He even tried to hurt her spirit by hiding the letters and she is not able to believe that where she says "Mr.____ mean sometimes, but he not that mean"(Walker). This is a conflict in her that she thought that he was not such a bad human being and she never expected that he would do such a thing to her even if he treated her badly. Celie is shown the path to independence by her husband's lover who shows her that there much more to life and she deserves to be happy. She found the strength to leave her husband after she found out that he had been hiding her sister's letters from her and she was able to confront him where in the past she would never have been able to do so. Also in the end it is seen that she picks up the hobby of sewing and she saw it not only as a creative outlet but also as a business that made her successful and independent. Her friend as well as all the men helped her realize that she was worth more because by their harshness the men showed her that all this negativity was of no use and she had to rise above it if she was to become something in life. This was an important relation where two women are seen to become close friends and overcome obstacles and support each other. This theme is important from the educational point in that it encourages people to have good friendships and in this way become positive influences on each other to achieve goals that seem to be impossible in the beginning.

The educational significance of this novel is that the young girl with very low self-esteem and scarce resources turns out to be an independent and self-sufficient woman as she grows older. This reflects what Alfred Whitehead says in "The Aims of Education"...

We see that she knows it is wrong to be treated like the way she is treated and with a little encouragement is able to gain enough confidence to free herself from the situation. This shows that a child can learn from the social conditions and will be able to cope regardless of his or her educational level and sometimes in real life the problems one has to face are mainly social and psychological rather than related to educational. This is seen from John Dewey's "My Pedagogic Creed" that it education starts at birth and forms habits, teaches ideas and gives rise to feelings and emotions that become the basis of sharing with others and thus becomes part of the society. This education is not achieved from any formal school but instead formal education serves only to organize this process into a particular direction.
In the end of the novel Celie's friendship taught how to love and be loved and the society benefited by this. It shows that the culture that people should come together to achieve common goals does not need any formal education but it is inborn within individuals. Also people generally do unite against oppressions and do give hope and encouragement to each other.

Bibliography

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Harvest Books, 1982.