Color Purple Essay, Research Paper

What Makes The Color Purple a Southern Novel?

Southern Literature can be defined as writing about the South written by southern authors. However, novels like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man display characteristics linked to the southern imagination, but written by a non-southerner whose work considered part of the literary genre. Southern writing can also concern a southerner’s experience elsewhere, but it can also include “a southerner’s writing on a non-southern topic from a non-southern point of view, like Katherine Anne Porter’s Flowering Judas, set in Mexico” (Makowsky).

The question that presents itself is what makes a novel southern? Southern Literature is quite distinctive by tradition in that it remains descriptive and historical in context. According to John and Dale Reed, “some of these distinctions true of Southern Literature are family, religion, sense of history, sense of community, sense of human limitation, and use of southern voice or dialect” (p. 103). Remaining true to these distinctions, Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple (1920) shows the reader a portrayal many African-Americans living in the South.

Set in rural Georgia, the novel is the story of a poor black girl named Celie. Walker’s story focuses on the violence that occurs among family members, a kind of deliberate cruelty if you may. According to Timothy Adams, “much of Walker’s work depicted the emotional, spiritual, and physical orientation that occurs when family trust is betrayed” (p. 2750). Family is a distinction true of Southern Literature, however, Walker depicts a non-cohesive family structure that contained repressive control and sexual abuse. Celie is merely a servant and occasional sexual convenience to her husband Albert. When Albert’s oldest son, Harpo, asks Albert why he beats Celie, he says simply, “cause she my wife” (Walker, p. 22). Walker shows the reader how family can be cruel and abusive.

Southern families tend to reside close to one another generation after generation. Sometimes, generations of family can occupy a whole street or even a town. Walker shows the reader a more positive element to the southern family structure by including this in the story. Harpo married a girl named Sophia and brought her and their baby “home”. Celie says, ” Harpo fix up the little creek house for him and his family” (Walker, p.32). To further show the generations, Albert’s father resides close by as well. What we have is three generations of men, with two having separate families living close together. This is a true example of a southern extended family.

Southern families, particularly black families, can be very judgmental when it comes to their family members’ personal lives. Some Black families will judge choices about education, career, and even whom the family member chooses to romantically be with. Walker illustrates this well when Albert brings Shug Avery back to his house to help her overcome her sickness. Albert wanted to originally marry Shug, but protests from his father kept them apart. Albert’s father says, ” Just couldn’t rest till you got her in your house, could you Just what is it bout this Shug Avery anyway, she black as tar, she nappy headed, she got legs like baseball bats” (Walker, p.54). Seems pretty harsh, however, in some Southern families, members are known to speak their minds in order to protect their family.

Near the end of the novel, Walker illustrates a scene where the family is sitting around on a Fourth of July having a barbecue. Harpo comments on the Fourth of July by saying, “white folks busy celebrating they independence from England us spend the day celebrating each other”(Walker, p. 288). Southern Black families love to prepare a big meal and spend time catching up on each other’s business. Southern writer Ben Robertson says, “Life is but a day at most, then why not spend among one’s own”(Reed and Reed, p.58). Family will always be a presence in Southern Literature.

Another distinction true of Southern Literature is religion. Walker first introduces religion to the reader by the letters written to God from Celie. According to Donna Winchell, ” In writing to God, she (Celie) is writing to the part of her personality growing progressively stronger until she is able to acknowledge the God within herself and demand the respect due” (p.89). Earlier in the story, Celie never questioned God about the harsh treatment she received from her father and husband. Celie says to Sophia, “couldn’t be mad at my daddy cause he my daddy. Bible say, Honor father and mother no matter what” (Walker, p.39). Celie holds on to this belief until Shug Avery arrives in her life and helps her to learn more about God. She eventually questions God about the injustices she has received throughout her life. According to John and Dale Reed, ” People talk about God, the way they talk about weather, about his blessings, about why he let things happen” (p. 142).

Walker delivers characters who are strong and survivors. Many of the characters go through what some calls a “middle passage,” which is similar to a hurdle one must overcome in their life. There is a Southern saying that goes along with that idea and that is, “God will never put more on you than you can handle.” Walker illustrates this best showing Celie carrying on with her life after all of the emotional and physical damage inflicted upon her throughout most of her life. Towards the end of the novel Celie, Harpo and Sophia were sitting around having a discussion, and Celie says to Sophia, “Girl, I’m bless God know what I mean”(Walker, p.218).

In Nettie’s letters to Celie, Walker shows the reader the religious beliefs of the Olinka tribe. Nettie describes what the villagers told her about the god of their tribe. The Olinka worshipped the root leaf plant with which they covered their house to keep out the rain. According to Mae G. Henderson, “this religion was based on a story where on man destroyed too much of the root leaf” (Bloom, p.80). During the rainy season, “the people of the village prayed to their gods and waited impatiently for the seasons to change” (Walker, p.80). The entire village was devastated and many people died until the root leaf grew back again. Walker is able to show the different religious beliefs of Black Africans and Black Americans.

Walker also shows the reader the institution of the Church, and how judgmental members can be. Many southern Christians can be very one-sided when it comes to church. A person can not do this, a person can not do that, and some southern Christians have developed this attitude of superiority because they believe they walk a sin free path. One can always rely on a few devout Christians to judge someone who is not living a virtuous life. In a letter to God, Celie wrote about how the Preacher judged Shug Avery because of the life she chooses to live. Celie states:

“Even the preacher got his mouth on Shug Avery He talk

about a strumpet in short skirts, smoking cigarettes, drinking

gin. Singing for money and taking other women mens. Talk

bout slut, hussy, heifer and streetcleaner” (Walker, p.41).

The Preacher felt that Shug did not represent what he felt was Christian-like ways, and was compelled to point that out during service. Southern authors will continue to write about religion in their works, because it is a part of Southern heritage. Religion will always be a true distinction of Southern Literature.

Another distinction true of Southern Literature is a sense of history. Many southern black writers are drawn to the past in search of their identities. Ernest J. Gaines stated, “I was trying to go back, back into our experiences in this country to find some kind of meaning to our present lives” (Reed and Reed, p. 142). Walker is able to bring the past degradation, rape, and oppression that occurred during slavery and parallel it to female oppression found in the south. She illustrates this well in the beginning of the novel when Celie’s stepfather tries to marry her off to Albert. Celie states, “pa call me. Celie, he say. Like it wasn’t nothing. Mr.___ want another look at you. I go and stand in the door He look me up and down Turn round, pa say” (Walker, p.10). This scene is a mere monologue of slavery in the south. Donna Winchell says, ” In a scene reminiscent of a slave auction, Celie’s stepfather then offers her over like a head of live stock Thus, Celie is passed like a piece of property”(p.86).

Similar to slaves fleeing the oppression and cruelty of their slave masters, Celie eventually frees herself from her husband’s repressive control. Janet Montelaro says that, “Readers of The Color Purple must acknowledge Walker’s concern with the constraints of the American institution of slavery affected the historical transmission of African-American women’s creativity to successive generations of Black women” (p.15). Walker helps the reader to gain sense of history by drawing from the past injustices of slavery and relating it to the situations present in her novel.

Another distinction true of Southern literature is a sense of community. Looking at this distinction from a social perspective, Walker shows the division between the females and the male oppressor within the black community. According to Mae G. Henderson, ” The women in the novel form a vast network of communal relationships in which female bonding is the dominant connecting link” (Bloom, p.76). The women stick together to help deal with each other’s emotional pain inflicted upon them from a male dominated society.

Walker first shows the reader the bond that Celie has with her sister Nettie. Celie’s main goal is to protect Nettie, so that she will not have to suffer the emotional and physical pain similar to Celie’s. She was able to do that by trying to deter her stepfather from hurting Nettie. Celie states:

“Sometime he still be looking at Nettie, but I always git in his

light I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new

mammy sick I tell him I can fix myself up for him He

beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway” (Walker, p.5,7 )

Walker also shows the reader how Shug Avery helps Celie to become self-empowered and reassured. Shug teaches Celie reverence and mystery about her body. Celie and Shug have a discussion about sex and Shug tells Celie that she is still a Virgin. Celie has never gotten arousal from a man. Shug explains to Celie,” Listen, she say, right down there is your p—y is a little button that gits real hot when you do you know what with somebody”(Walker, p.76). Celie hangs to Shug like a clutch and begins a journey of humanization and self-empowerment. Now empowered, Celie begins to help “Speak” become independent and self-assured by advising her to make “Speak’s” husband Harpo call her by her real name. According to Mae Henderson:

“the women in the novel forge bonds in other ways as well.

Celie accedes to the violation of her body in order to protect

her sister Nettie from the sexual advances of their stepfather.

Speak with her own body secures Sofia’s release form jail”(Walker, p.76).

Walker challenges the hierarchical power relationship exercised between men and women by showing cooperation and mutuality among the female relationships. Cooperation and mutuality represents the ideal community. Although Walker does not show this in the black community, the relationships between the women are solid and strong.

Another distinction true of Southern Literature is a sense of human limitation. Similar to having a will to survive, Walker presents this distinction in the form of a conflict that shows, “the individual within society, product of it and often as not its victim, yet all the same time a free agent with the responsibility for his actions” (Rubin Jr. and Jacobs, p. 13). The book is set during a time when blacks where considered second-class citizens. Women were often looked upon as sex objects and inferior to men. To be black and a woman during this period in American History was difficult. Not only did Celie have to endure abuse, but all of the black female characters in the book dealt with some sort of conflict, imposed on them by a male dominated society. Walker illustrates this conflict best between Sophia and Celie.

According to Mae G. Henderson, “Unlike Sophia, however, Celie submits to a system of beliefs and values which reinforce conventional notions of race, class, sex, and relegates her to a subordinate status” (Bloom, p.71). Earlier in the novel, Celie believed that it was o.k. for a man to hit a woman. This was all she knew. Her father beat her, and her husband beat her as well. Harpo asks Celie, “how could he make Sophia mind him and she says, beat her?”(Walker, p.34) Growing up with men who physically abused her shaped Sophia’s sense of human limitation. She learned quickly that in order to survive, she had to fight. Harpo tells Sophia that Celie advised him to beat her. Sophia finds her way to Celie and says to her, “all my life I had to fight, I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my uncles and my cousins A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men” (Walker, p. 38). The strength in that statement is powerful, in that, it shows the reader how emotionally and physically strong Sophia is, and that she is a bi-product of a male dominating society that views her as inferior.

Celie’s sense of human limitation was shaped by an abusive stepfather and a husband who treats her like a slave. The conflict between Celie and Sophia arises because Celie is envious of Sophia’s ability to not back down to men. Celie is scared of men, which is why she forms relationships with women easier. Celie knows that she is controlled by her husband, and she acknowledges this when she “think bout how every time (she) jump when Mr.___call (her)” (Walker, p.38). Celie longs for the courage she sees in Sophia every time Sophia refuses to mind Harpo, her husband.

Sophia’s personality is domineering and assured. Sophia will not allow a man to beat her with out a good fight. Sophia tells Celie that, “I loves Harpo, God-knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me” (Walker, p. 38). Sophia is empowered to fight Harpo when he tries to reduce her to the status of an object, ultimately showing Sophia’s sense of human limitation. Earlier in the novel, fighting back did not even seem like an option for Celie; survival seemed the best she could hope for. Celie stand silent, like a tree, as Albert beats her, thinking,” that’s how come I know trees fear man” (Walker, p.23). Celie talks to Sophia about how Albert abuses her, and Sophia says, “You ought to bash Mr.___ head open” (Walker, p.86). Albert’s abuse reduced Celie to a child-like status; allowing Celie to feel like less of a person and more like an object.

Another conflict that aroused with Sophia’s sense of human limitation occurred when the Mayor’s wife, Miss Millie was admiring how clean Sophia’s children were. Sophia becomes agitated when Miss Millie asked Sophia to be her maid. Sophia gave a response outside of the norm for blacks; in response, the Mayor smacked Sophia. Sophia hit him back. Walker shows the reader what happens when a person’s sense of human limitation is not within the norms of society. Southern writers can present a sense of human limitation in the form of a conflict, or a character understanding the limitations set fourth by society. Walker illustrates both in the story.

Celie’s letters are written in what Walker calls, ‘”black folk english,” a language of wit, strength, and natural humor’ (Adams, p. 2750). Walker’s use of Southern dialect, which is a distinction true of Southern Literature, help give the reader a realistic depiction of Celie. As Walker explains, “to have Celie speak in the language of her oppressors would be to deny her the validity of her existence; to suppress her voice would be to murder her and to attack all those ancestors who spoke as she does” (Winchell, p. 87). Celies’s words, particularly the opening ones describing her rape by her stepfather, might shock some readers, but those where the only words she knew.

The first letter to God, Celie talks about how her stepfather rapes her, she says, “first he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties But I don’t never git used to it” (Walker, p. 1). The language is that of a fourteen-year-old girl who is one generation out of slavery. Other Southern authors like Charles Waddell Chestnutt made use of dialect in his work Mar’s Jeems’s Nightmare. This story also illustrated southern blacks that were one generation outside of slavery. Southern writers use southern dialect to give an authentic depiction of what times were like during early American history. This helps the reader to gain a true understanding of Southern Culture.

This essay contains facts that prove Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple is truly a southern novel. Walker’s story is descriptive and historical in context. She shows the reader how family, religion, sense of history, sense of community, sense of human limitation, and use of southern voice or dialect; which are distinctions true of Southern Literature; are important to giving a realistic depiction of southern culture.

Works Cited

Adams, Timothy Dow. “Alice Walker.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction. By Frank N. Magill. Vol. 7.

2579-3012 stur-2. Maine, 1983. 2750.

Bloom, Harold. Alice Walker. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. 71,76,80.

Montelaro, Janet. Producing a Womanist text: The Maternal as Signifiers in Alice Walker’s The Color

Purple. University of Victoria, 1996. 15.

Reed, John Shelton, and Dale Volberg Reed. 1001 Things Everyone Should know about the South.

Orlando: Sandlapper Publishing, 1997. 103,108,142,.

Rubin, Jr., Louis D. , and Robert D. Jacobs. South: Modern Southern Literature in Its Southern

Setting. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1961. 13.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1982.

1,5,7,22,23,32,34,38,39,41,54,76,80,86,218,288.

Winchell, Donna. Alice Walker. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. 86,87,89.

The Walker Percy Project. 1996: Oxford Press, 1996. 3 Mar. 2001

. Walker Percy and Southern Literature. Ed.

Veronica Makowsky.

Bibliography

Adams, Timothy Dow. “Alice Walker.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction. By Frank N. Magill. Vol. 7.

2579-3012 stur-2. Maine, 1983.

Bloom, Harold. Alice Walker. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.

Cash, W.J. The Mind of the South. 1st Vintage Books edition ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

Montelaro, Janet. Producing a Womanist text: The Maternal as Signifiers in Alice Walker’s The Color

Purple. University of Victoria, 1996.

Reed, John Shelton, and Dale Volberg Reed. 1001 Things Everyone Should know about the South.

Orlando: Sandlapper Publishing, 1997.

Rubin, Jr., Louis . The Literary South. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, 1979.

Rubin, Jr., Louis D. , and Robert D. Jacobs. South: Modern Southern Literature in Its Southern

Setting. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1961.

The Walker Percy Project. 1996: Oxford Press, 1996. 3 Mar. 2001

. Walker Percy and Southern Literature. Ed.

Veronica Makowsky.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Florida: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1982.

Winchell, Donna. Alice Walker. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992.

What Makes The Color Purple a Southern Novel?

Southern Literature can be defined as writing about the South written by southern authors. However, novels like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man display characteristics linked to the southern imagination, but written by a non-southerner whose work considered part of the literary genre. Southern writing can also concern a southerner’s experience elsewhere, but it can also include “a southerner’s writing on a non-southern topic from a non-southern point of view, like Katherine Anne Porter’s Flowering Judas, set in Mexico” (Makowsky).

The question that presents itself is what makes a novel southern? Southern Literature is quite distinctive by tradition in that it remains descriptive and historical in context. According to John and Dale Reed, “some of these distinctions true of Southern Literature are family, religion, sense of history, sense of community, sense of human limitation, and use of southern voice or dialect” (p. 103). Remaining true to these distinctions, Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple (1920) shows the reader a portrayal many African-Americans living in the South.

Set in rural Georgia, the novel is the story of a poor black girl named Celie. Walker’s story focuses on the violence that occurs among family members, a kind of deliberate cruelty if you may. According to Timothy Adams, “much of Walker’s work depicted the emotional, spiritual, and physical orientation that occurs when family trust is betrayed” (p. 2750). Family is a distinction true of Southern Literature, however, Walker depicts a non-cohesive family structure that contained repressive control and sexual abuse. Celie is merely a servant and occasional sexual convenience to her husband Albert. When Albert’s oldest son, Harpo, asks Albert why he beats Celie, he says simply, “cause she my wife” (Walker, p. 22). Walker shows the reader how family can be cruel and abusive.

Southern families tend to reside close to one another generation after generation. Sometimes, generations of family can occupy a whole street or even a town. Walker shows the reader a more positive element to the southern family structure by including this in the story. Harpo married a girl named Sophia and brought her and their baby “home”. Celie says, ” Harpo fix up the little creek house for him and his family” (Walker, p.32). To further show the generations, Albert’s father resides close by as well. What we have is three generations of men, with two having separate families living close together. This is a true example of a southern extended family.

Southern families, particularly black families, can be very judgmental when it comes to their family members’ personal lives. Some Black families will judge choices about education, career, and even whom the family member chooses to romantically be with. Walker illustrates this well when Albert brings Shug Avery back to his house to help her overcome her sickness. Albert wanted to originally marry Shug, but protests from his father kept them apart. Albert’s father says, ” Just couldn’t rest till you got her in your house, could you Just what is it bout this Shug Avery anyway, she black as tar, she nappy headed, she got legs like baseball bats” (Walker, p.54). Seems pretty harsh, however, in some Southern families, members are known to speak their minds in order to protect their family.

Near the end of the novel, Walker illustrates a scene where the family is sitting around on a Fourth of July having a barbecue. Harpo comments on the Fourth of July by saying, “white folks busy celebrating they independence from England us spend the day celebrating each other”(Walker, p. 288). Southern Black families love to prepare a big meal and spend time catching up on each other’s business. Southern writer Ben Robertson says, “Life is but a day at most, then why not spend among one’s own”(Reed and Reed, p.58). Family will always be a presence in Southern Literature.

Another distinction true of Southern Literature is religion. Walker first introduces religion to the reader by the letters written to God from Celie. According to Donna Winchell, ” In writing to God, she (Celie) is writing to the part of her personality growing progressively stronger until she is able to acknowledge the God within herself and demand the respect due” (p.89). Earlier in the story, Celie never questioned God about the harsh treatment she received from her father and husband. Celie says to Sophia, “couldn’t be mad at my daddy cause he my daddy. Bible say, Honor father and mother no matter what” (Walker, p.39). Celie holds on to this belief until Shug Avery arrives in her life and helps her to learn more about God. She eventually questions God about the injustices she has received throughout her life. According to John and Dale Reed, ” People talk about God, the way they talk about weather, about his blessings, about why he let things happen” (p. 142).

Walker delivers characters who are strong and survivors. Many of the characters go through what some calls a “middle passage,” which is similar to a hurdle one must overcome in their life. There is a Southern saying that goes along with that idea and that is, “God will never put more on you than you can handle.” Walker illustrates this best showing Celie carrying on with her life after all of the emotional and physical damage inflicted upon her throughout most of her life. Towards the end of the novel Celie, Harpo and Sophia were sitting around having a discussion, and Celie says to Sophia, “Girl, I’m bless God know what I mean”(Walker, p.218).

In Nettie’s letters to Celie, Walker shows the reader the religious beliefs of the Olinka tribe. Nettie describes what the villagers told her about the god of their tribe. The Olinka worshipped the root leaf plant with which they covered their house to keep out the rain. According to Mae G. Henderson, “this religion was based on a story where on man destroyed too much of the root leaf” (Bloom, p.80). During the rainy season, “the people of the village prayed to their gods and waited impatiently for the seasons to change” (Walker, p.80). The entire village was devastated and many people died until the root leaf grew back again. Walker is able to show the different religious beliefs of Black Africans and Black Americans.

Walker also shows the reader the institution of the Church, and how judgmental members can be. Many southern Christians can be very one-sided when it comes to church. A person can not do this, a person can not do that, and some southern Christians have developed this attitude of superiority because they believe they walk a sin free path. One can always rely on a few devout Christians to judge someone who is not living a virtuous life. In a letter to God, Celie wrote about how the Preacher judged Shug Avery because of the life she chooses to live. Celie states:

“Even the preacher got his mouth on Shug Avery He talk

about a strumpet in short skirts, smoking cigarettes, drinking

gin. Singing for money and taking other women mens. Talk

bout slut, hussy, heifer and streetcleaner” (Walker, p.41).

The Preacher felt that Shug did not represent what he felt was Christian-like ways, and was compelled to point that out during service. Southern authors will continue to write about religion in their works, because it is a part of Southern heritage. Religion will always be a true distinction of Southern Literature.

Another distinction true of Southern Literature is a sense of history. Many southern black writers are drawn to the past in search of their identities. Ernest J. Gaines stated, “I was trying to go back, back into our experiences in this country to find some kind of meaning to our present lives” (Reed and Reed, p. 142). Walker is able to bring the past degradation, rape, and oppression that occurred during slavery and parallel it to female oppression found in the south. She illustrates this well in the beginning of the novel when Celie’s stepfather tries to marry her off to Albert. Celie states, “pa call me. Celie, he say. Like it wasn’t nothing. Mr.___ want another look at you. I go and stand in the door He look me up and down Turn round, pa say” (Walker, p.10). This scene is a mere monologue of slavery in the south. Donna Winchell says, ” In a scene reminiscent of a slave auction, Celie’s stepfather then offers her over like a head of live stock Thus, Celie is passed like a piece of property”(p.86).

Similar to slaves fleeing the oppression and cruelty of their slave masters, Celie eventually frees herself from her husband’s repressive control. Janet Montelaro says that, “Readers of The Color Purple must acknowledge Walker’s concern with the constraints of the American institution of slavery affected the historical transmission of African-American women’s creativity to successive generations of Black women” (p.15). Walker helps the reader to gain sense of history by drawing from the past injustices of slavery and relating it to the situations present in her novel.

Another distinction true of Southern literature is a sense of community. Looking at this distinction from a social perspective, Walker shows the division between the females and the male oppressor within the black community. According to Mae G. Henderson, ” The women in the novel form a vast network of communal relationships in which female bonding is the dominant connecting link” (Bloom, p.76). The women stick together to help deal with each other’s emotional pain inflicted upon them from a male dominated society.

Walker first shows the reader the bond that Celie has with her sister Nettie. Celie’s main goal is to protect Nettie, so that she will not have to suffer the emotional and physical pain similar to Celie’s. She was able to do that by trying to deter her stepfather from hurting Nettie. Celie states:

“Sometime he still be looking at Nettie, but I always git in his

light I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new

mammy sick I tell him I can fix myself up

320