Bryce Sullivan

Reading Response #1: The Color Purple

"You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy." Alice
Walker, the author of The Color Purple, begins her novel with an unclear threat in
my opinion, but a fairly compelling, yet unexplained, quote begins a very powerful
novel. Before opening this book, I had no idea how it was written or what it was
about other than what Ive seen from the movie, I chose it solely by
recommendation from my sister. I soon noticed that the whole story was to be told
through letters written by Celie and addressed to God. I was actually very pleased
to be reading something formatted different.
Alice Walker wastes no time to shock the reader right off of the back. The
very first letter describes the rape of the Celie by her stepfather. Uneducated
language is used to bring more depth and realism, because the set time of the
story, but also adds a sort of crudeness to it. This is nothing you would expect a first
page to consist of. A turn of the page begins with, "My mama dead. She die
screaming and cussing. She scream at me."
The author shows no type of restraints for the display of unpleasant details
that the book withholds, but because of this it adds a more powerful effect. Allowing
the main messages to intensify in the book.