‘The Color Purple’ is one of the most captivating books I have read in a long time, and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. It’s an epistolary novel published in 1982, partly based on a true story Walker’s sister told her about a love triangle her grandfather was involved in. The novel itself is set in rural Georgia from 1909-1949, in which we observe Celie growing up through her letters to God. The letters are craftily written, with an authentic feel from Celie (who isn’t largely educated), as we see from the grammatical and spelling mistakes throughout, adding to the realism of her situation. Her struggles, especially around being an African American woman in this time period, and in the Deep South, are voiced extremely well on Walker’s part. Although a fictional account on life, I feel it’s really valuable for understanding hardships and prejudices which may have been experienced here. Before I elaborate on the novel, an interesting fact is that it was banned in American School libraries from 1984-2013.
Due to the novel spanning thirty years, you can infer how dense it is, so I’ll be focusing on love and sexuality, the treatment of women and the depictions of race specifically.
Love and Sexuality:
Arguably, the most authentic type of romantic love in the novel is between Celie and Shug Avery, where it is evident through the novel that Celie is a lesbian; although never explicitly stated, it is clear through her constant pining for Shug and her discussions surrounding how she’s never felt the same feelings for a man. We see Shug being in a position of enlightening Celie to these romantic feelings she’s never experienced due to being forced into an abusive, arranged marriage from a young age. Celie questions her sexuality throughout, and as seen through some of the intimate moments they shared, this love feels like one which isn’t forced – we see their relationship replicating the close bond Celie and her sister Nettie have, regardless of being separated for the majority of their lives. Celie’s feelings for Shug feel pure and they appear to be the main basis for the slight reconciliation between Celie and her ‘husband’.
Gender Roles:
We see marriage presented as necessity and as having only one purpose – functionality. It’s expected that women fit into traditional roles of looking after children, cooking, and cleaning – essentially, being passive and submissive wives. This is replicated with how Nettie sees the Olinka women being treated.
However, we see Celie admiring Shug for differing from the typical expectations of women at the time:
‘That when I notice how Shug talk and act sometimes like a man. Men say stuff like that to women, Girl, you look like a good time. Women always talk bout hair and health. How many babies living or dead, got teef. Not bout how some women they hugging on look like a good time.’
This is what makes Shug such a powerful character throughout the book – she has confidence, which allows her to fully express herself without being seen as a castaway from some of these agents of patriarchy.
Nettie’s life with the Olinka people in Africa means observing certain customs and traditional values which she frowns upon, such as not allowing girls have access to the education she provides:
‘I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something. What can she become? I asked. Why, she said, the mother of his children.’
‘There is a way that the men speak to women that reminds me too much of Pa. They listen just long enough to issue instructions. They don’t even look at women when women are speaking […]’
However, we also see an exploration of the masculine ideal though Harpo’s want to conform, like his father. He views being dominant in a relationship as a necessity, so seeks advice from Celie, who suggests the only way this can be achieved is through physical and verbal abuse as this is what she has been accustomed to. Harpo does use this, yet Sophia (his incredibly strong wife) ends up overpowering him, and he questions how he’s supposed to achieve this expectation.
Depictions of Race:
A key event that takes place is notably seen with the treatment of Sophia, who is put in jail for saying ‘Hell no’ after declining to be the mayor’s wife’s maid. The mayor slaps her and so she responds by knocking him down. This incident is constantly referred to, as Sophia is praised for opposing the assumption that she’d make a good maid based on her race.
Race and religion are interlinked throughout the novel, with thoughts of what ‘God’ looks like and how he’s represented in the Bible through pictures compared to the actual text, where we see Jesus’ hair described as ‘lamb’s wool’ – which is discussed as an indicator of him not being white.
Similar descriptions of how women are treated are seen with how people of colour are treated: ‘I know white people never listen to colored, period. If they do, they only listen long enough to be able to tell you what to do.’ Furthermore, the people in Africa are depicted as those with horrible morals – they are seen to be the cause of sending outcasts to America as slaves for not fitting into their ideals.
Overall, if you haven’t read the novel, I urge you to. It explores a multitude of controversial topics, as well as those not typically discussed in detail, and ties together the themes of love, sexuality, race and religion in a powerful piece of literature.
