Women Of Color In The Color Purple

New in Mr. ___________’s house, Celie is constantly beaten for not doing exactly everything that her husband demands of her. In a letter to God, Celie recalls, “Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr. ___________ say, Cause she my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for- he don’t finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind me of Pa” (22). Celie lives in a house where getting beaten is the normal thing, she does everything that is asked of her and more, and it is still not enough for Mr. ___________. Also, Celie mentions that it reminds her of her “Pa”, which means that she faced this type of torture for her entire life. Walker highlights the fact that Celie needs someone else to survive, her undeserving husband will not be enough to make Celie want to survive and go on.

Her pa hits and rapes her repeatedly. She writes, “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink”(Walker 5). Celie then writes,“I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them” (5). This goes to show how her father beats her over the littlest things, no matter what they are. This trend in her life, has made her petrified of all men. She looks at women, finding refuge in them, simply because they are kind to her. Not only does Celie’s pa beat her, her new husband, Mr. _____ does too. “He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t beat them. He say, Celie git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood” (23). He doesn’t beat the children, who definitely need a whooping, but he’ll beat Celie simply because “she’s his wife. Plus she stubborn. All women good for”(23). This shows that there is no real reason for all the abuse. It’s all because the men view her as their property, not as another human being. All this abuse causes Celie to believe that she’ll never be truly loved, or be able to love. She believes this until Shug Avery comes

Considerably the most dominant theme in the novel is one of feminism and the struggle of women, both in America and in Africa, to be free of oppression and discrimination based on their gender. Although the suffragette movement in the US was active from 1848 , it was only in 1920 that women were given national voting rights votes in America. Women clearly had little political voice and black women less so. Primarily through Celie and Shug, Walker represents the inner struggles black women faced in order to free themselves from the dominance of men, additionally conveying how Christian views on the position of women in society strengthened the oppression they faced.

Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, set in the late 1900’s, tells a story of Oscar Wao, an overweight Dominican “ghetto nerd”, his mother and rebellious sister who live together in Paterson, New Jersey. Throughout the novel Diaz incorporates many different stories about each character that show acts of resistance. One of the most prominent stories of resistance in the novel is through Oscar’s mom; Beli, who is prompted by great tragedy, known as the Trujillo curse, to love atomically and thus follows a dangerous path. Beli’s family history plays a large role in her choices that eventually compel her into a different life than what her adopted mother, La Inca, had wanted for her.

When we see that the people that we love have to deal with a horrible situation we try to make it better anyway we can, sometimes giving up the most important part of ourselves. In The Brief Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz argues that there are stronger forces around us. With fuku, the curse in the Dominican Republic, is present in the lives of Oscar and Beli when they both have an encounter with the

Alice Walker wrote ‘The Color Purple’ in order to capture and highlight the hardship and bitterness African-American women experienced in the early 1900s. She demonstrates the emotional, physical and spiritual revolution of an abused black girl into an independent, strong woman. The novel largely focuses on the role of male domination and its resulting frustrations and black women’s struggle for independence. The protagonist, Celie’s, gain of an independent identity, away from her family, friends, work, and love life, forms the plot of the novel.

“ His uncle assumed there was probably an attack on the whole neighborhood, but La Inca gave Oscar a meaningful look that said she knew his activities were the reason their house had been shot at. He still didn't stop to think and consider that he was endangering his family,

She is the most sexually confused and repressed by her father. Her search for her sexual indemnity when trying to express herself as a young woman via letters with a German boy, leads to the fall out of hers and her father’s relationship. “Are you a whore” he asked her once her found the letters, (Alvarez, 19). Her father feels betrayed and that she disrespected him and their culture. Their relationship falling out leads to Sofia’s running way. She believes that leaving will display that she is independent, when in reality she merely replaces her father’s authority for a husbands. Years pass the she longing to reconcile with her father becomes evident. During a game at the party she is throwing for him she expressing her sexuality in the most disrespectful by kissing her father’s ears using tongue to express that she is a sexually being. “His face had darkened with shame at having his pleasure aroused in public by one of his daughters.” (Alvarez, 23). Ultimately her sexual identity and her traditional Dominican identity do not mesh and she clearly choices her sexual identity over the

The award-winning novel, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, is a story about a woman going through cruel things such as: incest, rape, and physical abuse. This greatly written novel comes from a very active feminist author who used many of her own experiences, as well as things that were happening during that era, in her writing. “The Color Purple” takes place in the early 1900's, and symbolizes the economic, emotional, and social deprivation that African American women faced in Southern states of America. The main character of the story is Celie, a fourteen-year old that starts writing letters to God for thirty years, and then to her sister, Nette, who ran away to Africa to save herself from the troubles Celie went through. Celie starts off as a pushover and very dependent girl that would eventually grow and develop into an independent flourishing woman that opens a business making pants for all genders. This novel shows the hardship of a girl becoming a woman over the course of her life and eventually standing up for herself and being confident. Many of the experiences and characters of “The Color Purple” are based on history of that time and a bit of the author’s personal experiences. Her use of epistolary allows the reader to learn everything in the point of view of Celie. Alice Walker's influences for writing this novel range from her childhood experiences to the white society in her hometown of Eatonville, Georgia. Even during these times, it still shows that women

Oscar parked outside Ybón’s house and when he saw her “[h]is heart seized like a bad leg and for a moment he thought about letting the whole thing go, about returning to Bosco and getting on with his miserable life, but then she stooped over, as if the whole world was watching, and that settled it,” accentuating how much Oscar truly is captivated by Ybón due to the extreme feelings of nervousness he experiences when he was about to approach her and how these emotions drove him to want to accomplish his goal even more (Díaz 315). The simile used to describe how “[h]is heart seized like a bad leg” further describes how important this moment was for Oscar and by using this simile, the author is able to display Oscar’s determination by how he was able to overcome his intense nerves in this moment just to declare his deep feelings for Ybón, as well as overcoming his other major insecurities like being obese or being a nerd (Díaz 315). Oscar’s persistent pursuit of love finally pays off and enables him to not only experience a sexual experience but to also share intimate moments with another person who has the same feelings toward him, however, as a result from this relationship, Oscar is

Not only does Oscar’s connection to the Dominican Republic’s standards affect his actions, but it also impacts his thoughts. Oscar grew up in a society where men were expected to have affairs with many women, and when he realizes that he is not a stereotypical Dominican “player,” his thoughts are negatively affected. The first occurrence is when Oscar becomes very depressed during his sophomore because a girl disses him. He continually obsesses about the idea of having a romantic relationship and when nothing arises, the condition worsens. The idea to end his life even arises during the course of college as Oscar walks out to the New Brunswick train bridge and jumps. Luckily, he lands on a garden divider, but the thought of ending his life is certainly present in Oscar’s mind. After college, Oscar’s thoughts continue to worsen as he cannot find love. He falls into a deep depression, can barely get out of bed in the morning, and holds a gun to his head. Once again these feelings are caused by Oscar’s relationship to the past in which he was told that Dominican men should be able to attract many women. Oscar was once successful as he had two girlfriends at the age of seven, and this relationship to a better past impacts his thoughts later in life. The most significant feeling that Oscar has in the novel is his love for Ybón, and this relationship portrays the meaning of the work very well. Oscar cannot stop thinking about this girl, but her capitán boyfriend sprays bullets into La Inca’s house. The capitán then proceeds to beating Oscar and has his henchmen knock Oscar out in a canefield. However, after this incident, his obsession worsens and he chases after Ybón. Finally, the capitán’s henchmen find Oscar and bring him back to the canefield where he is killed. Once again Oscar’s desire to replicate his earlier romantic years in

This can be seen through Oscar’s sister and Yunior’s on and off girlfriend Lola, along with Oscar’s two major love interests Ana and Yvon. Lola is a complex character; she is very independent, stands up for herself, and refuses to let men walk all over her. Yunior explains that Lola is different from regular Dominican girls. He vaguely mentions how she was raped in the sixth grade and, after that, she became tough. Her and Oscar are close and she often gives him advice about girls and about life. Lola challenges the social standards by basically doing whatever she pleases. She is the epitome of a rebel within the story and is definitely a strong female character — instead of falling apart after she was raped, she learned how to build herself up and become her own independent person

Within The Color Purple by Alice Walker, women are treated as inferior to men therefore they must obey them. Through the strength and wisdoms Celie gains from other women, she learns to overcome her oppression and realize her self worth as a woman. The women she has met throughout her life, and the woman she protected since young, are the people that helped her become a strong independent woman. Sofia and Shug were there for Celie when she needed someone to look up to and depend on. Nettie was able to push Celie to become a more educated, independent person. The main source of conflict in this book is Celie’s struggle with becoming an independent woman who needs not to rely on a man. Throughout the book we see her grow as a person and

The Color Purple is the story of Celie’s life, starting from her adolescent years. At a very young and fragile age, Celie was deprived of her dignity as a woman, through the assault by her stepfather, the treatment she endured from her husband, and the disappearance of the one human she adored, her sister Nettie. As her days passed by with more worry and strife, Celie lost faith in love and resented all signs of a kind and honorable God. Shug Avery arrived in this small town to rekindle with her

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is an epistolary novel about a young African-American girl named Celie. Through her letters, Celie narrates the horrific situations and daily struggles that she endures as a young black woman living in the South during the racial unrest of the 1930s. Stuck between being a woman and being black, Celie overcomes her situations and eventually finds her place in society. The first thing that Celie had to accomplish this goal was to find her identity. Walker illustrates how Celie’s relationships with men, sex, women, and God help shape her identity.