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.