Post #4

In her novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker presents the audience with the oppression and finally the revolution of women and their rights. Throughout the entire story, Walker presents different scenarios where women’s rights are stomped on because the men believe that women are their possessions. Whether in Africa where women have their face scarred as a representation of womanhood or in America where women are physically abused, Walker does not shy from demonstrating the injustices women face. The main character, Celie, is the primary victim of oppression in this story. Celie gets beaten by her husband just because he feels like it, is used as a mule who does all of the fieldwork, and is constantly told that she is ugly and good for nothing. Her husband steals letters from her sister because he knows that it will make it more miserable. It is as if the men set out to make Celie’s life a wreck. However, as I mentioned in an earlier post, Celie refers to herself as a tree at the beginning of the novel and declares, “Celie, you a tree. That’s how come I know trees fear man” (22). By illustrating that Celie is a tree at the beginning of the story, Walker foreshadows that Celie will go through a large sum of growth throughout the entire story.

Celie begins her journey as a worthless woman who puts her faith in God for a better life. Throughout the novel, she realizes that her life has been controlled by males, including God, and grows out of her dependence on them. Shug Avery is the soil that helps Celie grow. Shug helps Celie uncover who she is by giving her something she never had—love. Shug shows Celie the pleasure that the female body deserves by showing Celie where her sex organs are and by demonstrating how beautiful a woman’s body is. Celie falls in love with Shug and discovers that her sexuality is independent of men. Celie grows guts during her time with Shug and begins reading the hidden letters from her sister. Shug encourages her to do this and without these letters, Celie never would have grown apart from her dependence on men. The letters opened her eyes to how much she has lost because of the men in her life. When she discovers that her father is not her biological father and that her children are actually alive, she states, “I don’t write to God no more… he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mama… the God I been praying to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful and lowdown” (187). By letting go of this all-powerful man, Celie obtains her independence from man. She flowers into a woman who defines and defends herself. By the end of the novel she leaves her abusive husband, takes the male figure of God out of her life, and finds self-worth through designing pants. Not only does she stand up for herself, but she also forgives and mends past relationships.

After going to Memphis with Shug, Celie returns home but does not return as the same person. Her stepson, ex-husband, and friends are all shocked to see that she is well-dressed and speaks for herself. Celie is not the only one to grow and transform after her departure. Her ex-husband changes completely and states, “I’m satisfied this the first time I lived on Earth as a natural man. It feel like a new experience” (259). Once both Celie and Shug left he began to do all of the fieldwork he made Celie do, began taking better care of his health and home, and kept to himself much more. It took losing everything for him to realize that he had to become a better man. Both he and Celie hit rock-bottom before they transform into the strong beings they needed to be. They grow apart from each other but have an individual growth that allows them to become friends by the end of the story. Celie’s ex even understands how poorly he treated her and offers to marry her. Although Celie rejects his marriage, she does not reject his companionship, demonstrating that she has grown to look past the wrongs others have done to her. She is at peace. Walker presents two characters that are similar to trees in order to show that humanity has the ability to stand up for its rights, but it first takes understanding oneself in order to do that. This understanding feeds the growth that these two trees go through. I found it interesting that Walker uses the growth of one character as a catalyst for the growth of another. Picking up on that symbol right off the bat made me cognoscente of how it worked its way through the story as I read. I found myself looking for how this symbol would pop up again in the story and found that it tied the whole story together. Reading Foster, Prose, and Nabokov while I read The Color Purple made me think even closer about the details of the story such as the tree and even what Shug’s favorite animal was. I found myself trying to find the connection between religion and oppression in the book. I also began noticing how the various characters spoke to try to see how those subtle differences shape who they become throughout the story. It made the book more meaningful as a whole.

I feel like people typically hear this book’s name and think it is about all of the injustices that African Americans face. That was what I thought of this book as I began reading it. But I soon discovered that this book does not focus on the oppression of African Americans, but of women. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in women’s rights because this book demonstrates a variety of ways in which women are oppressed. Walker takes the reader from the Deep South to Africa to show how oppression varies. She also makes an argument that God is one of the woman’s oppressors, which I found very remarkable. I have not seen many women’s rights arguments that God himself is an oppressor. I have heard that religion itself can be restrictive, but never the God or gods associated with religion. I feel like this argument is what makes this novel so unique. It gives a whole new perspective to what and who we should value and put our faith in. This book is a great read for anyone who is fascinated with women’s rights and who is also questioning religion as a whole. The Color Purple is an inspiring novel that helps any reader see the importance of finding themselves and being true to oneself.

Post #3

Before I read and during the beginning of my reading of The Color Purple by Alice Walker, I thought the story focused on the rights and the lives of African Americans. As I continued to read, I found that this novel is about women's rights and their place in society. Alice Walker presents two characters who particularly struggle with the idea that women are forced to be what the man expect-- Celie and Nettie. I love that Alice Walker places these characters in two completely different settings-- Africa and the Deep South. These locations have become important to the role of women's rights in this novel because it shows how even in a more civilized society, America; women experience the same loss of rights as those who live in uncivilized and uneducated societies. The message of women's rights became apparent to me pretty late in the story. I was a little disappointed in myself for not seeing this earlier and making a stereotypical judgment of a book. I didn't realize that the book is about women's rights until women in Nettie's village began to integrate into the schools and when Celie finally stood up for her happiness and left her husband. The moment that Celie left stuck out to me in particular. It felt a little abrupt, but in the best of ways. As she reads her sister's letters she finds out that her children are actually with her sister in Africa and that her father is not biologically related to her. The most powerful moment in the story is when she stated, "I don't write to God no more... He gave me a lynched daddy, a crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa... the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And acts just like all the other mens I know" (187). This moment blew me away because she connects her problems back to a man. She was once so dedicated to God and put her trust in him. Walker creates a revelation for this character to see the injustice that men put on her through the injustices God put on her. I relate to this moment because I have recently been very interested in cultivating beliefs in religions other that mine to create my own religion that guides my values. I do not agree with many of the Catholic beliefs and sometimes feel almost the same way Celie does. This one all powerful man tells us what is right and wrong. That that gay marriage and abortion is completely unacceptable. I can't follow a religion that restricts what I feel are basic human rights. Through losing her faith in God, Celie loses her binding to men. She disconnects from the highest ranking man and finally feels like the powerful woman she is. It is interesting that it takes losing faith in religion in order to find power in oneself. Walker seems to write her book not only to challenge women's rights but also to challenge the idea that there is an almighty man deciding the fate of the human race. 

Because we see the dominance of man in religions and in different regions, Walker makes the issue of women's rights become a wider topic. She illustrates that more than one culture suffers the degradation of women and how powerfully that affects how a society runs as a whole. Both the African and American societies believe that their women are good for nothing. They view women as their slaves and as having absolutely no competencies. Because Walker demonstrates that women are degraded in more than one setting, she unites them and influences them to work together to improve their rights everywhere. Nettie's letters influence Celie in such a way that she finally stands up for herself and moves up North. Although her husband says, "You ugly. You skinny. You shape funny. You too scared to open your mouth to people,” Celie sees the good in herself and knows that no man can define her (203). She grows into the tree that she said she is at the beginning. As I said in an earlier post, a tree grows and in turn transforms. I knew that Celie would find the good in herself because the tree symbol showed up so early in the story. Women from all parts of the world can have an influence on each other just as Nettie and her village had on Celie. The communities that this novel so subtly establishes gives this book a hopeful and empowering tone. As I read, I feel that I am not alone. I see that other people in the world struggle with the same things I do, even if they are not women's rights.

Post #2

At this juncture, I am halfway through Alice Walker's The Color Purple and find that exceeds my expectations of the typical human rights book. The book opens on a woman named Celie who works on a farm with her abusive husband. She has no form of education and feels no self-worth to do anything more with her life than to take care of those who walk all over her. It seemed like the typical heart-wrenching story of a black woman who has no rights in America. Don't get me wrong, I love reading about these type of in-depth stories where humanity overcomes their oppression, but I feel like I read that over and over again. It always seems to be in the same setting as well-- a deep southern farm, secluded from all urban civilization. However, The Color Purple goes past that southern setting into Africa. The people of Olinka village do not provide education for their women and believe that they should be sheltered by the men. Celie's sister, Nettie, goes to Africa as a missionary with a young girl named Olivia. Olivia begins teaching one of the Olinka girls, Tashi, all that she learns in school. Tashi's father sees that Tashi's spirit begins to resemble her Aunt's spirit who refused to bow down to the chief and was banished from their village. The father asks Nettie to prevent Olivia from seeing Tashi any further and states, "Our women are respected here... We would never let them tramp the world as American women do. There is always someone to look after the Olinka women... our people pity women such as you..." (158). This fascinated me because one typically thinks that people from Africa would want the same rights as the American blacks do. However, they seem to think the exact opposite. They want their women to remain sheltered and  underdeveloped. I find it very important that Walker presents this idea because the African Americans who were oppressed during slavery typically believed that making it home to the homeland would promise a freedom of prejudices that Americans place upon them. But it is not the Americans who place this barrier between races and  genders. Cultures all over the world separate the rights placed upon men and women, but many cultures do it in such a way that they praise their women rather than degrade them. I do think it's wrong, though, to keep women from a proper education. Nettie states how she can enjoys life so much more as she cultivates new information. Keeping a woman from the joy of learning is not right in any circumstance, but I found it interesting that Walker illustrates that our roots may not be the place to search for virtuous morals.  Comparing the values of Americans and Africans side by side creates a new point of view on the injustices African Americans and women faced that few authors do.
I sympathize with Tashi because her situation is so similar to the situation of Celie's, but without the abuse. I find it very powerful that Nettie watches over some who is similar to her sister in the sense that Tashi is restricted by her living circumstances. I feel like this is symbolic of Nettie watching over her sister, which is what she truly wishes she could do. I love how Walker connects Nettie and Celie's lives through the people they encounter. Nettie meets a woman named Sofia who Celie was very close to at the beginning of the story. Nettie even goes to Africa with the girl named Olivia who is actually Celie's daughter if I am not mistaken. It is almost painful to see how they are so close to being fully connected, but will never be able to because of Celie's awful husband.  I have a sister and thinking about what it might be like if I could never see her again is unbearable. I think about that every time I read this story and it engages me so much further into the story. I want them to meet sometime in the end, but I am fearful that it may never happen.