ways. Tony Brown says, Love has been drained out by the brutality of a society panic-stricken over black masculinity. This gives us the idea that culture is the main reason for the need to hold power. Harpo is an example of this violence in society, for example when his mother was killed by her boyfriend in front of him. He associates being dominant as a way of asserting himself. He wants the power in the relationship because he has seen the way his father holds the power in his relationship with Celie. We know Harpo wants the power as Sofia tells us once he git on top me I think bout how thats where he always want to be. Harpo confides in Celie and asks what he should do, Celie tells Harpo to beat Sofia to gain control. This advice is surprising but coming from Celie can be understood because she has suffered abuse all her life and she is used to it. Its all she knows and therefore she believes its normal. Power and the placement of it is also shown in the African part of the novel and it is through these tribes we are able to compare Celie with the traditional African way of life. The Olinkas, one of the main tribes that are introduced to us, hold the power of life and death over their wives. The men are also looked upon as better than women in the tribe. The structure of power in that who holds it and who doesnt in the tribe is also shown in Celies life through her being raped and that fact she is not able to enjoy sex with her partner Albert, I know what he doing to me he done to Shug Avery and maybe she like it. The fact that she cannot enjoy it may be cause by Celies feelings and emotions towards males as she has been abused by them all her life. This is supported by Stuarts view that men are never the source of emotional sustenance or long term happiness for women. However this is does not seem true for Shug as she looks happy with her male partners, this may be because she always seems to have control over her relationships. In conclusion I can say that in the beginning of The Colour Purple it is the men who hold all the power, however as new characters are introduced it is slightly more balanced as Shug and Sofia speak there mind and stand up to any man. Also later Celie and Squeak both stand up for themselves, they take control of the situation but also take away the power from the men and hold it themselves. At the beginning of the novel Celie writes to God, she then starts writing to her sister Nettie, this shows a change in her and in the end all her hopes pay off as she breaks away from her abusing husband and lives with her family; her sister Nettie and her kids with Shug.