The Color Purple also showcases sacrifice within the context of a familial relationship, in the form of Celie and Nettie. As the oldest child in her family, Celie takes care of her younger siblings more and more as her mother becomes sicker, eventually becoming the surrogate mother for them once her mother dies. She also begins to take her mother’s place in another sense, because as her mother loses the inclination to be physical with her stepfather, she becomes the new provider for Alphonso’s physical gratification. This, combined with being the recipient of constant insults and degradation from nearly all the men in her life, causes her to develop such a feeling of unworthiness and low self-esteem that she is disposed to giving up herself for others, especially her sister Nettie. When Alphonso begins to see Nettie in a sexual light,
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de Berg. 34) of a nose impedes Cyrano from ever seeing himself as anything other than ugly, and further hinders him in his pursuit of Roxane, the love of his life. Being clever with his words, he always manages to deflect any comments about his appendage with grace, and even waxes about its strength and size in certain parts of the play. This bravado lets him project a confident persona, yet as time passes, revealing comments about his thoughts regarding his nose show how bitter and alone he feels because of it. He believes himself to be utterly incapable of finding a woman that would love him, that it is “forbidden me [Cyrano] to dream of love from e’en the most ill-favored” (Cyr. de Berg. 42), let alone a beautiful woman like Roxane. Due to this belief in his physical and romantic worthlessness, he refuses to declare his love to her, until he begins doing so through a handsome yet dim surrogate, a young nobleman named Christian. His decision to help Christian woo Roxane constitutes a sacrifice of the possibility of being with her, and he does so because he feels like there is no hope for him when it comes to winning her love as
de Berg. 34) of a nose impedes Cyrano from ever seeing himself as anything other than ugly, and further hinders him in his pursuit of Roxane, the love of his life. Being clever with his words, he always manages to deflect any comments about his appendage with grace, and even waxes about its strength and size in certain parts of the play. This bravado lets him project a confident persona, yet as time passes, revealing comments about his thoughts regarding his nose show how bitter and alone he feels because of it. He believes himself to be utterly incapable of finding a woman that would love him, that it is “forbidden me [Cyrano] to dream of love from e’en the most ill-favored” (Cyr. de Berg. 42), let alone a beautiful woman like Roxane. Due to this belief in his physical and romantic worthlessness, he refuses to declare his love to her, until he begins doing so through a handsome yet dim surrogate, a young nobleman named Christian. His decision to help Christian woo Roxane constitutes a sacrifice of the possibility of being with her, and he does so because he feels like there is no hope for him when it comes to winning her love as