The Color Purple by Alice Walker Blog

The Colored Purple Blog

This week we were given the chance to choose outside reading novels of our choice. I was undecided if I would have the time to sit down and read the renowned novel A Thousand Splendid Suns and so I chose to begin focusing on The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This novel began extremely heavy, depicting a struggling character Celie having been raped and mother dying not truly believing her complaints. My interest was first sparked in the way Walker stylistic set up the novel. Each page gave further development on the last in a diary like format. By doing this Walker was able to grasp my attention because I was able to see the jumbled thoughts and struggles that Celie faced every day. This was seen when Celies’ sister that she believed was dead wrote her a letter talking about becoming a missionary. She directly mentioned their struggles during sisterhood when they where little running from their dad. Walker managed to make anyone with feelings empathize with these women even if they never personally went through it. Having worked with poems earlier that week I was on the lookout for these literary devices and I saw vivid imagery present here. I found it interesting when Nettie described the contrast between the white English to the Africans, “I was struck by the English people’s teeth. So crooked, usually, and blackish with decay. I wondered if it was the English water. But the African’s teeth remind me of horses teeth, they are so fully formed, straight and strong” (149). To her even when the white men are nice they still fail in comparison to the strength of Africans. The fact that Walker examined teeth is extremely significant because teeth and smiles are what you see first when meeting someone. A failing tribal community in Africa would be imagined to have dirtier teeth in poor a state, so presenting them as better than those of the white people makes me picture Africans as symbolically capable of overpowering/ overcoming them. It would be less effective if she mentioned something obvious such as the arms of the Africans being superior because I would already think tribal people are stronger than that of “civilized” everyday white English men. I love to read and have to make inferences. I was on the edge of my seat while reading this novel; moreover, it has become an engrossing mind numbing experience. Every other line personifies some action and evokes emotions in me never before experienced. The movie did not do the novel justice. The factual aspect of this novel is the last component that I thoroughly enjoyed. They were able to tell me what was going on during that time period such as beating by the mayor and separate bathrooms for colored and whites. It struck me as harsh and respectful how the ugliest character Celie is so self-disciplined that she strives to earn an education despite the disapproval of everyone including her husband. Even the husbands in this novel treat their women less than their animals though they demand respect from the white men. All in all this novel is one I would recommend to any aspiring writer.