There is no place for God in these novels

Brontes Wuthering Heights and Walkers The Color Purple both feature
representation of religion and God, with Wuthering Heights focusing on the
apparent absence of God, while The Color Purple focuses on the changing role of
God, how Celie addresses her feelings towards belief, and what it means to her.

Through the framed narrative delivered to us through the voice of Nelly Dean, it
can be deduced that Heathcliff produces a vast difficulty; with Nelly stating how
his visits were a constant nightmare to me. By referring to Heathcliff as a
nightmare, Bronte creates further interest and imagery surrounding him with
dark and supernatural qualities, developing Heathcliff as a personification of the
devil, Isabella citing Is he a man?... If so, is he mad? If not, is he the devil?. His
violence and greed embody the features that Victorians feared, suggesting that
there is no place for God in Wuthering Heights, simply because Heathcliff
symbolizes a villain and a Byronic hero.

Nellys religious views present her as a biased narrator; she comments that
Catherine rests in peace when she dies, however, it clear to the reader that
Catherines presence is felt at Wuthering Heights following her death, especially
in the form of a child, such as when she appears at Lockwoods window, or is
seen by Heathcliff on the moors. Catherine was the happiest in her childhood,
constantly going back to it as an adult, and never really growing up, as Nelly tells
her to give over that baby work. Highlighting Catherines religious sense of
ambiguity, she tells Nelly if I were in heaven, Nelly, I would be extremely
miserable, which expresses her rebellion against convention as she inverts good
and evil as well as heaven and hell. Heaven to her is not synonymous with peace
and bliss: heaven did not seem to be my home, and I broke my heart with
weeping to come back to earth. Only Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff can fulfil
the sense of enlightenment and heaven for Catherine the angels were so angry
that they flung me out, into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering
Heights where I woke, sobbing for joy. This draws parallels between Catherine
and Lucifer, who was flung out of heaven, as well as Heathcliff, who was denied
entry to Thrushcross Grange, signifying the connection between them.

In comparison to Wuthering Heights, The Color Purple also rejects the conceived
concept of Christianity. While it directly recognises religion, with Celie structures
most of her letters with a symbolic Dear God, emphasising her continued
attempt to contact God, with her lack of knowledge of who God really is, and
what God represents. Despite her religious upbringing, she finds she herself
questioning what believing in God means to her, and is constantly adjusting her
view on him from a grey bearded and white man, and someone who is
purposeless, to something that is not represented by a gender or a physical
being, but an emotional and spiritual outlet. God becomes not a she or a he but a
it, as classified by Shug, and that, in order to worship, a person should just lay
back and admire stuff. Be happy. This implies that although there is no place for
a God in The Color Purple, there is place for spiritual freedom and belief.

Heathcliff is frequently mirrored with the devil, and having demonic attributes
which alongside the frequency of biblical allusions creates a transformation of
Heathcliff from a man to the devil. His unknown heritage heightens the
ambiguity and confusion, and his presence appears to be a omen for destructive
acts, revealing evil and cruel forces within him e.g. when Catherine is bitten by
the dog at Thrushcross Grange. Heathcliff is the last surviving character of his
generation (excluding Nelly), suggesting that while there may be no place for
God at Wuthering Heights, in juxtaposition, there is no place for Heathcliff in
heaven.

The god-fearing Joseph serves a role to suggest that God should not have a place
in the novel, as it creates an image of God that is not representative of what
Christianity is meant to convey. His constant biblical jargon and his preaching to
all the characters in the novel emphasises the motif of the afterlife in the novel,
and what each characters, including such a religious man, believe it to be.
Catherine and Heathcliffs religious education is entirely based on their hearing
of Josephs own religious ideals. Comparable to Celie, Catherine and Heathcliff
dislike this version of religion, and instead prefer to find it with nature and the
wilderness.

Religion is also contrasted in the two houses. In Wuthering Heights Joseph
emphasiss sin, damnation and hellfire, he represents a vindictive form of
religion. Thrushcross Granges emphasis is on tolerance and forgiveness and
hope of heaven. Edgar receives consolation from his faith after his wifes death:
He didnt pray for Catherine to haunt him: Time brought resignation. According
to Nelly, he displayed the true courage of a loyal and faithful soul: he trusted
God; and God comforted him. Edgar on his deathbed says: I am going to her, and
you darling child shall come to us, suggesting that Catherines soul has split into
two, one staying in heaven with her love for Edgar, and the other as a child on
the moors waiting for Heathcliff.