There is a significant difference between being alive and living. A person’s quality of life is dependent on whether someone chooses to fight for the life they deserve, or if they simply choose to survive. Alice Walker uses this as a central theme in her book The Color Purple, and develops it through the main character, Celie. As a child, Celie was raped and abused by her stepfather, and was forced to marry a man she calls Mister, who turns out to be abusive. Her sister, Nettie, is the only source of happiness and love she has, but she quickly loses her when Nettie fights for her life and runs away from their abusive step-father. Throughout her life, Celie is faced with adversity and has to overcome the oppression she is under as a black woman
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Initially, Celie is obedient and submissive. After she learns that fighting for herself is more preferable than simply surviving, Celie becomes at peace with herself and others, which leads her to achieving true happiness. In the start of the book, Celie is obedient, submissive, and dependent. She lets people walk all over her and does not stand up for herself. For example, Mister’s kids have substantial power over Celie. The people around her, including Nettie and her husband’s sister, notice this and encourage Celie to fight for herself and put her foot down. Nevertheless, the power imbalance remains. Celie allows the children to control her because she is afraid of speaking her mind and standing up for herself. She lives in a society that preaches that women should be seen and not heard, and this dictates her everyday life. Celie is meek and prefers to be safe rather than sorry; as a result, she lets anyone, even children, dominate her and treat her as a lesser. Likewise, Celie is also reluctant to speak her mind when Harpo goes to his father to ask how he should try to make Sofia, his wife, as obedient as Celie is. Initially, Celie agrees to …show more content…
Unlike the women around her like Shug and Sofia, who actively break the norms and expectations set to them, Celie fights against oppression in smaller and less-obvious ways. For example, Celie opens up to Shug about the abuse she endured as a child. She explains how being raped by her stepfather affected her. This is the first time she has ever told someone about her traumatic childhood because her stepfather told her not to tell anyone about what he was doing to her. This made Celie extremely afraid and was a main reason why she did not fight in life. As she is reliving these events with Shug, Celie breaks down and lets go of all the built up pain she had been harboring. Telling Shug what happened to her is Celie’s way of regaining control of herself and indirectly standing up for herself instead of living in fear. This is her way of becoming less dependent on others. Once Celie overcomes the fear of her stepfather and her past, she gains a great enough sense of independence to finally leave Mister and go live with Shug in Memphis, whom she loves. As a woman during this time period, this is a rare thing to do and is often discouraged. Celie, who is learning to be her own woman, leaves her husband anyways after he abused her for years and purposefully kept her and her sister apart for decades. This is another step towards Celie gaining her independence and finding her
Initially, Celie is obedient and submissive. After she learns that fighting for herself is more preferable than simply surviving, Celie becomes at peace with herself and others, which leads her to achieving true happiness. In the start of the book, Celie is obedient, submissive, and dependent. She lets people walk all over her and does not stand up for herself. For example, Mister’s kids have substantial power over Celie. The people around her, including Nettie and her husband’s sister, notice this and encourage Celie to fight for herself and put her foot down. Nevertheless, the power imbalance remains. Celie allows the children to control her because she is afraid of speaking her mind and standing up for herself. She lives in a society that preaches that women should be seen and not heard, and this dictates her everyday life. Celie is meek and prefers to be safe rather than sorry; as a result, she lets anyone, even children, dominate her and treat her as a lesser. Likewise, Celie is also reluctant to speak her mind when Harpo goes to his father to ask how he should try to make Sofia, his wife, as obedient as Celie is. Initially, Celie agrees to …show more content…
Unlike the women around her like Shug and Sofia, who actively break the norms and expectations set to them, Celie fights against oppression in smaller and less-obvious ways. For example, Celie opens up to Shug about the abuse she endured as a child. She explains how being raped by her stepfather affected her. This is the first time she has ever told someone about her traumatic childhood because her stepfather told her not to tell anyone about what he was doing to her. This made Celie extremely afraid and was a main reason why she did not fight in life. As she is reliving these events with Shug, Celie breaks down and lets go of all the built up pain she had been harboring. Telling Shug what happened to her is Celie’s way of regaining control of herself and indirectly standing up for herself instead of living in fear. This is her way of becoming less dependent on others. Once Celie overcomes the fear of her stepfather and her past, she gains a great enough sense of independence to finally leave Mister and go live with Shug in Memphis, whom she loves. As a woman during this time period, this is a rare thing to do and is often discouraged. Celie, who is learning to be her own woman, leaves her husband anyways after he abused her for years and purposefully kept her and her sister apart for decades. This is another step towards Celie gaining her independence and finding her