IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS AND SUMMARY

He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye
but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not
scared of them. Maybe cause my mama cuss me you think I kept mad at her. But I ain’t. I felt
sorry for mama. Trying to believe his story kilt her. (5.1)

The first evidence that Celie may not be at all interested in males: She is afraid of men. Besides,
the men she knows (a.k.a. Pa) are liars. The only man in Celie’s life is her Pa, and he abuses her
terribly and lies to her mother. Ultimately, Celie blames Pa for her mother’s death.(Letter 5)

They have made three babies together but he squeamish bout giving her a bath. Maybe
he figure he start thinking about things he shouldn’t. But what bout me? First time I got
the full sight of Shug Avery long black body with it black plum nipples, look like her
mouth, I thought I had turned into a man.
What you staring at? she ast. Hateful. She weak as a kitten. But her mouth just pack
with claws. You never seen a naked woman before?
No ma’am, I said. I never did. Cept for Sofia, and she so plump and ruddy and crazy she
feel like my sister.She say, Well take a good look. Even if I is just a bag of bones now.
She have the nerve to put one hand on her naked hip and bat her eyes at me. Then she
suck her teef and roll her eyes at the ceiling while I wash her.
I wash her body, it feel like I’m praying. My hands tremble and my breath short. (24.1-5)

For the first time in her life, Celie is attracted to somebody. Her attraction to Shug is
instant and physical. Even though Shug is mean, Celie still is excited by her.(Letter 24)

He love looking at Shug. I love looking at Shug.

But Shug don’t love looking at but one of us. Him.
But that the way it spose to be. I know that. But if that so, why my heart hurt me so? (33.24-26)

Celie battles with whether or not her feelings for Shug are OK. On one hand, Celie thinks that it’s
right and natural for people to be attracted to the opposite sex. On the other hand, Celie can’t
deny her feelings for Shug.(Letter 33)

All the men got they eyes glued to Shug’s bosom. I got my eyes glued there too. I feel my
nipples harden under my dress. My little button sort of perk up too. Shug, I say to her in my
mind, Girl, you looks like a real good time, the Good Lord knows you do. (36.26)

Though Celie compares herself to males in that she’s attracted to Shug, Walker makes it clear
that Celie is in no way masculine. Celie is sexually excited by Shug in ways very specific to
females. (letter 36)

She say, I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me on the mouth. Um, she say,
like she surprise. I kiss her back, say, um, too. Us kiss and kiss till us can’t hardly kiss no more.
Then us touch each other.
I don’t know nothing bout it, I say to Shug.

I don’t know much, she say.

Then I feels something real soft and wet on my breast, feel like one of my little lost babies
mouth.
Way after while, I act like a little lost baby too. (47.16-21)

Celie’s only experience with sexual pleasure is with Shug. Not only is she attracted to Shug, but
she and Shug both care for each other.(letter 47)

Harpo, she [Kate, Mr.__’s sister] say. Harpo the oldest boy. Harpo, don’t let Celie be the
one bring in all the water. You a big boy now. Time for you to help out some.

Women work, he say.

What? she say.

Women work. I’m a man.

You’re a trifling nigger, she say. You git that bucket and bring it back full.

He cut his eye at me. Stumble out. I hear him mutter somethin to Mr.________ sitting on
the porch. Mr.___________ call his sister. She stay out on the porch talking a little while,
then she come back in, shaking.

Got to go, Celie, she say.

She so mad tears be flying every which way while she pack. (12.28-35)
Mr.__ and his son see women essentially as servants, or slaves, meant to work
while men enjoy life. Though some women try to band together and support each
other, many men in this novel try to prevent them from supporting each other
(Letter 12)
Male dominance
The black rural South community in which Walker sets the novel is extremely patriarchal. Most of the
black male characters dominate women and do so in a violent and oppressive manner. They are not only
physically violent but sexually and emotionally abusive, making the women with whom they live feel
fearful, worthless and inferior.
This is particularly obvious in the life of the central character Celie, whose experiences of sexual abuse at
the hands of her stepfather, followed by a loveless marriage in which Celie is treated no better than a
slave, embody the most brutal aspects of the dominant African-American male. Celie is expected to look
after Mr_ ’s children, work in the fields and submit to joyless sexual encounters with a man who treats her
like an unpaid prostitute.

Deep-rooted attitudes
Throughout the novel the attitude of superiority is so deeply rooted in the male characters that they do not
even know when they are being objectionable. For example:

 Harpo mistakenly thinks that he can make his wife Sofia obey him by beating her and believes it
is his right to do so
 When Mary Agnes wants to establish herself as a singer, Harpo cannot understand why she
should wish to be independent when he provides ‘everything’ in their marriage
 When Mary Agnes helps to get Sofia out of prison, her white uncle thinks that he has an absolute
right to extract payment from her in the form of sex.

Nettie’s section of the narrative to an extent mirrors the American patriarchal system. The men of the
Olenka tribe regard women as worthless assets, fit only for childbearing, and deny them any education.
They endorse the ritual of female genital mutilation which literally marks girls as male possessions,
rendering them incapable of enjoying any physical relationship when they are given in marriage to their
father’s choice of partner.

Women as sex objects

It is clear that Celie and many other female characters in The Color Purple live in a male dominated
society, where a woman’s role resembles that of a slave or a sex object. This reflects African-American
women in black communities in the rural South of America in the 1930s, when some of the novel’s events
occur. Celie’s letters to God are not only a cry for help but stand as the voices of all the African-American
women who faced this situation.
Walker also draws parallels with the white master/black slave relationship that existed in the United
States for centuries beforehand (in which women were also regarded as property fit for sex and work). In
the first part of the narrative most of the female characters are terrified of men. Like a slave, Celie dare
not even look at men because she is so afraid, preferring to look at women instead.

Female solidarity
It is not surprising that the African-American women in the novel turn to one another and even to the
natural world, to find solidarity, companionship and comfort. The novel lays great emphasis on the bond
between sisters (Nettie and Celie, Sofia and Odessa) and friends:

 Mary Agnes helps Sofia when she is in prison

 Sofia looks after Mary Agnes’ child when she goes away to be a singer
 Albert’s sister tries to intercede for Celie
 Olivia supports and comforts Tashi in Africa
 The Olinka women have strong friendship groups amongst themselves.

Female equality
Women in The Color Purple are also shown as challenging traditional male-female roles. The relationship
between Sofia and Harpo is the most obvious, with Sofia doing heavy work that is traditionally masculine
and Harpo enjoying domestic tasks such as looking after children and cooking. Celie’s business
enterprise, making trousers for women, is a declaration of equality, although sewing is regarded as
conventionally feminine. The beginning of the reconciliation between Albert and Celie comes when Albert
helps her to stitch an article and admits that he likes the task.
Strength in unity
The emotional heart of the novel is Celie’s liberation via her relationship with Shug Avery. Many of the
women in the narrative are weak when isolated but gain confidence when they work together. The first
step towards equality is the freedom to leave an intolerable situation, which Shug encourages Celie to do.
Sofia suggests to Eleanor Jane that she should leave her unhappy marriage and find a job. Ironically,
Eleanor Jane finds independence and starts to understand the evils of racism when she begins to look
after Sofia’s own daughter, Henrietta.

Gender attributes

Shug’s ‘masculine’ qualities

The Color Purple also identifies how masculine and feminine qualities can both be evident in males and
females. Shug Avery is not a typically submissive woman, nor a victim, but independent, capable and
‘outrageous’ - in fact the embodiment of Walker’s ‘womanish’ woman. Shug breaks traditional conventions
about sex, speaking to women using masculine phraseology and expresses sexual desire in her own
particular way, as a bisexual. She teaches Celie to learn how to love her own body, which is the
beginning of Celie’s journey towards fulfilment and self-confidence. Shug’s character embodies Walker’s
concept of womanism - the idea that every woman, with the help of other women, can learn to love
herself.
With the help of Shug and Sofia, Celie finally manages to find the courage to define herself as a woman in
her own right (Letters 74 and 75). She defends herself against the abusive treatment she has suffered
and leaves her marital home to begin a new life in Memphis.

Freedom to choose
It is significant that Celie’s trouser making business, as well as her courage to wear garments that are
traditionally male items of clothing, symbolize the equality of men and women to dress and behave the
way that they want to. By choosing to wear trousers Celie celebrates her own ‘masculinity’ and sewing
trousers ‘for everyone’ soon becomes the most important activity in Celie’s life. In gaining financial
independence, she no longer needs to be dependent on a male to provide for her. Ironically, the business
of sewing is what eventually brings Celie and Albert into a better understanding of one another, with
Albert acknowledging the skills and creativity of women, in which attributes he wants to share.

The strength of the African-American female

Walker’s womanist ideology causes her to construct the novel around female characters who are largely
stronger and more admirable than the men, who, taken as a group, are portrayed as inferior. There are
however some male characters who are atypical:

 Odessa’s husband Jack is agreeable and supportive of his wife, her sister Sofia and the rest of
the extended family
 Samuel is gentle and good, if somewhat insignificant in the way that Walker conveniently uses
him to provide Nettie with a satisfactory supportive husband after the death of Corinne
 Even Albert is partly rehabilitated towards the end of the story.

However, it is the women in the novel who exhibit the most outstanding courage, creativity and wisdom.
Celie, Shug, Sofia and Mary Agnes triumph through their own efforts. Nettie at the end of the novel is a
conventional wife but this is largely due to the fact that throughout the narrative she is portrayed as a
sensitive and gentle woman who is able to escape the turbulent rural South and its abusive male
characters.
Finding freedom
The theme of females achieving freedom is present throughout the novel. Celie and Nettie move from a
state of near slavery at the beginning to independence at the end. Both find the power of self-expression:
Nettie as a wife and teacher and Celie as a successful businesswoman who does not need a husband.
Sofia is finally given freedom to live as she chooses, whilst Mary Agnes develops her own career rather
being tied to domesticity and male requirements.
The novel emphasizes Walker’s idea that every African-American woman, with the help of other women,
can become a ‘womanist’ and learn to love herself. If this is possible, then mutual understanding and
reconciliation between the sexes (male and female) is also possible, leading to a restoration of equality
and harmony and an end to misunderstanding, oppression and violence

The damage caused by oppression

A major theme in The Color Purple is domestic violence and the suffering it causes, traced through the
lives of African-American women from the mid-1900s to the early 1940s in the rural South of the United
States. The novel also explores the damaging effects of:

 Male domination
 Sexism within the black community
 White racial oppression of black people both in the United States and Africa.

Through Celie’s experiences, the novel examines the spiritual and psychological damage that results from
physical and emotional violence, as well as the way in which male and female relationships are
characterized by psychological and sexual oppression.
Celie’s first letters are written when she is fourteen and she addresses them to God because she feels
she has no one else to turn to. Her mother is dead and Celie has been repeatedly raped by the man she
believes to be her father. Her graphic descriptions of the assaults force the reader to confront the ugliness
of child abuse and possible incest at the very beginning of the narrative, illustrating not only the central
character’s vulnerability and isolation, but also the brutality of the act and its perpetrator. The callous
removal of Celie’s children by ‘Pa’ and his decision to marry her off to a neighbor of his own age (Albert),
as a ‘spoiled’ childminder and housekeeper, add to Celie’s dehumanization. There is little sense of any
wrongdoing on the part of her stepfather (as long as it is not talked about) - a man whose responsibility
should be to protect and care for his family.

Celie’s dehumanization
Celie’s marriage to Albert is the end of one episode of abusive violence on the part of her stepfather, but
the beginning of another at the hands of her new husband, a widower who abuses Celie verbally, sexually
and physically in any way he wishes. She is expected to submit to frequent forced intercourse, which
causes her to think of her body as something over which she has no control. Similarly, she has no control
over her physical environment, being expected to look after Albert’s uncooperative children and to work in
the house and the fields. Celie has no value whatsoever as a woman - as females are considered inferior
and worthless, men can and do treat them as they please.
The beatings, domestic drudgery and brutish sex mean Celie retreats into an unfeeling emotional state,
imagining that she is made of wood, like a tree. She cares for Albert’s children effectively but without
feeling – patting Harpo’s back as though he was made of wood also. She ends up feeling that her life has
no direction. Feminist Betty Friedan believes that life without purpose makes women lose the sense of
who they are, as it is purpose in life that gives all human beings a reason to exist.
Celie’s loss of self-esteem and sense of worth is signified from the first letter by crossing out the words ‘I
am’, which signify self-belief – she can only look back to a pre-laps Arian state of ‘have been’. The
present remains intensely painful until Celie meets Shug Avery, who enables Celie to regain her self-
esteem and reclaim her life. Although initially Celie can hardly maintain the simplest of conversations with
the visitor, she gradually finds herself physically attracted to Shug, who helps Celie awaken her own
physical responses as well as allowing emotional warmth to resurface.

Shug’s influence
Shug Avery could be seen as the only female character who is not a victim of domestic abuse in that she
is never beaten or ill-treated by her male partners. Indeed, she displays a ‘masculine’ sense of autonomy
within her community. That does not extend to the white society through which she travels however,
where she is denied decent food to eat or clean places to stay and wash herself. She has also had to face
social and religious ostracism from family and church, being denounced from the pulpit as a ‘fallen
woman’ and rejected by her parents because of her lifestyle and long-term affair with Albert.

Female encouragement
Shug’s strength is her understanding of the value of women's solidarity (perhaps a quality that experience
has taught her is important after she initially undermined Annie Julia’s relationship with Albert). In
response to Albert’s ill treatment of Celie she removes him from her life and moves with Celie to
Memphis. Shug also helps Celie to develop her sewing from a hobby into a thriving business and Mary
Agnes to establish a successful career as a blues singer. In doing so, Shug acts as an antidote to
domestic abuse, providing each with a home and giving them both the opportunity to discover their
individual strengths.

The cycle of violence

Fonso, Albert and Harpo represent patriarchal husbands and fathers, who identify with the racist violence
of white culture in the South by imitating that violence in their own relationships:

 Fonso comforts Celie’s mother who is traumatized by the murder of her first husband, but this
does not stop him violently assaulting his step-daughter
 Albert suffers the repression of his own father, but still instils Harpo with the necessity of
domination in relationships
 Harpo is shaken by witnessing the violent death of his mother, but this does not deter him from
beating his wife. Although Sofia responds by being violent herself, a feasible option due to her
size and her strength, her love for Harpo is fractured.

The cycle of violence creates misery. Even strong-willed Sofia is eventually crushed by male domination,
coupled with racial violence, when beaten then imprisoned for voicing a blunt opinion. Her broken spirit is
held together only by murderous thoughts, and it is many years before she is restored to the humanity
which understands that ‘meanness kills’.

African oppression and suffering

Nettie’s letters examine issues of violence in an African context:

 She describes how the Olinka land is effectively ‘raped’ by being taken over and redeveloped for
mass cultivation by white colonialists
 The Olinka people are discriminated against and find themselves economic slaves, forced to pay
rent for land and water always regarded as theirs, with no compensation for their loss
 Men, women and children are forced to work in the fields in order to pay rent and taxes to
absentee white businessmen
 Olinka girls are denied education and women are defined only in terms of the value that they
have for their husbands as wives and mothers
  Tashi feels she has to undergoing the tribal rite of female circumcision and facial scarring in order
to be considered as belonging to her people
 She is a victim of the Olinka belief (common elsewhere in Africa) that women should not enjoy
sexual pleasure or appear physically attractive to men. (Alice Walker has campaigned actively
against the practice of female circumcision and in her 1992 novel Possessing the Secret of
Joy she carries on Tashi’s story with an account of the devastating consequences of Tashi’s
African ordeal.)

Racism
Walker also examines the suffering and violence caused by racism:

 Throughout the novel, Celie references the fact that she is discriminated against by the white
community
 Nettie dreads bringing Olivia and Adam back to America where they will experience racism
 The white Mayor can slap a black woman and go free, but when the black woman retaliates, she
is beaten and jailed
 Asking for help, as Mary Agnes does of her white uncle, is met by a demand for sexual favors -
the warden knows he will never be charged for raping a black girl
 When Eleanor Jane brings her baby boy for Sofia’s approval, Sofia cannot give it since he will
probably grow up to be her oppressor, like most white men
 Later, when Eleanor Jane helps with the care of Henrietta, the entire white community is outraged
because she has lowered herself to be employed by an African-American.

Conclusion
One of the primary concerns of The Color Purple is to raise awareness of how black women are doubly
oppressed, not only in being discriminated against for the colour of their skin but also by being victimized
by the men in their own black community. Black women were (and still are) victims of all kinds of violence,
including sexual violence in both America and Africa.
In a male-dominated society, women find joy, strength, freedom from oppression and self-determination
only when they support one another and Walker makes women's communal empowerment a primary
focus of her novel:

 Sofia's ability to fight comes from her strong relationships with her sisters
 Nettie's relationship with Celie helps her through years of living in the unfamiliar culture of Africa
 The strong relationships among the Olinka women are the only thing that makes polygamy
bearable for them
 Celie's strong bond with Shug enables Celie to break free from oppression and develop a sense
of self
 Corinne, who does not embrace this solidarity, is eventually destroyed.

Celie gradually realizes that the patriarchal culture she has endured in the South is abusive to all black
women. However, through Shug she learns that women can be equal to men in power, knowledge and in
matters of love and finance. At the end of the novel, when Celie returns to live in Georgia, she is no
longer a victim of violence and suffering, but a competent, self-assured female who knows she can be
self-sufficient and independent.
Religion has been a powerful force in shaping the culture of the American South. Firmly based on a
Western image of a white God (not found in the Bible), Christianity was the reason that many black
communities were not crushed by their sufferings, yet scripture was used selectively in religious teaching
to condition behaviour. (For more information, see The Color Purple: Religious / philosophical context.)
The Western image of God
In the context of ‘The Color Purple’, Walker represents the idea of religion as church- based Christianity,
which, although situated in a black community in Georgia, has teachings essentially defined by white
values.

Repression through religion

One reason that Celie does not allow herself to feel, or express anger to her abusers is
because patriarchal religious teaching has been used to instill female obedience. Celie seeks to honour
the biblical teaching to respect parents (see Colossians 3:20) and spouses (see Colossians 3:18). It is
unlikely that she will have heard sermons about how husbands/fathers are to be loving, not harsh nor
exasperating to their children (see Colossians 3:19; Colossians 3:21)! In a similar way, selective teaching
from the Bible was used by slave-owners to justify slavery.
Celie holds on to her faith in God as the only one who cares about her situation in Nettie’s absence.
However, even this is lost when she discovers that Albert has withheld Nettie’s letters and she accuses
God of being asleep. This is easy to believe of a divinity made in the image of a white, patriarchal male.

Irrelevance
As Celie grows up and her view of the world begins to change, she realises that her view of God and the
Bible’s teaching has no relevance to her needs. Imagining angels in white with white hair and white eyes
in attendance on a God who is white and looks like a bank manager offers no kind of relief from the
difficulties of her life with an abusive husband.
Nettie’s letters help Celie realise that the image of God that white people have created is misleading and
false. The real Jesus has hair which Nettie describes as ‘lamb’s wool’ (see Revelation 1:13-14; Revelation
5:13) and bears no resemblance to the white racial characteristics that both she and Celie have been
used to. In addition Celie realises that her image of a grey-bearded old white man with blue eyes is little
different to the authoritarian black men in her own life who have consistently failed her.

The cultural influence of church

In the community in which Celie grows up, the church is an important meeting place as well as an
organization that influences morals. For example:

 Celie is beaten by Fonso for supposedly winking at a boy in church

 Annie Julia is shot in the stomach on the way home from church
 Harpo meets his future wife Sofia at a church service
 Shug Avery is condemned for immoral behavior from the pulpit by a church elder.

These instances already convey the way in which churchgoers were complicit in being both judgemental
and hypocritical.
Initially Celie washes altar linen and cleans the church building, as a way of caring for its members.
Although the teenager hopes to manage her difficulties with the help of God and church support, she gets
little help from worshippers. It is obvious from her two pregnancies that her home life is not all that it
should be, yet she receives no acceptance or practical help. It is not surprising that references to church
life significantly diminish during the Celie’s narrative.

Religion in Africa
The religious belief of Nettie’s early years also alters when she finds a new interpretation of God in Africa.
Nettie decided to work as a missionary believing that Christianity would help those the African-Americans
patronizingly regarded as ‘downtrodden’. Yet Nettie and Samuel are too honest and sensitive not to see
the real needs and feelings of the Olinka people. Like Celie, they change their attitude about the variety of
forms that religion can take, encompassing, for example, the significance of roofleaf for the Olinka.
The gulf between structured religious expression and spiritual comprehension of God is signified in the
novel by the distance between the patriarchal aims of the white missionaries in Britain and America and
the beliefs of the African tribes, which are closer to Celie’s eventual pantheism. Nettie discovers that
conventional images of the white Christian religion look incongruous in an African context. Instead she
acclimatizes to native culture and religious myths and sensitively includes Olinka death rites at Corinne’s
funeral, whilst maintaining the central tenets of Christianity.
However, both she and Samuel recognise how compromised their missionary efforts are by the societies
which send them and by the expansion of Western colonialism. The teachings of their faith are seen to be
irrelevant when the identity and livelihood of the Olinka is threatened. By the time they return,
disheartened, both Nettie and Samuel have explored a more internal expression of faith, less associated
with religious structures, their spiritual journey similar to that made by Celie.

A journey of spiritual understanding

Alice Walker has described The Color Purple as a novel that examines a journey from conventional
Christian belief to a more general spiritual interpretation of the nature of God. Walker identifies her own
religious development as the inspiration for the novel and defines spirituality as one of the principal
themes of the book. Celie’s changing attitudes to religion are an important part of her development, as
she rejects the conventional beliefs and structure of the church in favour of something that in her eyes is
much freer. Her sister Nettie’s religious belief also broadens.
Shug was rejected by the church and in turn Shug has rejected the false ideas that the church has tried to
inflict on her. For Shug, God is not a male or a female but an ‘It’ and worship is enjoyment and awareness
of the whole natural world, including human sexuality. Shug’s religion is the shared experience of beauty
and an appreciation of the richness of life. She believes that God is benevolent and wants all of creation
to appreciate the richness of life, signified in the title of the novel by the use of the colour purple.
Celie’s liberation occurs when she accepts this view, which enables Celie to assert her own
independence and find her self-confidence. This is expressed in terms of two important things that she
has learned from Shug Avery: the universality of God in nature and the enjoyment of her sexuality.
The God promoted by Walker in this novel is not personified. Being neither male nor female, white or
black, it bears no resemblance to Western images of God as a white-skinned patriarch. Instead, as the
novel concludes, God is addressed as ‘Everything’; a spiritual entity that is present in all living things,
representing the essential spirituality of the universe and therefore needing no organised belief system or
church structure.

Business themes in The Color Purple

For the economic context in which the novel is set, see Social and political context > Early twentieth
century American business. The Color Purple shows how quickly black men and women are able to
prosper in private enterprise, once the opportunity arises.
Harpo becomes a new man when he discovers that he has a talent for making money (see Letter 32).
Building a juke joint behind his house entails long hours to complete the building and to make it a
successful venue for entertainment. Once it is built he becomes prosperous and the establishment offers
the opportunity for Shug Avery, Mary Agnes and various local musicians to earn money for themselves as
cabaret singers or band members. Harpo‘s efforts make it possible for him to support his extended family
and by the end of the narrative he is a more confident and considerate family man.
Shug Avery works hard at her singing career and earns enough to buy a big house in Memphis and a
second car (probably one of the first model T Fords, produced in America from 1908). At the time it would
be the height of fashion and an unusual thing for an African-American woman to own outright.
Although Alphonso (Pa) acquires ownership of his dry goods store by deceit, he nevertheless turns it into
a successful business which earns him sufficient income to build a large new house with extensive
grounds. When the business passes to Celie and Nettie, their natural father’s foresight and acumen plus
Alphonso’s attention to business ensure that the sisters inherit a valuable asset and face a secure and
prosperous future.
The name of Celie’s firm, ‘Folks pants Unlimited’ suggests her business has the potential for unlimited
growth. Walker does not mention the Great Depression which followed 1929, perhaps intending the
reader to infer that Celie’s determination and drive enables her to remain solvent even during a national
economic crisis. She is also able to provide work for a number of women as the business grows.
Grady operates an unusual but successful commercial enterprise growing and selling marijuana when he
moves to Panama with Mary Agnes. The reader is not told whether Grady’s enterprise succeeds or not,
but given the fact that he smokes a good deal of the product, it would seem unlikely.
Albert runs a large and prosperous farm on land which is extensive enough for him to parcel out sufficient
space to build Harpo a house when he marries Sofia.
Minor characters, like Sofia ‘s second partner, Buster, and her sister Odessa’s husband, Jack, are be
hard-working black men who provide for their wives and children. The fact that Buster owns a car
suggests that he is quite well off.

Conclusion
Walker’s references to business are deliberately kept within quite small boundaries. Nevertheless, for the
central character, Celie, business success is closely bound up with her personal development and plays a
significant part in enabling her to achieve heightened self-awareness and contentment.
For characters like Alphonso, Albert and Harpo, success in business acts to an extent as a mitigating
factor in enabling the reader to see them not just as monsters or weaklings, but as men who work hard to
maintain their property, despite the challenges which face them as African-American men in a white racist
society.

Education and literacy in The Color Purple

For the educational background for African-Americans, see Social and political context > Early twentieth
century American black education.

The significance of education

The Color Purple has been described as a didactic novel, intended to teach or morally instruct the reader.
For Walker education is more than just learning to read or write. It is a process by which a person can
acquire knowledge by studying, or by experiencing life lessons that lead to an understanding of many
things. To become educated requires instruction of some sort, generally by way of attending school.
In The Color Purple, Nettie most benefits from this, while Celie’s schooling is curtailed because of her
unwanted pregnancies and her early marriage to Mr_ (Albert). As a result, Nettie gains skills that enable
her to become a missionary teacher, while Celie is bound to an abusive domestic servitude that gives her
little chance to develop intellectually.
In Letter 4 Celie tells Nettie to keep learning her ‘books’ so that she can escape, through factual
knowledge, from the ‘lies’ that Celie believes killed their mother. Education is a means of escape from a
world that is dominated by men. When Nettie begins to write regularly to Celie, she not only educates her
sister by sending detailed written accounts of Africa and its people, but also broadens Celie’s horizons
(and those of the novel’s reading audience).

Oral teaching
Limited access to formal education means that both male and female characters in The Color
Purple instruct one another mainly by word of mouth. Traditional beliefs, patterns of behaviour and
customs are ‘fixed’ by constant verbal repetition and once fixed are difficult to challenge or change. Albert,
for example, keeps telling Harpo that wives are like children and should be disciplined, implicitly educating
another generation of violent men. Shug’s positive verbal reinforcement teaches Celie how to understand
and appreciate her own body and also helps Celie to understand the nature of God.

The threat of education

There are however sections of the novel where education is presented as dangerous or is seen as a
means of forcing cultural change:

 The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated, which suggests that African women must
remain subservient to men
 Samuel, Nettie and Corrine attempt to educate the Olinka heathens by teaching
them Christian beliefs that are alien to their African culture
 Darlene tries to interfere with Celie’s language register and style, telling her that the way she
speaks is ‘wrong’. It is Shug Avery who helps her understand that linguistic diversity is normal.

Female education and written expression

The themes of education for girls and women’s writing also help to connect the African and American
sections of the novel. Nettie teaches Celie in America, in the way that Olivia teaches Tashi in Africa. Both
women carry out their tasks in secret, because men resent and fear the consequences for themselves if
women achieve independence through education.
The writing of letters from both sides of the world becomes a symbol of defiance. Celie’s letters are both a
record and an accusation of neglect and abuse, while Nettie’s letters are full of critical observations and
comments on the cruelty of white colonial expansion and also of the way in which African men behave
towards women. In this sense writing is seen as a powerful means of expressing and sharing the opinions
of women during the time in which the novel is set.

The influence of politics

The Color Purple is a political novel, with strong opinions transmitted on the problems that affect the
African-American descendants of slaves in a post-colonial context, as well as the Olinka people of Africa,
victims of white colonial expansion.
Walker situates Celie’s birth only fifty years after slavery had been abolished. She lives in a society where
the economic and social structures of slavery are still evident. White dominance influences the characters
in the American South, and Nettie and her missionary companions in a colonised Africa.

Abuses of power
Much of the conflict in The Color Purple springs from the tension that exists between people of different
ethnicity and social standing. Men abuse women, white people abuse black people, and colonial empires
abuse their colonial subjects. The abuse of power whether wielded by black or white characters,
underpins nearly all the inter-personal conflict in the story: 
  Alphonso (Pa) exercises complete control as an abusive and violent father
 Albert (Mr_ ) exercises the same control over his children and both his wives
 Samuel and Corrine, as representatives of a colonial system, attempt to impose a
European Christian ideology to control the lives and beliefs of the Olinka people
 As white upper-class people in a world order that privileges them over those who are black and
poor, Miss Millie, Eleanor Jane and Doris Baines exert control over both African-Americans and
Africans.

Colonialism in Africa 

Active oppression
The tragedy of the Olinka tribe is the most significant example of active colonial oppression in the novel.
While both French and Dutch imperialism is mentioned in the novel, Samuel and Corinne’s missionary
work is administered through London, so it is the British Empire that has the most direct impact. Walker
does not explicitly criticise their colonial greed, but simply illustrates how the English rubber planters
destroy the Olinka village, the yam crop which keeps them healthy and the roofleaf that is honoured as a
covering for their homes.

Well-intentioned help
Even well-meaning efforts to help Africans can be regarded as colonialist. Nettie, Samuel and Corinne
naively attempt to connect with their slave ancestors, discover their ancestral roots and convert
their heathen brothers and sisters to a white-based Christianity, yet natives do not see this as being
relevant to their African culture. The complicity of the missionaries becomes clear when the Olinka village
is destroyed. They are incapable of criticising the exploitation of the Olinka people, who have neither the
technology, military power, political influence nor understanding of the processes of modernisation to
oppose colonial development.
Even the hoped for ancestral connection fails. Samuel and Corinne find that the Africans do not care
about American slavery or its effects, but regard the Americans as useless, alien outsiders. Ultimately,
unable to truly connect or stop what is happening to the Olinkas, Nettie and Samuel have no choice but to
leave and return to the United States. There is a sense in which both black Americans and Africans are
the victims of white oppression, yet little evidence that either can be of help or assistance to the other.

Independence Day
The colonial and imperial past of the United States is clearly addressed at the end of the novel, when
Celie's extended family is reunited on July the Fourth, which is a national holiday to celebrate American
Independence from British colonialism.
Harpo remarks that the family can enjoy being together because, while white Americans celebrate
Independence from the UK, black people can have a day off work to ‘celebrate themselves’ instead.
The sarcastic comment is aimed at white people’s understanding of white American history and a white
definition of patriotism. Harpo, a descendant of slaves, sees little significance in a celebration that has
nothing to do with the freedom of black men, but is concerned only with white men’s struggles for political
control of a newly colonised continent.
Purple

The associations of purple

Purple is a secondary colour, being made up of a blend of red (associated with energy and strength) and
blue (linked to spirituality and integrity). When mixed together, the shades of purple (violet and lavender)
signify the union of body and soul or the balance between physical and spiritual energies. Thus purple
can be regarded as the colour of the imagination and high-minded spirituality.
The colour purple is also associated with royalty and nobility and thus can signify luxury, wealth and
extravagance. Kings and rulers throughout history have traditionally chosen purple robes to demonstrate
their power and status – in the New Testament a purple robe was put on Jesus by Pilate’s soldiers to
mock him as a Jewish King.

Purple as a symbol of womanism

Walker herself uses a comparison between purple and lavender to define the difference between
feminism (lavender) and her own redefinition of the term for African-American women as ‘womanism’
(purple). She explains that the darker shade gives ‘visibility’ to the experience of black women who have
been marginalised and ‘invisible’ throughout history.

Purple in the novel

In Letter 73, Shug tells Celie that she believes that God is angered if someone walks past a field of purple
flowers without noticing or admiring the vibrancy and beauty of the colour. This statement summarises
Shug’s religious philosophy that God is a spiritual being whose purpose is to encourage all people to
appreciate and enjoy life.

Good purple
In this context, the colour purple therefore represents all the good things in the world that God creates for
people to enjoy. Prior to this point in the narrative, Celie’s life has been a joyless struggle to survive. She
is physically alive but emotionally and spiritually dead, whilst her belief in God has almost disappeared. It
is Shug who teaches Celie that enjoying life’s pleasures, including sex, is a way of expressing love for a
God whose desire is simply to make people happy and give them pleasure.
As Celie does learn to love life, she decorates her bedroom in the house she inherits from her natural
father in purple and red and also makes matching blue outfits for herself and Shug when they visit
Alphonso to find out about Celie’s inheritance.

Painful purple
When Sofia is beaten by the police she is so bruised that her skin is described as being the colour of an
‘eggplant’ (an aubergine), purple representing the colour of a bruise. Its significance is enhanced by the
suggestion of black-on-black – perhaps also suggesting the ‘black-heartedness’ of the white men who
inflict the beating.

Noble purple
The first time Celie is bought clothes that are new, by Albert’s sister Kate, she asks for something that is
purple with a little red in it, colours that she thinks Shug Avery would wear and which signify to Celie the
idea of royalty. To Celie, Shug Avery is a queen whom she wants to honour and imitate.
Celie later makes a pair of pants for Sofia with one red leg and one purple leg and dreams that Sofia
jumps over the moon when she is wearing them. The contrast between Sofia is a bruised and battered
victim of white racism and the regal triumphant figures that women can become when they are free, gives
the novel its basic structure. Walker has changed the symbolism of a colour that signifies violence and
abuse to one of joy, spirituality and hope.

Pink

Some general facts

Traditionally, pink is a feminine colour, associated with love, friendship and affection. 
As a softer, less intense variant of red, which represents heat and passion, pink signifies romance and
charm. ‘Hot’ pink is sometimes thought of as playful, and light pink or rose pink connote sweetness and
tenderness.

Pink in The Color Purple

Probably the most significant use of the symbolic colour pink is found in Letter 35 when Shug explains the
practicalities of sex to Celie, whom she describes as a virgin, because Celie has never experienced an
orgasm, although married and a mother.
Celie discovers her private parts resemble a ‘wet rose’ which is ‘prettier’ than she thought. Although the
colour pink is not specifically named, the associated idea is that that roses are pink and symbolic of love
and affection. Celie’s discovery enables her to begin to see that the body may indeed be sexually
attractive.
As a larger embodiment of this, Shug’s mansion is painted pink, and the alterations she and Celie design
envisage it as round, like ‘some kind of fruit’, symbolic of a womb or a breast. The idea of sexuality and
fecundity are linked through Shug’s pink house.

Red in The Color Purple 

In Letter 33, Shug wears a skin-tight red dress with thin shoulder straps and ‘sassy’ red shoes for her first
singing appearance in Harpo’s juke joint. Red has always been a colour associated with passion, desire,
lust and sexuality and Shug’s costume represents not only her sexuality, but also her symbolic role as a
‘fallen woman’. We learn later in the narrative that she was disowned by her family and denounced by
her church for having an affair and several illegitimate children by her lover, Albert, so the choice of this
dress is an appropriate signifier not only for her scandalous reputation, but also because it is a colour that
is associated with strength and courage, for her complete lack of remorse about the life she has chosen
for herself.
.

Clothes
Clothing is an important part of a person’s identity and the clothes that people choose to wear usually
indicate the role they occupy in life.
At the beginning of the narrative, Celie is humiliated by the fact that her clothing is stained by breast milk
and she has nothing else to wear. This situation signifies the impoverishment of her life with Fonso,
similar to the lives that slaves endured.
When she marries Albert, Celie still wears unattractive clothes and even when Shug Avery arrives and
Albert’s sister Kate takes Celie to buy a new dress to watch Shug perform, Celie chooses a blue dress
that represents her dowdy life rather than the red or purple one she would like to order to impress Shug.
Shug Avery wears clothing that is totally appropriate for her career and lifestyle, made of luxurious
material and in colors that are symbolic of passion and lust. Paradoxically, her clothes are both attractive
to her audience and repellent to respectable citizens of the local church.
Nettie is hampered by her clothing as a missionary. She is expected to wear conventional, restrictive
Western dress that is unsuitable for the African climate and causes her considerable discomfort. Having
very little clothing, she is given Corinne’s when Corinne dies. Wearing it maintains her outward
appearance as a respectable Christian missionary’s wife.
In Letter 56 Nettie describes the clothing of the black inhabitants of Harlem in New York which is imitative
of the white fashions of the time.

Pants/trousers
Trousers are a symbol of women’s emancipation and wearing them would have been both daring and
unusual at the time in which the narrative is set. Celie designs and manufactures a unisex style of clothing
which combines feminine appeal and materials in a traditional masculine garment. Her ‘Pants Unlimited’
tailoring business not only allows women to assert their independence but also to celebrate their
femininity.
When Celie begins to make and wear trousers, she discovers a new creativity and freedom. Both Celie
and Shug delight in the different textures, fabrics and colors that can be used and enjoy driving around
the countryside wearing matching trouser outfits. Patterning trousers with blue flowers defies the
convention that men are the only people allowed to ‘wear the trousers. The theme of emancipation is
developed as Celie’s hobby becomes a thriving business which guarantees her financial independence.

Quilts

Quilt-making
Making quilts has been a traditional female occupation in many countries for many centuries. A quilt is
usually made by joining two or more layers of material together with some form of padding between the
two layers. A design is then stitched through the layers and sometimes braiding or embroidery is added.
They can either be made with large single pieces of material, or smaller shapes of different materials,
sewn together to make the larger quilt. Quilts can be used to illustrate folktales, as wall-hangings and
even as articles of clothing.
Quilting was a widespread tradition in Africa brought to North America during the period of slavery. (Nettie
compares Senegalese costume to quilts.) Diamond and circle patterns symbolized the cycles of life.
Members of the Underground Railroad would use quilts to send messages. Some quilts marked escape
routes out of a plantation or an area, while others marked the stars that would act as a night-time map
through the country to freedom.

The associations of quilting

Quilting is associated with female companionship and solidarity. The process of sewing different pieces of
material together in order to make one single quilt physically links quilting with the idea of sisterhood or
unity. It is also associated with laughter and relaxation, as when Sofia and Celie are united in sewing
quilts at the end of Letter 21.
In Letter 27, quilt making provides a setting for Shug Avery to make her first tentative contact with Celie
when she attempts to sew a square or two onto the quilt Celie is making with Sofia. Celie later gives this
quilt to Sofia as a way of apologizing for her collusion with Harpo’s brutality when Sofia moves back to live
with her sister.
Making pieces from scraps of old material evokes the context in which that fabric was originally used, thus
quilts can be a testament of a person’s history. Nettie is able to jog Corinne’s memory of Celie by
discovering a quilt which contains the fabric Corinne bought the day she met her adoptive children’s birth
mother.

Needles
As well as being the literal instruments used by women to sew clothing and quilts, needles are also the
symbolic means by which women were able to provide warmth and protection for their families. The
needle is also important as the means by which Celie achieves economic independence and through that,
increased self-esteem and the reassurance of a stable future.
It is possible also to see the needle as a type of non-violent weapon because, as used by Celie and her
fellow workers in Folkspants Unlimited, it becomes a means of protest against the dominance of men.

Razors
If needles are symbolic of non-violent protest against men and patriarchal male-dominance, then razors
can be seen as the opposite. Many slave narratives record that a man’s razor was often used as a way to
compel a female slave to submit to his sexual advances.
Walker subverts the image of a razor when Albert’s brother Tobias visits the house to see the Queen
Honeybee (Shug) in letter 27 and Shug smiles at him like a ‘razor opening’, then ignores him to sit and
sew with Celie.
When Celie discovers that Albert has concealed Nettie’s letters to her (Letter 50), she stands behind him
in a moment of pure rage with a razor to his throat. It is Shug who defuses the situation and later
persuades Celie to choose a needle to sew trousers, rather than the razor as an instrument of revenge.
(Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the novel uses the razor effectively as a visual image.)
Although a razor is not specifically mentioned as the instrument which is used in the ritual mutilation of
Tashi, in all probability a similar instrument would have carried out both the facial scarring and the genital
circumcision.
The razor, then, can be seen as an ancient means of oppression or retaliation which is superseded by the
symbol of the needle and the activity of sewing in The Color Purple. This is a more passive though
ironically a much more powerful means of gaining independence and power.

The mailbox, letters and stamps 

Letters were the primary form of communication in the time during which the novel is set, investing them
with even more symbolic importance than they would have for a postmodern readership. Foreign stamps
indicated access to the wider world, in sharp contrast to America’s rural South.

The mailbox
Although only mentioned briefly in Letter 28, when Shug and Albert walk to the mailbox, this item is an
important symbol of both separation and contact between Nettie and Celie. Both sisters write letters to
one another that for various reasons remain undelivered for a large part of the novel. Albert’s mailbox
enables him to intercept Nettie’s incoming letters to Celie but also signifies a possibility that one day the
sisters will make contact again. (Spielberg’s film adaptation uses the mailbox as a visual signifier of the
promise - and later realisation - of contact between the two sisters. It also represents the modern world of
travel and communication, contrasted to the relatively confined world of the central characters.)
Letters 49 to 51 are the turning point in the narrative. In letter 49 Celie receives a letter that Shug has
intercepted, having noticed the foreign stamps on correspondence that Albert was concealing in his
pockets. This is later followed by the discovery of all of Nettie’s letters hidden in a trunk, which itself
become the ‘second mailbox’ delivering a new dimension of the story.
Figuratively, the mailbox represents Albert’s domination and confinement of Celie. It is a woman who
combats this oppression when Shug discovers the letters and returns them to Celie, breaking the hold
that Albert exerts over his wife. This is illustrated when Albert directly hands Celie the telegram that bears
news about her sister.

Music and singing

When Shug Avery sings A Good Man is Hard to Find at Harpo’s juke joint, she is reprising a famous blues
song which was sung by Bessie Smith in the 1920s.
More on the development of the blues: African-American music, especially songs, evolved from the
singing of slaves on plantations. Work songs, called ‘field-hollers’, involved a call and response style,
used to encourage field hands during long working hours. They often employed lyrics which were taken
from either biblical texts or heavily disguised references to the hardships of slavery.

Over time these songs evolved into a form of music called the blues which became extremely popular
throughout America in the 1920s. African-American men and women expressed their feelings about their
lives of poverty and hardship by singing songs in this distinctive style, either a cappella or with guitar
accompaniment.

Bessie Smith was one of the most famous blues singers and her life travelling around America singing in
juke joints, similar to that which is described in The Color Purple, was probably the inspiration for Walker’s
character of Shug Avery.     

In the novel it is the women who sing about their lives and their troubles. For example:

 Squeak (Mary Agnes) sings a song called They calls me yellow, which refers to her mixed-race
origins
 Shug dedicates a song about a man who ‘does a woman wrong’ to Celie in Letter 33.
 Shug’s performance of A Good Man is Hard to Find illustrates the entire theme of the novel.

Jazz stars
Jazz and blues music did make significant fortunes for black performers during the 1920s and the early
1930s. Walker illustrates this through Shug Avery who makes enough money from performing to build
and furnish a large house in Memphis, Tennessee. However African-American performers continued to
suffer neglect and contempt, despite their fame. Bessie Smith for example, is reputed to have died
because a white hospital refused to treat her when she was ill. In the novel, Shug Avery becomes
extremely ill when she is on the road, presumably because of a similar lack of medical help.
Shug’s survival and Mary Agnes’ career are symbolic of a determination to rise above prejudice and
oppression in the pursuit of their art. The fact that black music not only survived, but continues to be an
integral part of modern-day culture, is a testament to that resilience.

Laughter
The female characters in The Color Purple do not live through humorous situations, but their comments
on what they experience often are. Celie’s understated sense of humour makes tragic situations less so
through quiet and subtle comments that make the reader smile. Her dismissal of men’s genitals as frog-
like, for example, is swiftly followed by a laconic assertion that, no matter how often men are kissed, ‘frogs
is what they stay’. That comment, made by a self-confident Celie at the close of the narrative is genuinely
amusing and as such it is appreciated by a man who would probably have beaten her if she had dared to
say such a thing to him when she was less confident.
When Harpo tries to gain weight to be strong enough to beat Sofia and then fails to do so because Sofia
beats him up first, Walker recounts the exchange between Harpo and Celie as though it were a slapstick
comedy routine. Harpo piles lie upon absurd lie whilst Celie, as straight man, lets him dig himself deeper
and deeper, merely referring to his bruises as ‘accidents’ that have not given him the chance to make
Sofia ‘mind’ him.
Harpo’s compulsive eating, recounted in mounting detail by Celie, climaxes with two neat one-liners – that
Harpo looks as though he is ‘big’ (pregnant) and a request to know when ‘it’ (the baby) is due. There is
also laconic humour in Sofia’s refusal to compliment Eleanor Jane’s baby, simply stating the
uncomfortable truths that he is fat, large-headed and hairless.

Eyes
The belief that the eyes are the windows of the soul can be traced back to ancient times. In New
Testament, Jesus teaches that:
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is
bad, your body is full of darkness. Luke 11:34 ESV

In other words, a person's thoughts can be recognised by looking in his or her eyes.
In Walker’s novel, there are numerous references to eyes and to looking, often contrasting the negative
look of suspicion with the positive gaze of admiration.

Oppressive watching
For example, Celie tells God that her Pa beat her because he caught her looking at a boy in church, but
explains to God that she was innocent of wrongdoing because she never looks at men, preferring to look
at women because they do not make her afraid. Unfortunately, the brazen Sofia looks too boldly at the
white Mayor and his wife and ends up blinded in one eye from her savage beating.
Fonso tells Mr _ (Albert) that he is free to look at Celie as a prospective wife, just as one would eye up a
piece of livestock (or a slave), even though she is ugly and ignorant and inclined to give things away to
anyone. He means that Celie is generous, but he expresses her generosity as a negative aspect of her
personality. Telling Albert, he will have to ‘watch’ Celie indicates his complete lack of trust in his
stepdaughter and reveals his own meanness of spirit. In contrast, Nettie writes excitedly to Celie when
she discovers that there are black people in the world who are generous and want all black people to ‘see
the light’ and grow.

Watching Shug
Shug Avery is the focus of many people’s gazes. Her visual appearance wakes up Celie’s appreciation
and understanding:

 When Celie first sees an image of Shug, she is attracted by her eyes, which signify suffering and
endurance, with which Celie identifies
 When Shug performs in Harpo’s juke joint all the men look at her breasts. The watching Celie
also experiences an erotic response
 The first time Celie sees Shug naked (while bathing her) the sight of Shug’s body makes Celie
feel ‘like a man’
 Shug responds to Celie’s obvious interest by asking her what she is ‘staring at’, then telling Celie
to take a ‘good look’ at her, ‘batting’ her eyes at Celie and striking a provocative pose with one
hand on her hip
  Albert and Celie both love ‘looking at Shug’ but initially Shug seems only to love looking at Albert
 Celie and Albert discuss what it is about Shug that they admire and Celie says that looking into
Shug’s eyes shows her what Shug has been through in her life - what she has seen and done
and what it has taught her as a result.

Houses

A measure of progress
Houses and gardens are closely linked in the novel and have a symbolic function as indicators of Celie’s
progress from sexual and domestic oppression to security, prosperity and self-confidence. With every
step in her life’s journey, Celie moves to a new house, each time finding a place to live that reflects her
development from victim to survivor.
Houses are linked to gardens and appear five times in the narrative, twice as apparent fantasies. The first
specific mention of place is the shack that belongs to Albert’s son Harpo and his wife Sofia. Celie’s
description indicates that it is very small and used to be a shed that belonged to Albert’s father. Its setting,
beside a creek in woodland, symbolically suggests an oasis in which a young married couple can begin
their lives together. This is in sharp contrast to Celie’s own experience, having lost the family home which
we later discover should have belonged to her.

Houses of threat
If ‘home’ is a place of safety and security, at the novel’s start Celie is virtually homeless, a vulnerable
minor living in squalor. Marriage to Albert is little better. Although Albert’s house is set in a large quantity
of fertile farmland, it is not a home to her, but a place where she endures hardship, servitude and cruelty.
The arrival of Shug Avery changes this perception, seen when Celie sits quilting on the porch and feels
for the first time a sense of belonging in a place.

The past erased

An Easter visit to Celie’s childhood home with Shug signifies a new start for Celie, now in a loving
relationship with Shug and having begun to design and make clothing which allows her to work and move
more freely. Walker’s description presents an idyllic dwelling (in sharp contrast to Celie’s childhood
memories) where flowers are blooming, birds are singing and the house set on a hill is surrounded by fruit
trees, like ‘some white person’s house’. The childhood home which she remembers almost as hell on
earth, is transformed into a rural paradise and the positive impression seems to erase the pain previously
associated with the house.
It is significant that the visit takes place at Easter, associated with death followed by resurrection.
Symbolically, Celie’s old life has died and there is a promise of a new life for her with Shug. This comes to
fruition when she leaves Albert’s house, which has never seemed a home to her, to live with Shug in
Memphis.

Shug’s house
Shug’s house is a bizarre, pink mansion set in extensive grounds and decorated inside and out with
statues of people, elephants and turtles. Celie is confident enough to notice her environment and how it
can be improved. The two women plan a circular dwelling made of mud or concrete and painted pink so
that it resembles ‘some kind of fruit’, symbolic of a womb or a breast. Shug declares she cannot live in
something square, because she is not ‘square’ (a euphemism for conservative, or ‘straight’).
Celie suggests outdoor seating so that both the garden and house can be enjoyed. For statuary she
selects ducks, perhaps symbolising the idea of tranquillity on the surface of the water, with frantically
paddling feet below, rather like Celie’s life to date. Although the plans are never realised, the act of
sharing thoughts and dreams with her lover illustrates Celie’s new sense of liberation as a woman and a
successful entrepreneur.

Home at last
When Fonso dies, Celie inherits the house and land that belonged to her family, but was fraudulently
occupied by her stepfather. She finally has a home even better than the one she planned for Shug. It is
not the original shack in which her family lived at the start of the novel but a new house, ironically
provided by the man who abused and cheated her.
Through their mother’s will, Celie and Nettie inherit not only a large dwelling on a hill, surrounded by
orchards and set in fertile land, but also a thriving store. There is enough property to ensure that the
sisters and their extended family can live comfortably and prosperously for the rest of their lives, whilst
Celie also has an outlet for her business.
The power of continuity in family, home-place and work rounds off the novel with the assurance that it is
possible for someone to ‘go home’ and that home can be a place that is somehow an illustration or an
extension of what that person has become. Celie’s last letter to God expresses her joyous recognition of
this return and celebrates a place and a life that has come full circle.
The Color Purple is constructed quite conventionally with a dramatic opening, a series of rising actions full
of conflict and struggle, leading to a dramatic climax that is followed by falling actions and final
resolutions.

A basic five-part narrative structure applied to The Colour Purple 

1. The introduction or exposition

 The introduction reveals the basic characters and setting

 The major conflict will usually be introduced here, with smaller conflicts following later as the
narrative progresses
 The narrative hook, the point at which the author catches the reader's attention, is often
presented within the introduction.

The Colour Purple (Letters 1 - 4): Introduction/exposition 

The central character, Celie, is in an abusive home situation, repeatedly raped by her stepfather and
giving birth to two illegitimate children, both of whom are taken away at birth. Celie is an innocent victim
from the outset, unprotected by the adults in her life and responsible for looking after her younger sister,
Nettie, and an extended family of stepchildren after her mother’s death.
2. Rising action

 Once the main characters have been established, problems or conflicts central to the plot are
introduced and events begin to get complicated
 Each time this happens, dramatic tension rises and the reader is drawn more closely into the
narrative
 Characters may react or respond to conflict, but no solutions are found
 Each problem or conflict increases the tension and builds the narrative to a climax.

The Colour Purple (Letters 5 - 48): Rising action and conflicts 

 Celie’s teacher tries to fight for Celie’s right to stay in school, but fails to convince ‘Pa’ and Celie
is forced to leave education because she is pregnant
 Celie tries to protect Nettie from Pa and then from Mr_, who wants Nettie as a wife
  Celie is forced to marry Mr_ and sees this as an opportunity to get Nettie out of Pa’s household.
Nettie is no safer in Mr_’s home and is forced to leave when she refuses his advances
 Celie is left alone with an abusive husband and a hostile family of stepchildren
 Nettie finds refuge with a family of missionaries and moves to Africa. The sisters communicate by
letter
 Mr_’s mistress, Shug Avery, moves into the family home and Celie is attracted to her
 Mr_ stops beating Celie and does not sleep with her, but Celie is jealous that he is sleeping with
Shug and begins to compete with Mr_ for Shug’s attention and affection
 The close friendship between Celie and Shug develops into an intense sexual relationship.

3. Climax

 The climax is the turning point of the narrative, where the main character reaches a point of ‘no
return’
 Depending on the kind of conflict facing the protagonist, the climax may be emotional, physical,
mental or a combination of all three.

The Colour Purple (Letters 49 - 75): Climax 

 Shug and Celie discover that for many years Mr_ has deliberately hidden all of Nettie’s letter to
her sister. This gives Celie the courage to stand up to her husband and to no longer regard
herself as a victim
 Celie curses Mr_ before she leaves him and follows Shug to her home in Tennessee.

4. Falling Action

 Falling action could be described as the beginning of the resolution of the conflict
 The results of actions that the protagonist has taken are outlined
 The results of decisions that have been made, whether good or bad, are revealed.

The Colour Purple (Letters 76 - 85): Falling action 

 Celie establishes a sewing business, Folkspants Unlimited, which provides her with an
independent income and increases her self esteem
 From Nettie’s letters, Celie learns that Pa is not her father and therefore her two children were not
the result of incest
 Pa dies and Celie returns to Georgia to learn that Pa has left the family home and dry goods store
to her in his will. Celie is now independent and financially secure
 Shug falls in love with Germaine, a young boy and leaves Celie to travel with him
 Mr_ and Celie forge a new friendly relationship in Shug’s absence
 Nettie’s ship supposedly sinks when she is on her way home from Africa and there is ongoing
suspense as to whether or not Celie and Nettie will be reunited.

5. Resolution

 The last plot element is the resolution

 Loose ends are tied up
 Conflicts are resolved
 Outcomes are revealed and a happy or sad ending takes place
 A resolution can be quite low-key, summarising where the main character(s) end up and does not
have to include active events.
The Colour Purple (Letters 85 - 90): Conclusion and resolution

 Shug returns to Celie and is forgiven

 Mr__ (Albert) and Celie are reconciled
 Nettie arrives home with her husband, Samuel and Celie’s children, Adam, with his African wife
Tashi, and Olivia
 At the novel’s conclusion, Celie is surrounded by her family and all the people she loves and the
narrative has developed from separation back to wholeness.

Sub-plots
In addition to the main plot, outlined above, Walker also weaves several sub-plots into the narrative as
follows:

 The story of Harpo and Sofia’s relationship and the conflict between perceived gender roles in
African-American families
 Sofia’s imprisonment, her experiences as a prisoner-maid in the white Mayor’s household and the
conflicts caused by racial discrimination in the rural South
 Mary Agnes (Squeak’s) relationships with Harpo, Grady and Bubber Hodges and her
emancipation through establishing a musical career
 Nettie, Samuel and Corinne’s missionary work in Africa with the Olinka tribe
 Olivia and Adam’s relationships with Tashi and the challenges of interracial understanding and
cultural differences.

Black challenges to white economic dominance

A post-slavery culture
After the abolition of slavery, the social and economic structure of life for African-Americans in the rural
South remained largely unaltered. Although no longer slaves, many black people remained on the land,
working as sharecroppers. They grew crops but the land they worked was still owned by their former
white slave masters. Following the African-American migration to the Northern states in 1915, the black
sharecroppers who stayed in the South became more isolated from white society. Schools, churches and
housing were segregated and there were few opportunities for blacks to make a living from anything other
than sharecropping.
However, some entrepreneurial African-Americans were able to establish themselves as businessmen.
In the Color Purple, increasing black prosperity signifies the developing sense of pride in personal - and
corporate – identity for its black characters.

Economic enterprise
Walker creates two African-American characters who own property and run prosperous farms and a dry
goods store. Both challenge the social norms of the early part of the twentieth century in the rural South:

 Celie’s stepfather, Alphonso (Pa) runs a dry goods store that eventually enables him to build a
comfortable house on a large acreage of land
 His friend Albert (Celie’s husband) also owns property and land, which provides employment for
his son Harpo and living space for an extended family.

Although both men are successful within their own community, Walker also illustrates the savagery of
racial prejudice with the revelation that Celie’s natural father, the original owner of the store, was lynched
by a white racist mob. Lynching was prevalent in the South from the 1880s to the 1930s and Celie’s father
was killed because his business was seen as an economic threat to white-run enterprises, taking away
black custom from white stores. It is ironic therefore that a black man (Fonso) benefits and later a black
woman (Celie) will, when the successful enterprise ‘Folkspants’ is based there.

Folkspants and freedom

Celie not only breaks free from gender stereotypes when she leaves Albert and establishes ‘Folkspants’,
making unisex clothing for men and women, but also achieves a level of economic independence which is
uncharacteristic for women in African-American society of the time.
Having never ‘worn the trousers’ in a relationship before (trousers or breeches historically being
associated with male attire), she now literally manufactures garments that signify this autonomy. Her
flourishing business enables her to become wealthy which, alongside her property, provides the financial
security she’s never previously had. Thus wearing and making trousers symbolises Celie’s liberation from
patriarchy and sexism, as well as illustrating her increasing self-confidence.

Black challenges to white social dominance

Sofia’s story 
Racial discrimination and victimisation was endemic in the United States and is particularly illustrated by
Walker’s account of Sofia’s defiance of the white Mayor and his wife, Miss Millie.
Sofia is a rebel in that she rejects both black and white oppression:

 As a black American woman reared in the South in the 1930s, she is expected to remain
absolutely subservient to whites, both economically and socially
 As the wife of an African-American male, she is expected to be subservient to her husband. 

However, Sofia is neither willing nor able to accept the norms of subservient black wife or compliant black
maid.
She wants her marriage to be a partnership, not a master-servant relationship and defies Harpo’s
assumption of dominance. She is too honest to act in a way other than she feels, but her strength of
character is always acknowledged and valued by its members and she enjoys a significant level of status
within the African-American community.
Relationships with white people, however, are more problematic. It is ironic that the value that Sofia
places on fighting back is the very thing that prevents her from living an independent life. Her resistance
to injustice means that she is beaten, imprisoned and forced to work without pay as the Mayor's prisoner-
maid, losing much of her strength and dignity. The experience leaves her scarred, but ultimately it does
not crush her determination to remain independent of spirit. Sofia is not a tragic figure but a symbol of
courageous womanhood – a strong black woman whose courage lies in her resilience and her
determination to survive in an unjust racist world.

What Sofia’s story illustrates 

Just as the black male characters in the novel use violence to assert dominance over their wives, so white
society uses violence to enforce dominance over all black people, whether male or female. Sofia suffers
because of her gender, race and social class and her story emphasises how hard it is to escape the
institutional racism and patriarchal power structures of the American South.
Oppression almost destroys Sofia but the strong support of her extended family eventually restores her
and provides some reparation for the years of suffering she is forced to endure. The eventual reversal of
situation, with Eleanor Jane ‘minding’ Sofia’s daughter, is a sign of hope that the struggle for black
equality and autonomy will triumph. Walker also uses Sofia to illustrate female resilience and the power of
community, family and friendship.

Female challenges to male dominance

Walker examines in some detail the troubled relationships between men and women. Within the society of
the time, men were breadwinners who exerted control over the family and held the dominant role in family
life, while women were expected to be obedient, bear children and look after the household. This is as
true for Miss Millie as it is for Celie, although the novel portrays the greater honour accorded to a white
wife.

Patterns of male oppression

Many black males, lacking power and control in a white dominated society, turned their frustration and
anger on their wives, partners and female family members. In consequence, black women were doubly
oppressed; firstly by white men and women because of their perceived inferiority as African-Americans
and secondly by their husbands, partners and other black males, because they were convenient victims.
The combination of male oppression and physical assault in The Color Purple leads to a loss of female
identity and individuality in a number of characters, most obviously Celie. Her self-worth and identity is
only recovered by the ministry of a woman, Shug.
Walker also addresses various forms of brutal violence, such as domestic incest and rape which reveal
the weak internal structures of some African-American families. Fonso’s control of the family’s private
resources effectively gives him license to violate his wife and his stepdaughter. Albert’s treatment of Celie
reveals a similar lack of respect for women. It is chilling that this model is passed down through the
generations. In a patriarchal system older males possess power over younger and make them conform,
with brutal control being regarded as a measure of ‘manhood’. That Harpo and Albert are rescued from
this pattern is due to Sofia and Shug Avery, who combine ‘masculine’ strength with ‘feminine’ nurture and
are quite capable of fighting back.

A parallel situation of patriarchal (and colonial) oppression

Working as a missionary in Africa, Nettie finds that the patriarchal system of oppression of the Olinka
women is not dissimilar to the situation she left in America. African women are defined only in terms of the
value they have for their husbands; girls are denied education and ritual female circumcision and scarring
leaves many African women joyless and spiritually dead. As women, Corinne and Nettie encourage
female participation in education which is ultimately respected. But their efforts are thwarted by the
greater power of white colonialism, whose economic demands mean that no-one beyond the age of
seven is educated. Initially, Tashi’s resistance to the colonists means that she retreats back to the
physical oppression of female genital mutilation, until the ‘new man’ Adam convinces her that she can
have a secure future as an equal by his side.

The cyclical nature of oppression

Many characters in the novel demonstrate the cyclical nature of violence. Victims of sexism and racism
can become perpetrators themselves:

 Harpo, for example, beats Sofia because his father (Albert) taunts him by saying that Sofia’s
strong willed resistance makes Harpo less of a man
 Albert is violent and mistreats his family much as his own tyrannical father treated him
 Having been separated from her children for twelve years, Sofia’s deep sense of outrage and hurt
leads her to reject Eleanor Jane’s son, Reynolds. Though an innocent baby, he represents
everything she despises about the white race as a whole and she is unable to offer him love.
The novel’s resolution
How can the repeating pattern of victim becoming aggressor be addressed? The novel’s message is that
women must stand up against physical violence and oppression by helping one another: 

 Albert’s sisters attempt to help Celie, whilst Shug’s intervention with her lover gives Celie greater
freedom within her marriage
 When Mary Agnes helps Sofia to be released from prison, Sofia looks after Mary Agnes’ child
when she decides to go away and be a singer
 Olivia supports the African girl, Tashi, and in the Olinka tribe the women have strong friendship
groups amongst themselves
 The women also free their men from patriarchal conformity, Sofia encouraging Harpo’s nurturing
qualities, whilst Shug and later Celie support Albert’s creativity and compassion.

Individuals like Shug Avery and Sofia can fight for themselves but, alone, many of the women in The
Colour Purple are weak. Only when united is their strength and resilience more than equal to resist male
domination.

Generic readings
A literary text can be read from many different perspectives with different, sometimes conflicting,
interpretations about its genre or what critical school of theory the work best fits. The Color Purple spans
a number of literary styles and scholars and critics continue to debate its generic identity, variously
describing the work as:

 A modern slave narrative

 An historical novel
 A utopian novel
 A folk tale
 A romance
 An epistolary novel.

Walker herself has described The Color Purple simply as a ‘book about God’.

The Color Purple as a modern slave narrative

Genre characteristics Gender replaces race Walker’s critics

Genre characteristics
Slave narratives were written with a particular purpose: to record the effects and the impact of slavery on
African-American slaves and to persuade white readers that slavery was an unjust and cruel institution.
The narratives were often prefaced by letters or statements written by white men, as a way of
authenticating the truth of the contents. Authentic slave narratives:

 Focus on key individuals within a group

 Have narratives based on practical and emotional ways of overcoming oppression
 Often emphasise how education and literacy were central keys in the fight for freedom.

Although a few original works were written by African-American women, the genre was traditionally
focused on the experiences of black men.
Gender replaces race
In The Colour Purple Walker manipulates the slave narrative genre by writing from the point of view of
female African-American characters who are oppressed primarily by African-American males. Black men,
not white slave owners, are the oppressors and black women are brutalised, mistreated and effectively
condemned to domestic and sexual slavery. Notable exceptions are Sofia’s experiences at the hands of
the white Mayor and his police force, and Squeak’s rape at the hands of her white uncle, Bubber Hodges,
but overall the inequality and injustice primarily occur within the African-American community.

Walker’s critics
According to critic Calvin Hernton, who describes The Colour Purple as a ‘womanist slave narrative’, Alice
Walker not only reclaims the genre and redefines its focus, but does so from a specific ‘womanist’
viewpoint. Hernton commends this but also criticises the epistolary form that Walker has used. He argues
that the letters of both sisters are not in keeping with the style of an authentic slave narrative and Nettie’s
‘voice’ in particular is too stylised and ‘middle-class’ to be considered as ‘womanist’.
Critic bell hooks (sic) also claims that The Color Purple does not fit the slave narrative genre because it
does not reflect the concerns of the wider African-American community. Rather than creating a narrative
that links the central narrator/character to the plight of all black people, Walker only concentrates on
Celie’s individual experience.
In addition hooks argues that Celie’s story is ‘not representative’ of all African-Americans and there are
very important differences between the experiences of individual females in the novel. Shug Avery, for
example, is not a victim of African-American male domination and Sofia does not allow her father,
brothers or her husband, Harpo, to impose patriarchal control over her or to inform her sense of self.

The Color Purple as an epistolary novel

Male constructsFemale narratives

Male constructs
Samuel Richardson’s novels Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1747) are seminal examples of sentimental
epistolary novels that define the form, so it is tempting to consider The Color Purple as an epistolary novel
and perhaps also as a novel of sentiment, because its structure emphasises personal feelings arising
from domestic experiences and intimate relationships. Tamar Katz, in an article in Harold Bloom’s Alice
Walker (1988) suggests that The Color Purple has ‘roots’ in the ‘didactic form’ of the ‘epistolary style’,
tracing Celie’s psychological growth as she matures from teenager to adult.

Female narratives
In The Color Purple: Revisions and Redefinitions (1985), Mae Henderson suggests that Walker, as a
womanist,
[appropriates] a form invented and traditionally controlled by men [and by] thematising (sic) the lives and
experiences of women […] asserts her authority or right to authorship.

In other words, Walker expresses aspects of female intimacy that are only hinted at by male authors of
epistolary novels.
The women in Walker’s novel not only celebrate their own sexuality, but challenge and reform their
domestic situations, their relationships, codes of conduct and the values of their world. In traditional
epistolary novels, heroines would either submit to patriarchal control, or else conveniently die before they
were forced to do so. Neither Sofia nor Shug Avery submit to patriarchal control and both women quite
determinedly refuse to die, despite near-death experiences through assault or serious illness.
Celie, the main protagonist, does submit to patriarchal control at the outset, but as the novel progresses
she undergoes a significant personal change. From being a victim of patriarchy, Celie evolves, with help
and support from a strong group of like-minded women, into an independent, sexually liberated woman
who runs a successful business and owns her own property. She discovers that she is in control of her
own destiny and is not bound to a life of crippling injustice at the hands of men.

The Color Purple as a Bildungsroman

Genre expectations
Celie’s personal progress is consistent with an important literary genre known as Bildungsroman,
sometimes referred to as ‘coming of age’ novels. The Bildungsroman is a literary genre that began in
Germany and spread throughout Europe in the nineteenth century. The form focuses on the psychological
and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood and character change is an important part of
this process.
The Bildungsroman depicts and criticises aspects of a society that cause the protagonist to suffer in some
way. The protagonist is usually male, sensitive and socially inferior and the narrative features some loss
or reversal which ultimately changes the course of his life. Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield (1850)
and Great Expectations (1861) are classic examples of the genre.
Female protagonists, although rare, also feature in novels such as Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1847)
and George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss (1860) but there is a significant difference between male and
female protagonists in terms of their perceived roles and consequent freedom of choice. Whereas men
were encouraged to be independent and were not domestically or morally constrained, the opposite was
true for women, who were traditionally expected to remain submissive, dependent and obedient.
Tamar Katz’s article in Harold Bloom’s Alice Walker (1988) suggests that The Color Purple is a ‘type of’
Bildungsroman since it not only traces Celie’s psychological growth but also teaches or instructs the
reader as they read the collection of letters

The Color Purple as a postcolonial text

North American slavery and the legacy of racismThe varied effects of cultural identity British colonialismThe
function of Doris BainesNettie’s roleSofia’s story

Post-colonial readings of texts examine the ways in which communities and the people within them are or
were affected by different cultures, religions and belief systems, imposed upon them by colonising
powers.

North American slavery and the legacy of racism

North America was colonised primarily by European settlers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The early colonies were run as private business enterprises, producing large amounts of indigo, tobacco,
sugar, cotton and other crops that were sold back to England. By 1700, a planter could buy an African
slave for life for the same price that he could purchase a white servant for ten years, so there was a
massive increase in the importing of slaves from Africa to cultivate major cash crops in the North
American colonies.
Over the next two centuries, white colonists and their descendants, especially in the rural South,
established the institutions and ideas that would come to be known as ‘white supremacy’, an ideology that
was based on a belief that black people were ‘subhuman’ and naturally inferior to whites; thus racism was
born. Although the American Civil War secured the abolition of slavery, racism itself was not abolished.
On the contrary, the ideology was reconstructed to create second-class status for black Americans,
dividing the United States into superior and inferior races, according to their origins.

The varied effects of cultural identity 

The Color Purple is a novel which examines:

 How cultures may either integrate or remain separate

 How individuals or groups move from one cultural identity to another
 How individuals discover or create new identities of their own.

Walker’s characters include:

 Black people from the rural South, still oppressed and discriminated against
 Black people in the North who amaze Nettie because of their ‘normal’ lives
 Black American missionaries who go to Africa, who discover how alien their cultural values are
 An African tribe, the Olinka, who suffer the tragic effects of European colonisation.

Central to the narrative is the character of Celie, through whom Walker symbolically recreates the slave-
journey of every colonised African-American, from being sold into slavery to liberation and independence.
She undertakes this journey in the company of strong independent black women like her daughter-in-law
Sofia and her lover, Shug Avery.

British colonialism
The letters written to Celie by her sister Nettie describe the effects of British colonial rule on the members
of the African Olinka tribe:

 Some of the Olinka attempt to resist colonisation directly through resistance groups called
mbeles, who move back into the forest away from the colonisers so that they can harass the
European plantations
 Other villagers choose to maintain their tribal and cultural identities by embracing rituals and
customs such as scarification and female genital mutilation. The young woman Tashi, for
example, chooses both to demonstrate that Olinka customs are still important, even though the
white Europeans have taken away ‘everything else’. Nettie is revolted by the act, calling it a
‘mistake’ (Letter 81).

The function of Doris Baines

Nettie’s letters recount the experiences of a white English missionary called Doris Baines, whom she
meets on a voyage to England. Miss Baines is an ambiguous character whose decision to become a
missionary in Africa seems primarily to have been made in order to escape the constraints of a patriarchal
upper-class background and marriage. In Africa, using her family’s wealth, she is able to help local
people, building a hospital, school and college. However, she calls Africans ‘the heathen’ and tells Nettie
and Samuel that her involvement with ‘her’ tribe is the price she was willing to pay for a peaceful life. Her
main reason for staying in Africa was to write novels under her masculine pen name of Jared Hunt.
Doris Baines embodies Western colonial arrogance and, despite her altruism, she shows a significant
lack of empathy with the African people she claims that she wants to protect, boasting that her wealth
enables her to ‘own’ the village where she lives and works.
Nettie’s role
Although Walker uses Nettie’s character as a means of criticising the theme of colonialism, Nettie has
herself absorbed white cultural values. Her use of English is, for example, very European, unlike Celie’s
African-American ‘folk language’ and some of her opinions about the Olinka seem at times to convey a
similar patronising attitude to that shown by Doris Baines.
In addition, Nettie is not always sure of her missionary ambitions and how useful her and Samuel’s work
is to the Olinka people, which could indicate that her position is actually ambivalent and that she shifts
between cultures. Although an African-American herself, Nettie’s role is at times more similar to the role
of the white colonisers than to the Africans she is trying to help.

Sofia’s story
The story of Sofia explores racial issues in the rural South of the United States and the effects of racism
on one character and her friends and family. Sofia is beaten and sentenced to twelve years in jail for
attacking the town’s white Mayor after he hits her for impertinence to his wife, Miss Millie.
Sofia never fully recovers from the physical and psychological effects of the beating (described in Letter
37). Although she copes with prison life by behaving submissively, she dreams of murdering the white
supremacists who have abused her. However, she is forced to accept the job as a prisoner-maid to Miss
Millie’s family and to endure an enforced separation from her own children which lasts for many years.
Sofia is a strong and independent woman, but her independence is only recognised within the African-
American community and only then by other females such as her sisters and friends, Celie, Squeak and
Shug Avery. When Sofia tells the Mayor’s daughter, Eleanor Jane, that neither she nor any black female
servant loves the white children they care for (Letter 87) the reader is made sharply aware of the gap that
exists between white and black understanding of the nature of love itself.
Whereas Celie represents a submissive African-American woman who is oppressed by the world, Sofia is
the exact opposite. When she wishes to make a statement, she does so, even if the consequences are
violent. If she is physically threatened, she retaliates in kind and the key to her character is that she is
unafraid to fight. Walker’s description of Sofia and her sisters as ‘Amazons’ illustrates the place of women
like Sofia in a racist world and their need to fight against the injustice and tyranny that is shown not only
by white supremacists, but also by the men in their own community.

The Color Purple as a Marxist text

A socio-economic perspectiveMarxist criticism of The Color Purple

A socio-economic perspective
The Marxist approach to literature relates a literary text to the social, historical, cultural and political
systems in which it is created. A Marxist reading does not consider that a literary text stands apart from its
writer and the influences that affect the writer. In Marxist theory, every writer is a product of his or her own
age, whilst the age is in turn a product of many ages.
Karl Marx’s Das Kapital (1867) states that:
the mode of production of material life determines altogether the social, political, and intellectual life
process. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary their social
being that determines their consciousness.

In other words, the social situation of the author decides what type of characters, political ideas and
economic statements are developed in the text.
Marxist criticism of The Color Purple
There are certain aspects of The Color Purple which might particularly interest a Marxist critic.
The mistreatment of African-American women by both black and white males is a result of the male belief
that women are worthless and inferior. A Marxist reading would find this objectionable because men and
women should be treated equally.
Celie is exploited by Albert by being made to labour, with Harpo, on the family farm, thereby making a
profit for Albert and his father. There is little evidence in the narrative that either Albert or his father, who
owns the land, do much, if any, manual work at all, so both his wife and children are treated unequally.
On the other hand, the farm provides a living and accommodation for the workers, so we could also
conclude that food and shelter are available to the whole family, which conforms to the socialist principle
of ‘fair shares for all’.
Marxism is not gender biased and women were expected to contribute to society. It could therefore be
argued that a Marxist reading of the novel would be critical of the fact that Celie is removed from school
and deprived of education very early in her life. However, the opposite may be said of Nettie, who not only
continues her education, but goes on to work abroad to educate African villagers.
Marxists would also approve of the strong sense of community amongst the Olinka tribe with whom Nettie
and Samuel live. However, when the village is despoiled by colonial expansion, a Marxist reading would
see this as capitalist greed and colonial imperialism. In addition, a Marxist reading would criticise the fact
that Olinka girls were not educated because they were female.
Celie’s ‘Folkspants’ business would be seen in a Marxist reading as a capitalist venture and thus contrary
to socialist ideology. Even though Celie provides employment for other women, there is little evidence that
income from the business is equally shared. Whilst the business improves Celie’s self-esteem, a Marxist
reading would be critical because Walker seems to be suggesting that business ownership makes life
more fulfilling.

The Color Purple as a feminist/womanist text

Feminist/womanist criticismFeminist/womanist aspects of the novelVictimised femalesTriumphant females

Feminist/womanist criticism
Walker prefers the term ‘womanist’ to ‘feminist’, so it is important to bear this in mind when studying the
novel. A ‘traditional’ feminist reading would certainly acknowledge and deplore:

 The inequality between the sexes

 The injustice of domestic and sexual abuse
 Women’s struggle for recognition as individuals who deserve fair and equal treatment

all of which are consistent themes within the narrative.

Walker, as a ‘womanist’ goes much further and her goal is much more specific, in that she is committed to
exploring
the oppression, the insanities, the loyalties and the triumphs of black women.

Walker of course, is not alone in recognising the plight of African-American women, who suffer from the
‘double jeopardy’ of racism and sexism. Toni Morrison states that:
She [the black woman] has nothing to fall back on, not maleness, not whiteness, not ladyhood, not
anything. And out of the profound desolation of her reality, she may very well have invented herself.
    Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975 Ed. Barbara J Love

The Color Purple can be read and understood from both a feminist and a womanist perspective. In
studying the text, the reader needs to try to examine it objectively and also take into account how their
own ethnicity and gender might affect the way in which the narrative is interpreted. 

Feminist/womanist aspects of the novel

Some of the following points are ‘positive’ and some ‘negative’ and this list is not exhaustive.

Victimised females

 A number of women are seriously exploited by men, in some cases from a very early age, being
expected to work in the home, labour in the fields and look after siblings
 It is not uncommon for women to be married off at the whim of parents. Celie is married off to
Albert by her stepfather, in a cynical transaction sweetened by the inclusion of a cow as part of
the bargain
 Women are expected to submit without question to male sexual desire. Celie is beaten and
endures both incest and marital rape. If she resists, she is physically assaulted
 Marital fidelity is not seen as an important quality by men, although the same behaviour in
females is cause for censure. For example, the preacher slanders Shug in church because of her
loose lifestyle yet men are never censured in the same way
 Violence by males upon females is a common occurrence, even in relationships which are quite
loving, like that between Harpo and his wife Sofia. He beats her because a woman is ‘s'pose to
mind’ a man. Beating a wife is regarded as an acceptable way to assert male authority
 Some of the women in the novel learn to fight for themselves. Sofia is determined not to be
subservient; however, her aggression contributes to the breakdown of her marriage, then her
beating and imprisonment after she ‘talks back’ to the white Mayor.

Triumphant females

 Women do succeed in resisting injustice by banding together and helping one another. The bond
of sisterhood is important, both literally in the persons of:
o Nettie and Celie
o Sofia and Odessa

and metaphorically in the persons of:

 
o Mary Agnes and Sofia
o Albert's sister and Celie
o Tashi and Olivia
o Shug Avery and Celie, who embody the twin roles of sisters and lovers in their
relationship
 
 Some women are economically liberated from dependence on male provision:
o Shug Avery and Mary Agnes establish independent successful careers as singers and
enjoy more freedom than others whose lives are bound by home, work and child care
o Celie is empowered to establish herself as an independent entrepreneur because of the
support of the female ‘sisterhood’
 
  Some characters are (or become) sexually liberated by finding enjoyment in same-sex
relationships. Celie and Shug Avery exemplify much of Walker’s ‘womanist’ ideology and their
lesbian relationship enables Celie to discover her own identity as sister, friend and lover
 All the black women in the novel form bonds of mutual sympathy and support which act as a
defence against the oppression of both black and white males.

Reading and working with The Color Purple

What kind of novel is it?

The Color Purple tells not only a story about oppression, injustice, bigotry and discrimination, but also one
of courage, determination, self-empowerment and resilience. Walker’s novel examines:

 The experiences of African-American women at the hands of husbands, lovers (male and female)
 Families, friends and acquaintances
 What happens to women who either assert their independence or submit passively to cruelty and
abuse
 White domination and bigotry
 The consequences of both active and passive resistance to white oppression and exploitation.

Become accustomed to the language

The novel was written in an epistolary form, as a series of letters from the principal character, Celie, first
addressed to God, then later to her sister Nettie, who writes a series of letters to Celie, describing her
own experiences as a missionary in Africa:

 Celie’s letters are written in vernacular African-American English, sometimes also called ‘black
folk idiom’. Poor grammar and spelling demonstrate that Celie is uneducated, but the form also
gives a strong sense of intimacy as the narrative, especially when read aloud, replicates the
rhythms of natural speech and gives a strong energy to Celie’s story
 At the beginning of the novel, Celie’s letters recount incidents briefly and sparsely, using short
paragraphs, which adds a sense of immediacy to the narrative. As the story develops and Celie
becomes more empowered, her letters become longer and more detailed, but the sense of her
narrative as a ‘stream of consciousness’ is never lost
 Nettie’s correspondence, in contrast, is almost the polar opposite of Celie’s, featuring carefully
composed, functional pieces of writing that reflect the style and tone of the classroom and Nettie’s
role as teacher and missionary.

Put yourself into the novel

 Try to imagine what it might be like to be totally powerless, with no right whatsoever to speak out
against injustice
 Imagine how an independent woman like Sofia must have felt when she was patronised by the
Mayor’s wife. What would you have said? How would you have reacted?
 Think about Shug Avery and how she must have felt on tour, not being able to walk into a white
hotel but having to drive for miles until there was a place for black people to eat or use the
bathroom
 How would you feel if you had to wear the same clothes for weeks on end? How would you feel if
your parents threw you out of the house because they thought you were evil? Would your mouth
be packed with ‘claws’?
 Imagine how satisfying it must have been when Fonso employed a white man to work for him in
the store. If you were Fonso, what would you have thought? What might you have said to him?
Reading and notes

 Set aside time for reading: identify blocks of time when you can read without interruption
 Make notes as you read: this is the best way of keeping your reading alert and active – note down
such things as the relationships between people, perhaps in a diagram form, and the locations of
various parts of the story.

Get to know the text

 Read The Color Purple several times: this is essential if you are to develop a well-informed
response to the novel
 Follow up advice on reading given by your teacher or in study guides
 BUT don’t rely on plot summaries:
o They tell you nothing about language and style
o They don’t identify themes and motifs in the text
o However detailed, they are intended as reminders, not substitutes.

Read the text in different ways. Once you have a firm grasp of the overall narrative, you may wish to:

 Re-read a particular section, such as the visit that Celie and Shug make to Fonso (Pa) at
Easter time (Letter 69)
 Concentrate on a theme or motif, such as the use of natural imagery of flowers, blossom and
birds, all of which symbolise new life and regeneration
 Trace the development of a character or a relationship between characters. 

Pa, for example, is portrayed from the outset of the narrative as an abusive monster who uses women for
sexual gratification, and seems to have no sense of right or wrong. His marriage to a young girl shortly
after his wife’s death and Celie’s pregnancies could indicate that Pa, like many other African-American
males at that time, had little regard for women other than as domestic chattels. You might want to
research this topic further and think about Pa’s relationship with Albert and his behaviour after Celie and
Nettie leave the family home. An interesting exercise might be to think about what being someone’s
‘people’ really signifies throughout the novel.

Know the complete text
This requires a separate section because examiners often report that students know the start of a play or
novel well, but not the end. Classroom study often emphasises the beginning of a book or play, where the
author introduces characters, themes and imagery, and is then less detailed about the remainder of the
text. So:

 Do not ignore the impact of significant scenes or episodes in the later chapters of The Color
Purple
 Remember that themes, motifs and images may be developed and modified as the book
goes on
 Remember that characters change and develop and that the reader’s attitude towards
them may also change.

Keep a record of your reading

 Make notes under headings, with page references to particularly useful passages
  For major topics, you may find it helpful to have separate pages: one for Celie, say, or for
womanism, or for ideas about oppression. However:
o Don’t let your notes become too separate and take care to comment on links and
relationships
o Use specimen essay questions to give you ideas for headings for your notes

In what ways could The Color Purple be described as a womanist novel?

You are being assessed on your writing skills, therefore your essay must be well structured and include
an introduction and a conclusion. Below is a selection of points that could be included to address the
essay question, with some good examples from work which shows how you can include metaphorical and
narrative features.

1. Introduction
2. Womanism worked out
3. Aspects of plot
4. Womanist themes and imagery
5. Conclusion

1. Introduction

 Definition of womanism
 African-American patriarchal values and traditional gender roles
 Celie’s development towards a womanist view of life. 

Example
‘Celie is robbed of her innocence and childhood, abused by her stepfather and her husband and forced to
serve and obey men, whatever demands they make upon her. Consequently, her confidence and self-
respect are eroded to such an extent that she cannot allow herself to experience any emotions that take
her energy away from simply surviving from one day to the next. From the outset of the novel, she seeks
refuge from her male oppressors in the company of women, first with her sister Nettie, then her stepson’s
wife, Sofia and finally with her husband’s mistress, the blues singer Shug Avery.’

2. Womanism worked out 

Moral, social, political and religious contexts could be included such as:

 Religious attitudes/rules, church leadership and attitudes towards women

 Male/female perceptions of God
 ‘Bad girl’ / ‘good girl’ conflict: Shug Avery as ‘bad’ girl / Sofia as ‘fighter’ / Celie as victim then
emancipated/freed
 Concept of ‘sisterhood’ / female solidarity
 Male/female physical and sexual expectations/attitudes
 Independence/becoming an entrepreneur.

3. Aspects of plot

 Rape and abuse by Pa, loss of children, arranged marriage to Albert (Mr__)
 Harpo and Sofia, Sofia beaten, Celie’s remorse, friendship with Sofia
 Shug Avery’s photograph / Celie’s attraction to Shug / ‘Miss Celie’s Song’ / Shug and Celie’s
relationship / Celie’s defiance of Albert / the move to Memphis / Folkspants Unlimited / reunions
and reconciliations.
Example
‘Celie cannot even call her husband by any other name than ‘Mr__’. Physically Celie imagines herself to
be a tree when she is beaten or sexually used by her husband and sees her life to be one of pleasing
others rather than herself. Heaven, she believes, will last always, while life on earth will ‘soon be over.’
Sofia’s strength and their developing friendship helps Celie to see that a woman can stand up for herself
but it is Shug Avery’s dedication of ‘Miss Celie’s Song’ that marks the beginning of Celie’s realisation that
she exists and that her existence has value.’

4. Womanist themes and imagery

 Eroticism
 Religious understanding
 Natural imagery.

Examples of thematic commentary

‘Shug helps Celie to discover her sexuality, first by encouraging her to look at her own genitals and then
by encouraging Celie to appreciate the pleasure of erotic stimulation. Celie is a willing and eager pupil
and the sexual relationship that later develops between Shug and Celie is based on mutual trust and
respect. The relationship also enables Celie to rediscover her ability to love. The sexual/non-sexual love
between Shug and Celie is also a ‘womanist’ attribute.’
‘Shug’s spirituality and her understanding of the nature of God enables Celie to discover that God exists
in every part of the natural world and that love, both given and received, enables mankind to break free
from traditional notions of what is male and what is female. Shug introduces Celie to the idea of
pantheism, which allows Celie to free herself from the traditional concept of God as a white male. Shug’s
God is neither male nor female, but a spiritual force that exists within all people. Again, this links to
Walker’s concept of ‘womanism’.’
‘Celie’s visit to her stepfather’s house at Easter, after beginning her love affair with Shug and designing
the trousers that allow her to move and work more freely, is a pivotal moment in the novel. The
description of the house and its setting, surrounded by flowers and trees, makes it seem like a kind of
Eden. Although Celie cannot imagine her past life in this beautiful place, she dares at this point to place
herself in a context and significantly describes the visit in a letter that is addressed not to God, but to her
sister Nettie, whom she now knows is alive.’

5. Conclusion
Example
‘The Color Purple is the story of the growth and development of the central character from an
uneducated, abused teenager to an accomplished woman who learns, with the help of a strong and
supportive female sisterhood, to stand up for herself and cope with hostile surroundings. By the end of the
novel, Celie is a mature adult in charge of a business, a house and her own life. She has acquired a
deeper awareness of spirituality and a wider understanding of the nature of God and most importantly she
loves and is loved in return. Celie’s story exemplifies the womanist agenda which centres around the
natural order of life, family and a complementary relationship between men and women which is all-
inclusive and universal.’