This paper examines the theme of belonging in Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Analyzing the story of Celie Harris, the paper explores how belonging manifests in multiple forms: membership in a family unit, social class and racial hierarchy, physical ownership of one person by another, and the inviolable belonging of one's spiritual identity to oneself. Through Celie's relationships with her sister Nettie, stepdaughter-in-law Sofia, and Shug Avery, the paper traces how Celie transforms from a submissive, isolated figure into an independent woman who ultimately reclaims her sense of self, her faith, and her family.
The paper demonstrates thematic analysis applied to a film adaptation, tracing a single theme across multiple narrative levels simultaneously. By connecting belonging to race, gender, family, and spirituality, the writer shows how one organizing concept can unify an entire essay and reveal the film's deeper social commentary.
The essay opens with a plot summary and thesis establishing belonging as the central theme. It then moves through four distinct forms of belonging — relational/social, familial, racial/class-based, physical, and spiritual — each in its own section. The conclusion synthesizes Celie's journey from victimhood to independence. The Works Cited follows MLA-style formatting with three sources.
The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the eponymous novel by Alice Walker, recounts the tale of Celie Harris and the obstacles she had to overcome in order to achieve the freedom she longed for and deserved. The film deals with many social issues, including racism, sexism, and poverty, but a major underlying theme is belonging. There are many ways in which the theme of belonging is expressed in The Color Purple. Within the film, belonging can refer to the concept of being part of a family, a social class, or a community. Another way to consider belonging within the film is the concept of belonging to someone else — whether physically or spiritually.
The Color Purple tells the story of Celie Harris, later Celie Johnson, and the tumultuous life she leads. At the beginning of the film, the audience is introduced to a fourteen-year-old Celie who is about to give birth to her second child. It is soon revealed that Celie has been impregnated by the man she believes to be her father; it is later revealed that he was not her biological father, but rather her stepfather. She is subsequently married off to a local widower, Albert Johnson, to whom she refers as Mister. Her relationship with Mister proves to be a difficult one, as she moves from an abusive home environment into an abusive marriage. While married to Mister, Celie meets and develops relationships with several women who help her become a stronger person and eventually break free from the abusive cycle she has become trapped in (The Color Purple, 2011). It is through these women that Celie finally learns what it means to belong to something bigger than herself.
The Color Purple is focused on Celie Harris and the relationships she develops with various women in her life. These women — including her sister Nettie, her stepdaughter-in-law Sofia, and her husband's mistress Shug Avery — help Celie develop her sense of self and enable her to break free from a life of torment and abuse. It is through these relationships that Celie is able to turn her longing into belonging.
Though Celie appears to share the same social class as these women — all considered part of a different social class than white people — she is unlike them in temperament and behavior. While Nettie, Sofia, and Shug are independent women who refuse to let others take advantage of them, whether by resisting unwanted advances as in Nettie's case, refusing to submit to gender roles as in Sofia's case, or living freely outside the constraints of social expectation as Shug does, Celie is their polar opposite. She allows herself to be taken advantage of — enduring rape by the man she believed to be her father, submitting entirely to her husband, and being reduced essentially to a slave in Mister's household, living in fear and raising his children (The Color Purple, 1985).
When Celie finally stands up to her abusive husband, she finds the strength and independence that characterize the most influential women in her life, and she discovers that she belongs among them, having left her past behind.
Belonging to a family is also a major theme within The Color Purple. At the beginning of the film, Celie is shown to have a very close relationship with her sister Nettie, and the two girls are nearly inseparable. Also evident early in the film is Celie's pregnancy. It is soon revealed that she has been raped by her father and has been pregnant by him once before. Celie is not allowed to keep her children, as they are taken away by her father immediately after birth. Despite the circumstances under which they were conceived, Celie loves her children deeply. Though her father has allegedly taken them into the forest to be killed, she knows he has actually given them to a loving, religious family. Even though her children are being raised by another family, both Celie and Nettie know that they belong together, and Nettie ensures that the family is eventually reunited after years of separation — including a period during which the children, their adoptive family, and Nettie herself lived in Africa doing missionary work.
Another instance of familial belonging occurs when Celie marries Mister. Upon their marriage, Celie not only joins Mister's family, but when her sister asks to stay with them, Mister allows Nettie to remain at the house on the basis that she is now family. However, Mister's warped sense of family soon reveals itself: having originally wanted to marry Nettie rather than Celie, he attempts to take advantage of Nettie much as he does Celie. When Nettie rejects his advances, she is immediately thrown out and is no longer considered part of his family. Furthermore, he prevents Celie from remaining in contact with her sister, even though Nettie has promised to write to her. Unbeknownst to Celie, Mister conceals all of Nettie's correspondence, leading Celie to believe that her sister has forgotten about her.
Moreover, Mister does not respect Celie in her role as his wife. He is unfaithful and treats her as though she exists merely to raise his children and maintain his property. He openly flaunts his love for another woman, Shug Avery, even moving her into their home to be closer to her. The affection Mister shows Shug stands in stark contrast to how he treats Celie. This is most evident the morning after Shug arrives at Mister's home — he attends to her eagerly, attempting to prepare her breakfast in a manner he has never shown Celie. The extremes to which Mister is willing to go for Shug, even in something as simple as preparing a meal, are at times both comic and telling of his priorities.
The Color Purple follows Celie through the tragedies she encounters, but ultimately demonstrates the profound transformation she undergoes. Celie is initially an outcast — married off by a man who has repeatedly violated her — yet she is able to overcome the obstacles placed before her. Through the influence of Nettie, Sofia, and Shug, she becomes a strong, independent woman. Drawing on the strength she finds in these relationships, she breaks free from her past and her abusive circumstances and is ultimately reunited with her children. Celie's refusal to give up on herself, and her quiet but persistent determination, are what allow her to succeed.
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