Racism And Sexism In The Color Purple By Alice Walker

“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker is a very radical movie of the twentieth century. While not only showing the abuse of women in a new light, it also shows the growing independence of women as well. The story is set in the Deep South in America after the Civil War. It shows a young woman, Celie and her struggles as a young girl grow into deeper struggles as a middle aged woman. As the story progresses, many important women come in and out of her life, and ultimately help her with the hardships in which her faces as a woman in this time period. The story begins with her hard life with her abusive father, moving into the even worse life with her abusive husband. However, fortunately the movie comes to a closure with the independence of this …show more content…
Through many different instances within this movie, the idea of discrimination in the way of both race and sex, are exploited in their evil ways. The idea that one can simply treat another poorly due to their differences in race or gender is portrayed as badly as it is in this movie. One of many examples of this was the father of Celie and Celie herself. Many times he took advantage of her and treated her as though she nothing, merely more than a piece of property. He would use her in several different abusive ways, and cared for her little. This is due to the fact that she was a different gender, and the weaker gender at that. This is one way in which the sexism is shown in its true colors. Racism is also shown throughout this movie in a few different ways. However, the best example is the conflict between the mayor and Sofia. The mayor publicly punched Sofia, and in self-defense, she returned the punch to him. Unfortunately, the mayor was a white man, and Sofia was an African American woman, therefore, all odds were against her. She was put in jail and sentenced to being the maid for the mayor’s family for a good majority of her life, while the mayor was seen as only doing the proper thing. This is a perfect example of the evils of both sexism and racism in play. Through many examples, such as the ones previously mentioned, the evils of racism and sexism were shown heavily …show more content…
Friendships can be very important to one 's sanity, as often portrayed in the movie. Having a friend will give one strength in themselves and their ideas. One can feel as though they are not alone in a cruel world, especially in a world like that of Celie’s in “The Color Purple”. Celie had two very important friendships throughout the movie that stood as a major influence for her life decisions. One of her closest friends was that of her sister. As she had grown up with her sister in an abusive house her entire life until mid-teens, her sister was the only friendly face she would ever see. When she was sent off to marry, Celie lost contact with her beloved sister for a short time. However, a short time later they were reunited as her sister lived with her for a while. Eventually, her sister was kicked out by the abusive man Celie called her husband. However, even after the two girls lost contact for many years, their friendship remained very important. Without this friendship, without her sister, Celie would have had nothing to live for. One could believe that by Celie having this amazing friendship, she was able to push on through the everyday struggles in which she time and time again would experience. Another friendship in which Celie possessed that prove to also be very important was that of Shaw’s. Shaw is what one could believe to be the reason