THE COLOR PURPLE

Alice Walker
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Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary
work.
The Power of Narrative and Voice

Walker emphasizes throughout the novel that the ability to express one’s thoughts
and feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self. Initially, Celie is completely
unable to resist those who abuse her. Remembering Alphonso’s warning that she
“better not never tell nobody but God” about his abuse of her, Celie feels that the
only way to persevere is to remain silent and invisible. Celie is essentially an
object, an entirely passive party who has no power to assert herself through action
or words. Her letters to God, in which she begins to pour out her story, become her
only outlet. However, because she is so unaccustomed to articulating her
experience, her narrative is initially muddled despite her best efforts at
transparency.

In Shug and Sofia, Celie finds sympathetic ears and learns

lessons that enable her to find her voice. In renaming Celie a “virgin,” Shug shows
Celie that she can create her own narrative, a new interpretation of herself and her
history that counters the interpretations forced upon her. Gradually Celie begins to
flesh out more of her story by telling it to Shug. However, it is not until Celie and
Shug discover Nettie’s letters that Celie finally has enough knowledge of herself to
form her own powerful narrative. Celie’s forceful assertion of this newfound power,
her cursing of Mr. ______ for his years of abuse, is the novel’s climax. Celie’s story
dumbfounds and eventually humbles Mr. ______, causing him to reassess and
change his own life.

Though Walker clearly wishes to emphasize the power of narrative and speech to
assert selfhood and resist oppression, the novel acknowledges that such
resistance can be risky. Sofia’s forceful outburst in response to Miss Millie’s
invitation to be her maid costs her twelve years of her life. Sofia regains her
freedom eventually, so she is not totally defeated, but she pays a high price for her
words.
The Power of Strong Female Relationships

Throughout The Color Purple, Walker portrays female friendships as a means for
women to summon the courage to tell stories. In turn, these stories allow women to
resist oppression and dominance. Relationships among women form a refuge,
providing reciprocal love in a world filled with male violence.

Female ties take many forms: some are motherly or sisterly, some are in the form
of mentor and pupil, some are sexual, and some are simply friendships. Sofia
claims that her ability to fight comes from her strong relationships with her sisters.
Nettie’s relationship with Celie anchors her through years of living in the unfamiliar
culture of Africa. Samuel notes that the strong relationships among Olinka women
are the only thing that makes polygamy bearable for them. Most important, Celie’s
ties to Shug bring about Celie’s gradual redemption and her attainment of a sense
of self.

The Cyclical Nature of Racism and Sexism

Almost none of the abusers in Walker’s novel are stereotypical, one-dimensional

monsters whom we can dismiss as purely evil. Those who perpetuate violence are
themselves victims, often of sexism, racism, or paternalism. Harpo, for example,
beats Sofia only after his father implies that Sofia’s resistance makes Harpo less of
a man. Mr. ______ is violent and mistreats his family much like his own tyrantlike
father treated him. Celie advises Harpo to beat Sofia because she is jealous of
Sofia’s strength and assertiveness.

The characters are largely aware of the cyclical nature of harmful behavior. For
instance, Sofia tells Eleanor Jane that societal influence makes it almost inevitable
that her baby boy will grow up to be a racist. Only by forcefully talking back to the
men who abuse them and showing them a new way of doing things do the women
of the novel break these cycles of sexism and violence, causing the men who
abused them to stop and reexamine their ways.

The Disruption of Traditional Gender Roles

Many characters in the novel break the boundaries of traditional male or female
gender roles. Sofia’s strength and sass, Shug’s sexual assertiveness, and Harpo’s
insecurity are major examples of such disparity between a character’s gender and
the traits he or she displays. This blurring of gender traits and roles sometimes
involves sexual ambiguity, as we see in the sexual relationship that develops
between Celie and Shug.

Disruption of gender roles sometimes causes problems. Harpo’s insecurity about

his masculinity leads to marital problems and his attempts to beat Sofia. Likewise,
Shug’s confident sexuality and resistance to male domination cause her to be
labeled a tramp. Throughout the novel, Walker wishes to emphasize that gender
and sexuality are not as simple as we may believe. Her novel subverts and defies
the traditional ways in which we understand women to be women and men to be
men.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to
develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Letters

Walker uses the novel’s epistolary (letter-writing) form to emphasize the power of
communication. Celie writes letters to God, and Nettie writes letters to Celie. Both
sisters gain strength from their letter writing, but they are saved only when they
receive responses to their letters. Therefore, although writing letters enables self-e-
xpression and confession, it requires a willing audience. When Celie never
responds to Nettie’s letters, Nettie feels lost because Celie is her only audience.
Nettie grows disillusioned with her missionary work because the imperialists will
not listen to her and because the Olinka villagers are stubborn. Only after Nettie
returns home to Celie, an audience guaranteed to listen, does she feel fulfilled and
freed.

The Rural Farm Community

Walker sets most of her novel in a rural farm community that has few visitors, and
she focuses on colorful portraits of each of her characters. By focusing on the
personal lives and transformations of her characters, Walker renders public events
almost irrelevant. When Shug and Celie hear news of current events from the
outside world, it all just sounds “crazy” to them. The unspecific time and place
broaden the novel’s scope, making its themes more universal.

Colors

Throughout the novel, the appearance of brighter colors indicates the liberation
various characters experience. Walker uses color to signal renewals and rebirths at
several points in the novel. When Kate takes Celie shopping for a new dress, the
only color options are drab ones—brown, maroon, and dark blue. Later, Celie and
Sofia use bright yellow fabric from Shug’s dress to make a quilt. When Celie
describes her religious awakening, she marvels how she never noticed the
wonders that God has made, such as “the color purple.” Upon Mr. ______’s
transformation, he paints the entire interior of his house “fresh and white,” signaling
his new beginning.
Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent

abstract ideas or concepts.
Sewing and Quilts

In general, sewing in The Color Purple symbolizes the power women can gain from
productively channeling their creative energy. After Sofia and Celie argue about the
advice Celie has given Harpo, Sofia signals a truce by suggesting they make a
quilt. The quilt, composed of diverse patterns sewn together, symbolizes diverse
people coming together in unity. Like a patchwork quilt, the community of love that
surrounds Celie at the end of the novel incorporates men and women who are
bonded by family and friendship, and who have different gender roles, sexual
orientations, and talents. Another important instance of sewing in the novel is
Celie’s pants-sewing business. With Shug’s help, Celie overturns the idea that
sewing is marginal and unimportant women’s labor, and she turns it into a lucrative,
empowering source of economic independence.

God

In the early parts of the novel, Celie sees God as her listener and helping hand, yet
Celie does not have a clear understanding of who God is. She knows deep down
that her image of God as a white patriarch “don’t seem quite right,” but she says it’s
all she has. Shug invites Celie to imagine God as something radically different, as
an “it” that delights in creation and just wants human beings to love what it has
created. Eventually, Celie stops thinking of God as she stops thinking of the other
men in her life—she “git man off her eyeball” and tells God off, writing, “You must
be sleep.” But after Celie has chased her patriarchal God away and come up with a
new concept of God, she writes in her last letter, “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees,
dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God.” This reimagining of God on
her own terms symbolizes Celie’s move from an object of someone else’s care to
an independent woman. It also indicates that her voice is now sufficiently
empowered to create her own narrative

Plot summary[edit]
Celie, the protagonist and narrator, is a poor, uneducated, fourteen-year-old black girl living
in the American South. She writes letters to God because the man she believes to be her
father, Alphonso, beats and rapes her. Alphonso has already impregnated Celie once, a
pregnancy that resulted in the birth of a girl. Alphonso takes the girl away shortly after her
birth. Celie has a second child, a boy, whom Alphonso also abducts. Celie's ailing mother
dies after cursing Celie on her deathbed.
Celie and her younger sister, Nettie, learn that a man identified only as Mister wants to
marry Nettie. Alphonso refuses to let Nettie marry, instead arranging for Mister to marry
Celie. Mister, needing someone to care for his children and keep his house, eventually
accepts the offer. Mister and his children, whose mother was murdered by a jealous lover,
all treat Celie badly. However, she eventually gets Mister's squalid living conditions and
incorrigible children under control.

Shortly thereafter, Nettie runs away from Alphonso and takes refuge at Celie's house.
Mister makes sexual advances toward her. Celie then advises Nettie to seek assistance from
a well-dressed black woman that she had seen in the general store a while back; the woman
had unknowingly adopted Celie's daughter and was the only black woman that Celie had
ever seen with money of her own. Nettie is forced to leave after promising to write. Celie,
however, never receives any letters and concludes that her sister is dead.

Time passes and Mister's children begin to grow up and leave home. Harpo, the only child
of Mister who becomes a major character, falls in love with an assertive girl named Sofia.
Sofia becomes pregnant with Harpo's baby and, despite initial resistance from Mister,
marries Harpo. Harpo and Sofia have five other children in short order.

Celie is amazed by Sofia's defiant refusal to submit to Harpo's attempts to control her.
Harpo, kinder and gentler than his father, feels emasculated due to his inability to get Sofia
to "mind." Celie advises Harpo not to try to dominate Sofia; she also tells Harpo that Sofia
loves him, admitting that she only obeys Mister out of fear. Harpo temporarily follows
Celie's advice but falls back under Mister's sway. A momentarily jealous Celie then advises
Harpo to beat Sofia. Sofia fights back, however, inflicting serious injuries on Harpo.

After Sofia confronts her, Celie, who was already feeling guilty about what she had done,
apologizes and confides in her about all the abuse she suffers at Mister's hands. She also
begins to consider Sofia's advice about defending herself against further abuse from Mister.

Shug Avery, a lounge singer and Mister's long-time mistress, falls ill and Mister takes her
into his house. Celie, who had been fascinated by the photos of Shug she found in Mister's
belongings, is thrilled to have her there. Mister's father expresses disapproval of the
arrangement, reminding Mister that Shug has three out-of-wedlock children. Mister proudly
states that he knows for certain that all the children have the same father, indirectly
admitting to being their father. Mister's father leaves in disgust after drinking a glass of
water that Celie spit in. Shug is initially rude to Celie, who has taken charge of nursing her,
but the two women become friends. Celie soon finds herself infatuated with Shug.

Frustrated by Harpo's domineering behavior, Sofia moves out, taking her children with her.
Several months later, Harpo opens a juke joint where Shug, who has fully recovered from
her illness, sings nightly. Shug decides to stay when she learns that Mister beats Celie when
she is away. Shug and Celie's relationship grows more intimate.

Sofia returns for a visit and promptly gets into a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, Squeak,
knocking the other woman's teeth out. In town one day, the mayor's wife, Miss Millie, asks
Sofia to work as her maid. Sofia rudely refuses. When the mayor slaps Sofia for
"insubordination", Sofia returns the blow. Sofia is subsequently sentenced to twelve years
in jail.

Squeak, a mixed-race woman, is Sheriff Hodges' illegitimate niece. Her attempt to

blackmail the sheriff into releasing Sofia result in her being raped by the sheriff. Squeak
cares for Sofia's children while she is incarcerated and the two women develop a friendship.
Sofia is eventually released six months early and begins working for Miss Millie, a job that
she detests.

Despite being newly married, Shug instigates a sexual relationship with Celie upon her next
visit. One night Shug asks Celie about her sister. Shug helps Celie recover letters from
Nettie that Mister has been hiding from her for decades.

The letters indicate that Nettie befriended a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, the
well-dressed woman that Celie saw in the store. Nettie eventually accompanied the two to
Africa to do missionary work. Samuel and Corrine have unwittingly adopted Celie's son
and daughter, Adam and Olivia. Corrine, noticing that her adopted children resemble
Nettie, wonders if Samuel fathered the children with her. Increasingly suspicious, Corrine
tries to limit Nettie's role within her family.

Through her letters, Nettie reveals that she has become disillusioned with her missionary
work. Corrine becomes ill with a fever. Nettie asks Samuel to tell her how he adopted
Olivia and Adam. Realizing that Adam and Olivia are Celie's children, Nettie then learns
that Alphonso is her and Celie's stepfather. Their biological father was a store owner whom
white men lynched because they resented his success. She also learns that their mother
suffered a mental collapse after the death of her husband and that Alphonso exploited the
situation in order to control their mother's considerable wealth.

Nettie confesses to Samuel and Corrine that she is in fact their children's biological aunt.
The gravely ill Corrine refuses to believe her until Nettie reminds her of her previous
encounter with Celie in the store. Later, Corrine dies, finally having accepted Nettie's story.
Meanwhile, Celie visits Alphonso, who confirms Nettie's story. Celie begins to lose some
of her faith in God. She confides in Shug who explains her own unique religious
philosophy to Celie.

Celie, having had enough of her husband's abuse, decides to leave Mister along with Shug
and Squeak, who is considering a singing career of her own. Celie puts a curse on Mister
before getting in the car and leaving him for good.

Celie settles in Tennessee and supports herself as a tailor. Celie learns that Mister, suffering
from a considerable decline in fortunes after Celie left him, has changed dramatically. He
gives Celie permission to call him by his first name, Albert. Albert proposes that they marry
"in the spirit as well as in the flesh," but Celie declines.

Alphonso dies unexpectedly and Celie inherits the land and moves back into her childhood
home. Around this time, Shug falls in love with Germaine, a member of her band, and the
news of this crushes Celie. Shug travels with Germaine, all the while writing postcards to
Celie. Celie pledges to love Shug even if Shug does not love her back.

Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel marry and prepare to return to America. Before they leave,
Adam marries Tashi, an African girl. Following African tradition, Tashi undergoes the
painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. In solidarity, Adam undergoes the
same facial scarring ritual.

Just after Celie realizes that she is content in her life without Shug, Shug returns, having
ended things with Germaine. The end of the novel has Nettie, Samuel, Olivia, Adam, and
Tashi arriving at Celie's house. Nettie and Celie embrace, having not seen each other for
over thirty years. They introduce one another to their respective families as the novel ends.

Themes[edit]
Racism and sexism[edit]

Themes of racism and sexism are prevalent in the entire novel, probably as a reflection of
the social contexts surrounding the novel's setting. Celie, as the main protagonist and
narrator, shows some form of internalized oppression when she advised her Harpo to beat
Sofie as this was how she was treated by Mr. ____. Shortly after, however, it is revealed
that Celie merely advised Harpo in doing that as she was jealous of Sofie's strong-
mindedness and assertiveness. Later on in the novel, Celie also begins to find strength
within her to reject the violent advances of Mr. _____. Racism as an issue is seen in how
Sofie was imprisoned and violently beaten for rejecting the white mayor's wife's offer to be
her maid (where the offer in itself was a reflection of racist thinking). Nettie, in her letters,
also indicates her reflecting the racial stereotypes held by American Blacks against their
African counterparts.

Disruption of traditional gender roles[edit]

Many characters in the novel break the boundaries of traditional male or female gender
roles. Sofia's strength and sass, Shug's sexual assertiveness, and Harpo's insecurity are
major examples of such disparity between a character's gender and the traits he or she
displays. This blurring of gender traits and roles sometimes involves sexual ambiguity, as
we see in the sexual relationship that develops between Celie and Shug. Disruption of
gender roles sometimes cause problems. Harpo's insecurity about his masculinity leads to
marital problems and his attempts to beat Sofia. Likewise, Shug's confident sexuality and
resistance to male domination cause her to be labeled a tramp. Throughout the novel,
Walker wishes to emphasize that gender and sexuality are not as simple as we may believe.
Her novel subverts and defies the traditional ways in which we understand women to be
women and men to be men. Throughout the novel, the assertion of what the African-
American femininity is compared to is the exploration of African-American male struggle
with masculinity. The idea of femininity among African-American women is focused
around the abilities of the husband to care for the wife and family. Men's normative roles
are viewed as the source of oppressive male behavior. Therefore, if the African American
male is not fulfilling his role, it is unlikely for the African-American woman to fulfill her
role of femininity because she is predicated on his abilities.

Motifs[edit]
Letters[edit]

Alice Walker highlights the power of communication through the characters' letter writing
form.[4] The letters that Celie writes to God, and later to her sister Nettie, symbolize a
certain voice that only Celie has, and through which she is able to express her true desires
in her letters. These letters are very personal to her, and allow her to display any emotion
she wants to convey. In the beginning, when she was writing letters only to God, the letters
were very private and Celie would not have wanted anyone to see them. The letters are the
only way she can represent her true feelings and despair as she is abused. Later, the letters
she gets from Nettie give her hope that she will be reunited with her sister again.

Celie writes to God for a lack of someone else to write to. She writes to her sister because
she is angry at God because of her past and the people who have been hurt because of it.
She asks God "Why?" which is a question that cannot be answered. The last letter she
writes is to everyone, including God showing that she has forgiven Him, and that her story
has gone through a full circle of maturation.

Character analysis[edit]
Celie[edit]

Celie is the main character and has been oppressed by men her whole life. She is raped by
her "father" with whom she has two children during her adolescence. Her "father" gives
away her two children. Her father gives her away to be married to Mr.___ He is in love
with Shug Avery, a blues singer. Shug stays with Mr. ___ and Celie, this leads to a sexual
relationship between Celie and Shug. Shug has a significant influence on the protagonist
and Celie begins to model herself after following her views and opinions, leading her
ultimately to a life of independence. Shug influences not only the way that Celie allows
Mr.___ to treat her, but also her showing Celie that it is all right to commit actions which
others may call 'sin', but still believe in and live for God, she broadens Celie's views on
religion and ethics. It is also Shug who frees Celie from Mr.___'s bondage, first by loving
her, then by helping her to start a custom sewing business. From Shug, Celie learns that
Albert has been hiding letters written to her from Africa by her sister Nettie, a missionary.
These letters, full of educated, first hand observation of African life, form a moving
counterpoint to Celie's life. They reveal that in Africa, just as in America, women are
persistently oppressed by men.[5]

Nettie[edit]
Nettie is Celie's younger sister, whom Celie loves and saves from living the tragic life that
she had to endure. Because Nettie is prettier than Celie, who has been deemed ugly, Mr.___
is originally interested in Nettie as a wife, but settles for Celie. Nettie runs away from home
to be with Celie, but is unable to stay with Celie as Mr.___ tries to get physically attached
to her again. As a result Nettie leaves home and before leaving she promises to write to
Celie and tells her that only death can keep them apart. Nettie is eventually taken in by
Samuel and Corrine, a missionary couple, with whom she travels to Africa as a missionary.
While in Africa, Nettie becomes the caregiver of Samuel and Corrine's children and
faithfully writes to Celie for decades. Nettie marries Samuel after Corrine's death and
moves back to America with Celie's children. Through explaining her experiences to Celie,
Nettie encourages Celie to be more enthusiastic and optimistic about life. Nettie finds that
while there is not racial disparity in Africa, gender disparity exists. The women of the tribe
are not treated as equals, and are not permitted to attend school.

Shug Avery[edit]

A sultry blues singer who first appears as Mr.___'s mistress, Shug becomes Celie's friend
and eventually her lover. Shug remains a gentle mentor who helps Celie evolve into an
independent and assertive woman. At first, Shug doesn't appear to be the mothering and
nurturing kind, yet she nurtures Celie physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Shug helps
Celie discover the long lost letters from her sister Nettie that Mr.___ had been hiding for
decades. In allowing Celie to view these letters, Shug is supplying her with even more hope
and inspiration, letting Celie see that in the end, everything works out for the best.

Albert (known as Mr.___)[edit]

Mr.___ is the man to whom Celie is married. Originally, he seeks a relationship with Nettie
but settles for Celie. Mr.___ mistreats Celie just as her father had although Celie does not
understand that she doesn't have to tolerate the abuse. Mr.___ uses Celie to help raise his
children, who give her a hard time because she is not their biological mother. When Shug
Avery comes to town, Mr.___ falls for her and makes her his mistress. Through Shug's
seductive and manipulative influence, Albert begins to treat Celie better. In the end Albert
realizes that he has mistreated Celie and seeks a friendship with her