Pivotal Moment

pg. 178 "Dear God, That's it, say Shug. Pack your stuff. You coming back to Tennessee with me. But I feels daze. My daddy lynch. My mama crazy... You must be sleep."

My initial reaction to the letter Celie read from Nettie indicating that "Pa is not our pa!" startled me so much that my mind starting racing backwards remembering all that had previously happened. And then I turned the page to one of the most significant chapters- short and sweet. Celie writes her shortest letter to God yet. Her short, choppy syntax depict perfectly the chaos and daze she finds herself in. Again, Walker throws a curve ball! Shug's demand that she pack her stuff offers a subtle foreshadow to an event that might alter the course of the story...

pg. 202 "You a lowdown dog is what's wrong, I say. It's time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need."

As Shug announces Celie's departure, I imagine the shock that hovered in Odessa's dining room. This scene is the climax of the story for several reasons. First, Shug gets her way. A woman whose determination and strong will often gets the best of her, she helps liberate Celie from her devastating life with Mr. ____. Second, this is the first time Celie stands up for herself to any man. Through this declaration, theme also comes forth. It is in leaving her current life that she can truly enter into creation. Creation doesn't necessarily mean God's world but all the beauty there is to behold which she's missed over the years due to being under a man's thumb.

Our Happiness is HIS Happiness (:

pg. 194 "But if God love me, Celie, I don't have to do all that. Unless I want to. There's a lot of other things I can do that I speck God likes... I can lay back and just admire stuff. Be happy. Have a good time."

Favorite line of the book (well one of many- I'm not the best at choosing!). I relate so well to Shug on some levels. For instance, her need for adventure and travel and not wanting to be tied to one place, her passion for people and standing up for what she believes, her admirable sense of pride in herself. I view God in this way too. I don't always have to be looking for Him but can make him happy by appreciating all around me. I think God fins happiness in our own enjoyment of everything He has given us. Walker intended for us to reflect on our own views of God in light of Celie and Shug.

Techniques such as these unexpected surprises allowed me to realize and concoct a more direct theme. I believe Alice Walker found life and people to be unexpectedly marvelous. She adds personal scenes all throughout the novel to inspire thought of how little we know about the people who surround us.

Come On Girls!

pg. 156 "The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated. When 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." Walker uses this motif of the unfair treatment of women to drill into the reader the universality of inequality among sexes. This exchange of words between Nettie and the Olinka mother shows the old fashioned mindset of women only serving the purpose of "mother." Nettie, in her years of coming to age, knows the extent at which women can learn, grow, and express themselves. This quote also shows the theme of male domination versus women's subservient nature. A woman is defined by her man and the children she bares for him. Through Nettie's letters, it becomes clear that she not only tries to preach the mindset of women standing up for themselves and breaking through the social barrier to the Olinka people and also subconsciously to Celie. Although worlds apart, Nettie successfully breaks through to Celie through her stories... Maybe Celie begins to listen because she sees the Olinka women as weak in some way and with Shug's help Celie decides she doesn't want to be like them. Just a theory... I'm not Celie (:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

"Somethin purple, maybe a little red in it too... no purple. Plenty red but she say, Naw he won't pay for red. Too happy lookin. We go choice of brown, maroon, or navy blue." pgs 21-22
Colors serve as a motif in The Color Purple, a fitting reocurrence for a novel with a title named for a color! At the store with Kate, Celie declares what color dress she would like; however, the colors of purple and red signify too much happiness. At this point in the book, the dull colors of navy and brown symbolize the despair and gloom constantly enveloping Celie.

"I walk around the whole day with the annoucement burning a hole in my pocket. It pink." Pg. 25, last paragraph
Something of such simplicity etches excitement into Celie's distressed life. It is liberating for her to bear Shug Avery's flyer on her person, and she makes a point to declare its color!

"Shug Avery donate her old yellow dress for scrap, and I work in a piece every chance I get... I want it for myself, just for the little yellow pieces, look like stars, but not." pg. 59 para. 1
A little bit of brightness is sewn into Celie's life as her relationship with Shug Avery blossoms slowly. Shug gives an old yellow dress for Sofia and Celie to incorporate into the quilt. Here, Shug unknowingly brightens Celie's world, shown in the stitching of the quilt.

As the story progresses and Celie meets people who brighten her life, the colors discussed and noticed also grow brighter. I wonder if the next half brings brighter or darker colors to Celie's life!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdHCYgO9zh8

Dear G-o-d

"But I just say, Never mine, never mine, long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along." pg 18

"Dear God,"

The novel is structured as a constant letter. When Celie tells the story, each new "chapter" begins with "Dear God." I speculated that she started each entry like this because she wanted to feel some connection with God, someone who would feel so distant from her life based on all that had happened to her. Though she doesn't believe it, Celie has immense strength to pray to a God, or at least address God, who seemingly tossed her aside to be spoiled by greedy men. Later, on page 130, Nettie's fourth letter says, "I remember one time you said your life made you feel so ashamed you couln't even talk about it to God, you had to write it...." Still structured in a letter-type fomat Nettie writes to Celie and indicates that Celie writes to God because her past is too much to face. Who could blame her!? The "Dear God" comes across as more of a habit or calling than a prayer.

They're All the Same

"Mr.____ don't say nothing. I drop little spit in Old Mr.____ water." pg 54, bottom of pg.
"Crossed out The Lucky Star of Colman Road, put in Harpo's of _____ plantation." pg. 73 para 2

In the time of The Color Purple, society based itself around the names, status, and reputation of men. They were without a doubt the superior sex. More often then not, men ran the show- of the family, of towns, of cities, of the country. Alice Walker chooses to minimize not only the role of men, but also the respect associated with them. Celie's character addresses few male figures by their name; these few names (Harpo, Buster, Swain, Grady) are those which do not threaten Celie. Lacking the respect of a last name, all men are called "Mr.____" linking them all together. In Celie's case, all grown men are or have the tendency to act and perform alike. Since she gets no respect from men, as she is raped and abused on countless occasions, she seemingly sees no point in tacking on the respect of a last name. While confusing at times as to which Mr.____ is being referred to, Celie's private stubbornness in erasing last names amidst her prayers to God serves as some sort of relief to the constant abuse she takes on.

Excuse me! You forgot your quotes!

"I say it cause you do what I can't. What that? she say. Fight. I saw. She stand there a long time, like what I said took the wind out her jaws. She mad before, sad now." pg. 40, para. 3



I noticed off the bat that Walker strays away from quotation marks. I figured she did this for many reasons:

1. This book is set in simpler time, so without the quotation marks distinguishing speech from action a simplistic tone is added to the otherwise graphic novel.


2. Without quotes, the reader focuses on the action and words spoken together, not separately. For instance, in the above stated quote, the thought is continuous because quotes do not separate what Celie and Sofia discuss and the feelings surrounding the text.

A bit of theme also emerges from this quote. Celie brings to Sofia's attention that the fact that she can't fight back against the beatings. Confused, I wondered how Celie could possibly prompt Harpo to beat Sofia into submission after being beaten so long herself. However, like Sofia, I was disturbed to find out that Celie envies Sofia for her ability and will to fight back. Beatings were not an anomaly for Celie, so I believe the theme of male superiority over women is especially prevalent in this scene.