The Color Purple

The Color Purple

In The Color Purple the protagonist , Celie , is alienated from the world . Celie comes from a poor black family and the reader learns in the first of her letters (the novel is epistolary in form ) that she has been raped by her step-father . The man concerned , Alphonso , has told Celie that she should not tell anyone what has happened because it 'd kill your mammy (Walker , 1990 . She believes him and decides to deal with the situation by writing letters to God , who she envisions as an imposing white

man with a beard . Her reaction to her rape and Alphonso 's threats show that she is innocent as to the reality of the world : she is afraid to tall anyone because of what Alphonso has said will happen to her mother . Celie has to travel through one of the most difficult times of her life with a rapist 's baby , that soon turns into two when he molests her again

Celie writes to God at this early stage in the book , hoping that he will save her . Her identity is essentially that of a little girl looking to be reassured . Celie actually develops well beyond this early point of impotence , in which she says I don 't know how to fight . Essentially she moves from ignorance and fear to knowledge and self-respect : she travels much further in her search for identity than most people do She is a young , abused and inexperienced girl at the beginning , a mature woman at the end who understands the world

More than half the letters are written from Celie to God , and so her relationship with the deity is essential to an understanding of her development of identity . She starts by writing to God as a blue-eyed white male , something akin perhaps to Robert Powell 's portrayal of Jesus in several Hollywood movies . Because God does not answer her prayers Celie assumes that he must be asleep (Walker , 1990 . The personalized vision of God that fails to answer her prayers , one that seems to stem from a the naturally egocentric view of the world so often displayed by a teenager , moves slowly into a different vision as the novel progresses . God develops into something that is neither male nor female it is a God that is present in all things

While she remains at least nominally Christian , Celie is influenced by those around her into seeing a broader vision of the world . Nettie says we know a rootleaf is not Jesus Christ , but in its own humble way , is it not God ' Celie ends up answering this question with a resounding yes . In one of the later letters she starts with the following greeting

Dear stars , dear trees , dear sky , dear peoples . Dear everything . Dear

God (Walker , 1990

As her vision and definition of God develops into something far more inclusive and universal , so Celie becomes more happy and self-aware as the novel progresses . Her identity essentially expands form the frightened...