Essay about Alice Walkers The Color Purple - 1442 Words

Alice Walkers The Color Purple Alice Walkers ‘The colour purple’ was largely based in a black community in the deep south of America, in between the end of the nineteenth century and the Second World War. It has been described as a rendition of her own life, thus far, I am none the wiser. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, slavery had long been abolished in America, but old habits die hard, especially in the deep south of America-where barely any politicians would set foot-, the black community was still plagued by the white man’s retained mannerism, although the black community had won a civil rights campaign to be considered equal to the white man, to many people the civil rights act was of no consequence, the†¦show more content†¦The white community is portrayed by the author to be a brutal and fearful part of town. There are many references within the novel which relate to the Black mans fear and distrust of the white community, when Celie goes to town with Mr____, he leaves her on the wagon while he goes to the dry goods store (letter10), this is the letter in which Celie thinks she meets her daughter, near the end when she and Pauline’s mother are alone in the street, Pauline’s mother starts to panic and get upset when her husbands wagon is not in sight, this shows the reader that there is unrest still when in the street, or in a public place for a black person, it also shows that the white man still intimidates, this also shows that the white man still thought he remained superior to the black man in social standing, Alice Walker touches on this quite often within the novel, her representation is based on common knowledge, and her own experience of the prejudice against her and her people. Apart from the racial inequality due to the mindset of the white man, there does seem to be some sense of agreement between the white man in some respects, in letter 8, Pa is talking to Celie ant Netty about Celie’s education, he never looks up from cleaning his gun, until ‘Pretty soon a bunch of white mens come walking cross the yard’, when he abruptly stands up and walks off to join them, ‘They have guns too’, this is almost quiet unity betweenShow MoreRelatedColors And Independence In Alice Walkers The Color Purple1555 Words   |  7 Pages Alice Walker’s masterpiece, The Color Purple, uses ordinary things such as clothes, colors, jobs, and money as strong symbolism. In this book, pants symbolize independence. Pants change the way society views and treats a person. They also convey that a person is strong, confident, free, and equal to others. Alice Walker shows the reader how wearing pants can have a big effect on a person’s life, especially if that person is a woman in the early twentieth century. From the beginning of time to lessRead MoreAnalysis Of Alice Walkers The Color Purple2079 Words   |  9 Pages In Alice Walkers The Color Purple, she explores the thin grey line that stands between survival and living. Through her protagonist, Celie, she examines the dramatic shifts of empowerment; focusing on the young black girl in the 1850’s. Walker introduces the reader to the protagonist, Celie, through a series of letters. In these letters the reader finds Celie amidst her mother’s death. The author chooses to address her letters to God, giving Celie a greater willpower to survive. Celie’s upbringingRead More Alice Walkers The Color Purple Essay2478 Words   |  10 Pageslittle reefer on the side. These are all of the components of a novel by Alice Walker. All of these views are illustrated proficiently in Alice Walker’s third novel, â€Å"The Color Purple.† Each one of these aspects had a lasting impression upon the ideals and notions of the time. Walkers writings helped to break the racial barrier that existed in some peoples minds. One way that the barrier was destroyed was through Walkers depiction of an imperfect black person. If a white person wrote aboutRead MoreGender Equality In Alice Walkers The Color Purple704 Words   |  3 Pagesthe release of The Color Purple, women had already begun to eliminate gender discrimination in education, voting, sports, and in the workforce. During To Kill a Mockingbird’s time, only â€Å"30 percent of wives worked outside the home in 1960† (â€Å"Modern America†). This would eventually grow into â€Å"50 percent by 1980† (â€Å"Modern America†), which alludes to gender bias becoming less of an issue when The Color Purple came to be. By 1980, still two years before the publication of Alice Walker’s novel, â€Å"more thanRead MoreThe Importance Of Love In Alice Walkers The Color Purple1522 Words   |  7 PagesBritish poet Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, â€Å"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at allâ⠂¬  (BrainyQuotes). This particular quote ties into Alice Walker’s The Color Purple by portraying the many feelings that the main character, Celie has about love and how love impacts your life. Celie had to learn the hard way that love was not always easy and often caused heartache. Although these lessons were not always simple they ultimately helped Celie in her future success. Even thoughRead MoreEssay on Race and Class in Alice Walkers Color Purple1622 Words   |  7 PagesEssay on Race and Class in The Color Purple  Ã‚     Ã‚   An important  Ã‚  juncture in Alice Walkers The Color Purple is reached when Celie first recovers the missing letters from her long-lost sister Nettie. This discovery not only signals the introduction of a new narrator to this epistolary novel but also begins the transformation of Celie from writer to reader. Indeed, the passage in which Celie struggles to puzzle out the markings on her first envelope from Nettie provides a concrete illustration Read MoreLanguage and Male Supremacy in Alice Walkers The Color Purple694 Words   |  3 Pagesfeelings; it only creates problems and hurts women. Historically, Southern men in the middle 1900’s, like the ones in The Color Purple, traditionally treated their wives as if they were worthless or unimportant. In her novel, The Color Purple, Alice Walker shows husbands abuse their power over their wives to escape their problems through Harpo, Mr. _____ and Grady. First, Alice Walker shows husbands abuse their power to escape their problems through Harpo. Harpo abuses his power of being the manRead MoreLife Struggles and Themes in Alice Walkers The Color Purple 2040 Words   |  9 PagesBorn in Eatonton, Georgia, in 1944 Alice Walker was last of her eight siblings. As far as becoming author, Alice walker herself was faced with many struggles throughout her life. After a childhood accident blinded her in one eye, she went on to become valedictorian of her local school, and attend Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence College on scholarships, graduating in 1965(Janet Witalec). Her biggest turning point/ motivation was an author named Zora Neale Hurston, who made a great influence onRead More Celies Pain in Alice Walkers Color Purple Essay1473 Words   |  6 PagesCelies Pain in The Color Purple Molestation is a topic that is painful to think about, and even more difficult to write about. Yet Alice Walker chose this as the central theme of her novel The Color Purple. Walkers work centers around a poor African American girl Celie. Celie keeps a diary, and the first section of the novel is an excerpt from her diary. After reading the excerpt, the reader comes to realize that Celie is a fourteen-year-old girl who has been molested by her father. ThroughRead MoreEssay on Struggle and Growth in Alice Walkers Color Purple836 Words   |  4 PagesStruggle and Growth in Alice Walkers The Color Purple The Color Purple depicts the struggle and growth of Celie, an uneducated slave of the South who became a victim of racism, sexual roles, men, and social injustices, in numerous letters that she writes as a diary. Walker uses Celies uneducated grammar to help the reader perceive the pain that she thinks and feels in order to become a mature, twentieth-century woman.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As Celie writes to God for guidance and strength asking