The Color Purple _Alice Walker_hia

The Color Purple : Alice Walker

Alice Malsenior Tallulah kate Walker (1944) – a African- American writer, poet, novelist, social activist.

• ·         A feminist, coined the term ‘womanist’ in 1983 for a Black Feminist or Feminist in color and Editor of Ms Magazine in 1973, First novel : The Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970).
• ·         Meridian (1976) is a novel about worker in South during the Civil Right Movement, shows her own experiences also.
• ·         The Color Purple (1982) is about a young, black woman troubled not only  by white racist but also patrarcal black culture. It wins  National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize in 1983.

THE COLOR PURPLE

Celie is a poor, uneducated, fourteen-year-old rural Georgian black girl.  Celie writes letters to God as Alphonso, her father beats and rapes her. She gave birth to a girl, whom her father probably killed in the woods. Celie, second time gives a boy, whom he again steals. Celie’s mother dies from illness. Alphonso re marries but continues rapping her. Mr. __ wants to marry Nettie- younger sister of Celie. Mr. __ loves Shug Avery, an attractive bar singer. But Alphonso offers Mr. __ the “ugly” Celie. Mr. __ eventually accepts and takes Celie into an unhappy married life. Nettie scapes  from Alphonso and goes Celie’s house. But Mr. __ had lust for Nettie and she left for her own safety. Celie assumes she is dead.

Mr. __’s sister Kate sympathically encourages Celie to stand against Mr. __’s torture. Harpo, Mr. __’s son, loves a spunky girl  Sofia. Celie is attracted by Shug Avery but never allowed her to meet her.  Sofia becomes pregnant and marries Harpo. But Mr. __ treats Sofia as an inferior. Harpo also tries to harrass physically but fails  as Sofia is stronger than him.

Mr. __ brings Shug to his house for her illness. Shug seems rough to Celie, but later the both  become friends as Celie keeps nursing. Celie becomes infatuated to her sexually. Sofia moves out with her children for ill treat by Harpo. Few months later, Harpo opens a juke joint where Shug sings nightly. Shug learns that Mr. __ beats Celie in absence of her. So she decides to stay and the lustful relationship grows intimate in them. In her return, Sofia fights with Harpo’s new girlfriend  Squeak. In town, the mayor’s wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia to work as her maid and answered with a sassy “Hell no.” The mayor slaps for her refusal and sent to jail. Squeak tried to save Sofia  but is sentenced for twelve years  maid.

Shug marries Grady but keeps a sexual relationship with Celie. One night Shug asks Celie about Nettie. She assumes her dead as she never writes to her. Shug reavels that  Mr. __ hides few letters  arrived in the mail. Shug rescues the letters and finds these from Nettie. The letters indicate that Nettie is with a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, at a travelling  to Africa to do ministry work. They have two adopted children, Olivia and Adam. Nettie and Corrine are close friends. Corrine  notices her adopted children resemble Nettie and doubts whether  Nettie and Samuel has a secret past and limits Nettie’s role within her family.

Nettie experiences despondency learning Africans self-centered and obstinate. Nettie asks Samuel about Olivia and Adam. Based on his story, Nettie confirms that the two children are actually Celie’s biological children. Nettie also learns that Alphonso is their step-father. Their real father was a storeowner . The white men were jealous of his success and lynched. Alphonso pretends to be  real father because of inherit their mother’s house and property. Nettie tells the couple about the actual fact of the children. Corrine refuses to believe but accepts Nettie’s story before her death. Meanwhile, Celie goes to Alphonso and confirms Nettie’s story. Celie’s faith in God begins to lose but Shug tries to keep stronger.

The mayor releases Sofia from her servitude six months early. At dinner once , Celie expresses her distraction and curses Mr. __ for his years of abuse and moved to Tennessee with Shug and Squeak also joined them. In Tennessee, Celie begins a business of tailoring. Celie returns to Georgia and finds Mr. __ reformed and Alphonso died, his house and land are owned by Celie.

Meanwhile, Nettie marries Samuel. Adam marries Tashi, a native African girl following African tradition. Tashi undergoes the painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. Adam also undergoes the same facial scarring ritual.

Celie and Mr. __ reconcile and begin a happy life. Sofia remarries Harpo and works in Celie’s clothing store. Nettie finally returns to America with Samuel and the children and reunions  with her sister, Celie notes that though she and Nettie are now old, she has never in her life felt younger.