The Color Purple Consolation in Female Bonding - 2102 Words

Copyright: Martina Diehl June 2012 The Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding Celie’s road to trusting and loving herself Abstract This essay is about the love affair in The Color Purple, a novel by Alice Walker in which, thoughts on racism, incest, rape, love and family affairs are provoked. The reader learns about these subjects through the letters that Celie, an uneducated black woman, writes to God and through the letters that her sister Nettie and Celie write to each other. I would like to discuss how Walker raises the issue of love between females, which involves trust and understanding, two aspects that the men in the novel don’t possess. The reader witnesses how the women are being oppressed and abused in this men’s world,†¦show more content†¦Besides that, Ruth dresses in a masculine manner, which could be argued is a way of proving that she is not lower in class than the men around her. Here in this excerpt, she might be compared to Shug Avery in some respect; she provokes the men around her to show her meaning in society. Throughout both texts a lot of similarities can be found in regard to womanism. The women in the texts tend to be either dependent on their husbands on independent women with principles and an ideal to grow, and be accepted as equals in society. Walker critiques the black community here by insinuating that women have the right to take responsibility for themselves (Christian 424). Celie’s trust and distrust Celie, as apposed to Shug, begins hardly any particular views of her own, and only does what she thinks is right: caring for her husband. She holds onto the morals she has learnt from her stepfather, although she realises that her life could be less abusive, she does not seem to feel that she has the power to change that. She thinks that her stepfather, who raped her, has killed her children and therefore she does not trust him. The incest that happens allows distrust towards her family, and so she turns to God is not allowed to tell anybody about the rape and abuse. Celie struggles through life as an uneducated youngShow MoreRelatedThe Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding2117 Words   |  9 PagesCopyright: Martina Diehl June 2012 The Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding Celie’s road to trusting and loving herself Abstract This essay is about the love affair in The Color Purple, a novel by Alice Walker in which, thoughts on racism, incest, rape, love and family affairs are provoked. The reader learns about these subjects through the letters that Celie, an uneducated black woman, writes to God and through the letters that her sister Nettie and Celie write to each other. I would