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I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men" (46).
Sofia is brazen and outspoken and has little in common with the often-beaten and intimidated Celie. Celie says, "I like Sofia, but she don't act like me at all. If she talking when Harpo and Mr. ____ come in the room, she keep right on" (42). This is in complete opposition to the fearful respect that Celie has learned to show to the men in her life. Celie is also resentful of the fact that Sofia looks on her in pity because she obeys Albert's commands without question. Harpo felt that Sofia needed to be more deferential towards him, and he asked Celie for advice. Celie gave him the only advice she knew: she told Harpo to beat her. Rather than admiring Sofia for her strength of personality, she suggested that Harpo try to make her mind the way Mr. ____ taught Celie herself to obey.
Celie was envious of Sofia's defiance. Out of jealousy, she sided with the men in their persecution of Sofia. When Sofia asked her why she told Harpo to hit her, she admitted, "I say it cause I'm jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can't…fight" (46).
Rather than allowing herself to be beaten, Sofia fought back whenever Harpo hit her. Their relationship turned violent, and eventually she left and moved into her sister's home. Unfortunately,...
When Sofia answered in the negative, she was badly beaten, imprisoned, and ended up working for the Mayor's wife anyway. It took many years for her to regain even a fraction of her earlier courage.
Celie did not gain the confidence that she needed until she began a love affair with Shug Avery, her husband's mistress. Shug gave Celie the confidence that she needed to leave Albert when she told him that Celie would be coming to Memphis with herself and Grady, Shug's husband. At that point the floodgates opened and everything that Celie had wanted to say over the years spilled out. She told him that he was a "lowdown dirty dog" (181) and told him that she had never asked or wanted anything from him, "Not even your sorry hand in marriage" (183). Shug's love gave her the courage that she needed to free herself from Albert.
In the end, both Celie and Sofia had to undergo a painful struggle for identity. Sofia had to fight both the white establishment and her own family. She lost her freedom and nearly lost her life in the battle, but she reunited with Harpo and regained her sense of self. Celie, on the other hand, was only able to establish her identity after she walked away from Albert.
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Pocket…
Works Cited
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Pocket Books, 1982. Print.
Regular sex instead is a cure for many things, including the frustration that is at the root of many acts of violence. The only limit that I would place upon enjoying regular sex is that it should be done in a manner to ensure the maximum safety of all partners involved, and that everybody involved should be consenting adults. Any occasions where people are being hurt or tortured for the
They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She swole from head to foot. Her tongue the size of my arm, it stick out tween her teef like a piece of rubber. She can't talk. And she just about the color of an eggplant" (Walker, Part 2, pg. 87). In this case, the color purple is used as a symbol of the oppression of
Color Purple- Film and Book The Color Purple is a deeply through-provoking and highly engrossing tale of three black women who use their personal strength to transform their lives. Alice Walker's work was published in 1982 and it inspired Steven Spielberg so much that he began working on its film version as soon as the novel won accolades for its brilliant storyline and powerful narrative. However the movie, though it
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
However, she soon realizes that she has given Harpo that advice because she is jealous that Sofia is capable of fighting back against abuse, when she herself is not. Sofia responds that her close bond with her five strong sisters has helped her. Throughout the novel, the theme of women bonding to fight oppression emerges and re-emerges. Sofia is a strong and independent woman who refuses to be oppressed. When
She is the daughter of Alice Walker, who wrote the Color Purple. She took her mother's maiden name at the age of 18. Rebecca graduated cum laude from Yale University in 1993, and moved on to co-found the Third Wave Foundation. She is considered to be one of the founding leaders of third-wave feminism. In addition to her contributing editorship for Ms. Magazine, Walker's work has also been published