The Colour Purple

Context, Audience, Purpose

The colour purple, written by Alice Walker and published in 1982, is a novel about the lives of African American women in the Deep South during the time period of the early to mid 1900s. It has won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, one year after it’s publication, and been made into a film in 1985, which was later nominated for many academy awards. This novel is aimed towards a more mature audience and people willing to learn more about the different treatment of people due to race, class and gender. People of colour are also a target audience group, as they are more likely to relate to the issues and experiences the characters have. The purpose is to bring attention to racism, and different ways African Americans----specifically African American women----are discriminated against. Although it focused on a different time period, it still brings attention to the unjust treatment of African Americans and women prevalent in the 80’s and even today.

Main Characters

Celie:

A victim of abuse by the men in her life, Celie has been made into a submissive women scared of men. As a child, she was raped by her father, and made to believe the two children she had with him were killed. She is later given away by her father to be married to a man only referred to by her as Mr.____ to take the place of her sister, who Mr.____ was originally planning to marry. This man continues the cycle of abuse, beating her, and treating her not as a person, but a domestic object. A while into their relationship, Mr.____ brings his mistress, Shug Avery to live with them. Chaotic, mean and with a sharp tongue, Shug Avery changes Celie’s life. Gradually, she becomes dependant on Shug Avery, who becomes Celie’s guardian of some sort. For most parts of the novel, Celie is unresponsive to the abuse dealt to her, ignoring the advice of other women in her life to stand up to herself and remains so until she discovers Mr.____ hid all of Nettie’s letters from her. After that discovery, Celie finally musters up the courage to leave Mr.____, and goes to live with Shug Avery.

Nettie:

Celie's younger sister, Nettie is in many ways the opposite of Celie. She is educated and independent. Separated after Celie’s marriage to Mr.____, Nettie was taken in by a pair of married missionaries, Samuel and Corrine. She follows the pair of missionaries to Africa, and takes care of their two children, who turn out to be Celie’s two children who were taken away from her by their stepfather. Through a separation that lasted for several decades, Nettie wrote to Cellie consistently, and through her letters, the readers learn about the oppression of black people and women on a wider scale, and discrimination between women themselves. Although neither Celie nor Nettie ever received any letters they sent to each other, they never stopped loving each other. In the end, after Celie believed Nettie was killed in a ship crash, they finally reunited.

Shug Avery:

Mr.____’s mistress and a blue’s singer, Shug Avery is described as scantily dressed and carries a “ nasty woman’s disease”. But as time progresses, Shug Avery’s character is developed to be a compassionate, caring woman. Through her encouragement, Celie comes to know herself, and grows to be a stronger woman. Always chasing after love, first with Mr.____, then with Celie, and finally, when she is in her 50s or so, a young man, Shug Avery is in many ways needy and self destructive. But these many characteristics make her a dynamic, complicated character.

Setting

The novel is set in the Deep South during the early to mid 1900s. Later, through the letters Nettie send to Celie, the setting shifts to England, and shortly later Africa. Through the different settings, the theme of discrimination can be seen on a wider scale, and explored more thoroughly.

Perspective, Themes, Ideas 

The entire novel is written in a letter format, revolving around Celie’s letters to God, and occasionally other things. In the later parts of the novel, the perspective shifts to Nettie’s letters to Celie. Many themes are explored: race, identity, sexuality, femininity and so on. The main, overarching ideas stemming from the theme are that racial discrimination is unjust, and femininity is dynamic.