ISU Essay: The Color Purple

The Color Purple




















Nick LeBlond





















ENG 4UE
Rockland District Highschool
December 10, 08
There is one word used by everybody today that had a different meaning to everybody who used it in the past. It meant something different to Martin Luther King Jr. than it did to Adolph Hitler, it had the ability to inspire people, but when negated or neglected it could take individuals down. The word ‘equality’ used to be a dream for some, or it meant something different to everyone but it never was universally accepted for a long period of time. Even in today’s times not everyone shares the same definition of equality, but the majority of civilizations all over the world for the most part teach equality under an acceptable definition. Equality is achieved when everybody is treated the same no matter what color their skin is or no matter what differences someone may appear to have. From the Bible and our parents we have learned through many life lessons that everyone is born equally, this is why people today have a good definition of equality. In Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, the main problem and conflict in the novel is the unjust inequality that Celie has to face and how she is treated so poorly even though she is the same as anyone else. Equality is non dependant on neither race nor sex, it is not based on the fact that everyone is different. The main idea of equality is that since no two people grow up truly and completely alike, then no two people should be treated differently from one another. Everyone is born equal from the first breath they take and should be treated with the same respect as anybody else. Celie was born just like her sister Nettie and Shug Avery, an African American woman but throughout the novel The color Purple she is treated completely differently in a very negative and demoralizing way compared to Nettie and Shug Avery. Since they were all born the same (just like everybody else) they should all be treated fairly, with respect and with as much rights as anyone else has no matter what they look like. No matter what pigment your skin color is when a person is first born their pigment color at first will always be the same. It is a fact that no matter if you are white or black, when you are first born your skin pigment is a purple color. This fact shows that everybody is born equal in terms of his or her skin color. The title “The Color Purple” can symbolize the fact that every single person starts life looking the same (exempting the difference in sexes) and since every single person starts life the same it shows that everybody should starts life equal. Celie was born exactly equal to both her sister Nettie and Shug Avery, African American and a female. Even though they were all born the same Celie was still treated in a very harsh negative matter throughout the whole book when both Shug Avery and her sister Nettie for the most part were treated with a positive manor. Sofia in the novel is a very strong believer in equality and she knows she deserves no different treatment from anyone. After Harpo married to Sofia, Celie tells the reader that “Harpo wants to know what to do to make Sofia mind.” (Walker, 36). This can be understood as Harpo wanting to know what he can do to make Sofia obedient. After Harpos’s father asks him if he hit her he then replies no. Harpo’s father is surprised by this response and then replies “Wives is like children. You have to let ‘em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do better than a good sound beating.” (Walker, 36). This is when Harpo decides to take his fathers advice and strike Sofia to make her listen. Women have as much rights and equality as men do and Sofia knows that so after getting struck by her husband she retaliates leaving Harpo a mark on his eye. This action of retaliation when Sofia’s rights have been threatened shows that she knows that she deserves to be respected as much as any man and that she has the same amount of equality as any other person. Sofia even goes to jail because of her actions towards white people. After being insulted by a white women she talks back and gets all the white towns folk in such a uproar she ends up hitting the spouse of the women resulting in her getting hit and thrown into jail. Sofia has so much pride and belief in equality that she literally paid the sacrifice from being taken away from her family for eight years for her just trying to be treated like everybody else. Throughout her life Celie and Nettie are treated very differently from one another. From the eyes of her stepfather from the eyes of her husband, Celie is always looked at very differently. The equality difference between the two sisters; Celie and Nettie is what makes both of their lives very different. The way Nettie ends up getting treated (equal) allows her to be very happy and pleased with her overall life in Africa. This is different from Celie’s life where she is treated unequally and ends up resenting her life until she demands equality. With one of Nettie’s letters from Africa Celie reads “The boys now accept Olivia and Tashi in class and more mothers are sending their daughters to school.” (Walker, 157). By writing this in a letter she is showing her sister Celie that she and other women and girls have much more rights and equality just like then men do. This also shows that Celie is treated much different because she does not get the same amount of respect as the women down in Africa with Nettie do and that her well-deserved respect is still stripped from her. Even when they were young Nettie and Celie were both treated differently. Her stepfather at the beginning of the novel repeatedly raped Celie when Nettie had not been touched in that manner and remained fresh (never been pregnant). This shows how unequal the two sisters are while the smarter, prettier of the two does not get penetrated by her stepfather when the one with a less of a future (in his eyes) gets raped and impregnated on more than one occasion. Celie’s stepfather even robs Celie of both of her children when they are born, he steals Adam when she is sleeping at night and he rips Olivia right out of her arms after she just has given birth to her. When noticing Celie crying while rapping her all her stepfather has to say is “You better shut up and git used to it.” (Walker, 1). By saying this the stepfather realizes and doesn’t care about what he is doing to his eldest daughter and does not care at all because in his eyes he does not believe she has a promising future when Nettie does. By doing this and treating both of his daughters differently he then starts of both of their young lives with inequality and disrespect for Celie and her body. Throughout the majority of Celie’s life (up till the point where she takes a stand) she experiences first hand inequality, racism and sexism. Experiencing this makes her life basically a living hell; from all the hard work like housework she has to do and the beatings Celie resents her life. While Celie is experiencing inequality, Nettie experiences what it is like to be treated equally and with respect with the revrend, his wife, and their adopted kids (Celie’s children which were taken away from her). In a letter to Celie, Nettie talks about how people are different down in Africa and she even says; “They are not all mean like Pa and Albert, or beaten down like ma was.” (Walker, 124). This shows both extremes of the case of equality and inequality, from Celie where she her life is miserable because of how badly she is treated every second of her life oppose to Nettie which is quite satisfied with her life because she is treated so much better than when she was young. Celie experienced being treated differently from not only Nettie but also many others. Her own husband when in comparison with Shug Avery treated Celie extremely different in a negative manner. While Celie`s husband basically worshiped the ground Shug Avery walked on he never let up on treating Celie like garbage. The only times Celie`s husband does not beat or strike her is when Shug Avery around, this is because he knows if he beat her she would be furious. Even though both Celie and Shug Avery were both born an African American female the are both treated completely different by Celie`s husband. By not treating Celie with the respect and kindness she deserves in comparison with Shug Avery, her husband is intend doing the same her stepfather did when she was young which is being cruel and not treating her at all like an equal individual. Celie`s husband wanted very much to marry Shug Avery and still loves her throughout the novel, but he treats her nothing like he treats his actual wife. He treats Celie with a great deal of disrespect and even beats her when she acts up or when she does not do as she is told. Celie’s husband never does anything wrong to Shug Avery like beating her or yelling at her even though she both her and Celie deserve the same amount of kindness and respect. When Shug Avery asks why Celie`s husband beats her she answers; “For being me and not you.” (Walker, 76). This explains that Celie does realize that her and Shug Avery are unequal in her husband’s eyes and she pays the price for this. She does know that the reason why she gets beat is because she is less attractive looking and she isn’t anywhere near a good singer like Shug Avery, so her husband hates that. Therefore by being less attractive and not as good as a singer or talented in general, Celie is treated with extreme disrespect and even gets beaten on a regular basis from her husband where Shug Avery is a talented singer and very attractive and she is treated like royalty in comparison with Celie. Throughout the novel there are instances where Celie is given a certain degree of respect and compation from Shug Avery. Shug Avery is quite fond and really likes Celie so she helps bring her spirit up to give her a glimpse of what equality is and what it feels like to be treated kindly and with respect. By doing this Shug Avery putts the idea of being able to be treated equally in Celie`s head, which after a longer period of time is enough to allow Celie to stand up for herself to her abusive husband. Shug Avery acts as the one who inspires the thought of change in Celie’s mind and could be the person who allows the turning point of Celie standing up to her husband`s abusive ways to take place in good time. This shows that Celie begins to become inspired by certain gestures that are presented by Shug Avery towards Celie allowing her to try to overcome the conflict of all the inequality that she has experienced throughout her entire life and be able to live a happy equal life. When singing at the juke joint, Shug Avery dedicates a song entirely to Celie. This song lifts Celieès spirits and gives her the first ever glimpse of equality she has ever experienced from outside her family (Nettie). When Shug Avery sings the song for Celie, Celie says; “First time somebody made something and name it after me.” (Walker, 74). This shows that this is the first time anyone other than Nettie has shown Celie any ounce of equality, respect or even just kindness. By flattering Celie with a song in her name, Shug Avery is inspiring the thought of being treated equally in her Celie`s head. This acts as the initial point where the turning point may become apparent because with Celie`s immensely positive reaction it is fairly easy she can tell that it is very pleasant to be treated equally and that she wants to overcome the conflict of inequality so she can be treated like everybody else. When Shug Avery and Celie have intimacy towards each other towards the middle of the novel, it acts like another positive action towards Celie. Since Celie never had anyone ever kind towards her in a loving or sexual matter (her step father and husband were very rude to her in a sexual matter) it was the first time she felt something pleasant with somebody when Shug Avery and her go intimate together. Shug Avery is the first person to actually say I love you to Celie and mean it outside of her family, Celie writes about what she said and then did because it is the first time anyone has ever said or did things to her with respect. Celie says; “She say, I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me on the mouth.” (Walker, 114)This action of Shug Avery’s aloud Celie to then feel just a little bit more equal and just a little bit more like everybody else. By letting Celie feel that way it gave her another insight of what equality felt like and it further more put the image in Celie’s head about how she can feel so much more pleased and happy when being treated kindly and respectfully just like everybody else. This is another instance where Shug Avery inspired Celie about the chance to actually being treated equally and having equality within her own life instead of always being abused, unloved and treated with such disrespect where she has grown to hate her life. Throughout the novel Shug Avery gives Celie the pride and respet she deserves in many different times and ways. She helps Celie to overcome the conflect of the inequality by getting her to believ that she is as everyone else is and that she derves the same treatment just like everybody else. Shug avery allows the turning point of the novel and in Celie’s life to take place because she shows Celie love and friendship. By showin her wwhat it feels like to be appreciated it allows the conflict of inequality to be noticed by Celie which then she can strive to change that in her life and be treated like she deserves. The color purple in the novel is supposed to represent the theme of equality. It is the color that everyone first is when born before being black or white or any other color. Shug Avery says arguably the best thing to Celie to symbolize the fact of equality when she tells Celie “I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it.” (Walker, 184). Since the color purple represent equability in the novel, Shug Avery is saying upfront with Celie that God hates it when equality is ignored. This is very significant because of her faith to God and the fact that it supposedly to aggravate God when equality goes ignored or unnoticed. Celie can understand what Shug Avery is trying to say because of the fact that in her whole life her equality was ignored until she was able to make a stand for herself and all the rights that were stripped away from her she deserved. This shows the reader that Celie understands that the conflict of the lack of equality within her whole life is a conflict that God hates to see. The whole notion of God getting upset when the color purple (or equality) is unnoticed reinforces the fact that equality is the biggest theme of the book and the major conflict in the book is the lack of equality within Celie’s life up until she takes a stand for her rights and respect as a human just like everybody else.










(Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Austin: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1982.)