Celie

From The Color Purple by Alice Walker


Celie
Married, Step Mother, African American Women
Celie Johnson is first introduced to us as the protagonist and narrator of
The Color Purple. We start learning about her as a young girl who is 14
and is not in the best living situation. She comes from a poor family and
is uneducated. Celie is raped by her father and then he steals her babies
right after birth. Celie prefers this to happen to her then to her sister
Nettie. Celie becomes the parent figure of her sister by taking what her
father does to her but also marries Mr.___ so that her sister can
continue her education and live her own life. When she left home to go
live with her husband Mr.___ she was abused when she made a mistake
or did not do what she was told. When Celie first arrived at the house
Harpo throws a rock at Celie's head and from that point on she learns to
accept that this is her life, until around the age of 50 where she finally
is reunited with her sister and also her children that she thought she
had lost forever.
Celie’s Medical History

Past Medical History: Medical Symptoms or Family’s Medical History

Complaints
Two children at the age Celie's mother had
of 13 and 14, one boy ● Nausea some mental issues
one girl. ● Physical and
mental abuse
Presenting Problem
Symptoms:
Physical;
Sexually and physically abused
by her father and husband.
Discrimination
“He picked up a rock and laid
my head open. The blood ran
down tween my breasts. His
daddy said don't do that! But
that's all he say.” Walker 12
Emotional ; Sensory;
Discrimination Avoids any conversations
about her abusive family life
Father and Husband mentally
and emotionally abused her
“He took it. He took it while I
was sleeping. Kilt it out there
in the woods. Kill this one too,
if he can.” Walker 2
 Diagnosis

PTSD

PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder

Celie has suffered from trauma for whole life even at a young age, she's been abused physically and
mentally most of her life. When Celie moved out she was looking for a place to hide from her family, she
wanted a better life for her sister and also herself .From this she has mental problems with trusting
people and looking for the good in people instead of the bad, since she has been looking and seeing the
bad for her whole life.
 Therapy

Therapy has a high success rate for

those who put in work and go through
the whole process to get help for their
problems. With therapy there are many
support groups out there for people with
Intervention their different problems there are even
ones with people with the same sort of
mental problems and similar type of
past experiences .With Celie it might be
better to have one on one therapy or
even a small group session that is with
similar people with similar experiences.
 Work Cited

SparkNotes, SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com/lit/purple/.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple: a Novel. Penguin Books, 2019.

“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 6 July 2018,
www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967#:~:text=Post%2D
traumatic%20stress%20disorder%20(PTSD)%20is%20a%20mental%20health,uncontrollable%20thoughts%20about%20th
e%20event.

PTSD, National Center for. “VA.gov: Veterans Affairs.” Home, 15 Aug. 2013, www.ptsd.va.gov/.

“6 Common Treatments for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder).” WebMD, WebMD,

www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-are-treatments-for-posttraumatic-stress-disorder.

“Treatments for PTSD.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association,

www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments.