In the book The Color Purple the main character Celie is defined by her surrounding environment and people and also being part of the subordinate groups in society. The time period that the book was set in is about 1910-1940. Around this time women did not have a lot of rights and were only following the rules set up by the males in society. It was expected of the women to only do housework and childcare. This led to Celie being passive towards her husband and father. In addition when Celie was young she was abused by her stepfather several times and later by her husband. This leads to Celie being numb to her emotions. Celie character changes after she meets Shug because she is the only one that was able to teach her about self-worth and
