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The Babylonian Exile And The Color Purple Essay

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Conceptions of God has the ability to be altered in order to mediate and bring together social and political forces, as seen in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and the Babylonian Exile. Both examples display the challenges some experience with their perception of God and how their outlook impacts outlying forces. These forces, specifically social and political, are prevalent in the individual’s daily lives, causing them to confront the conflicts that exist between these forces and how their viewpoint of God can interfere and aid in mediating the forces. The struggle to find a definite view of God is highlighted in an excerpt from Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, where the two main characters, Celie and Shug, discuss what they believe to be their own conception of God. Celie described her perception of God as being “big and old and tall and gray bearded and white” as …show more content…

The Babylonian Exile was a time in which Jewish people were exiled from Jerusalem and forced to live in Babylon as captives. During the Babylonian Exile, many Jewish people had only faith to hold onto as a way of staying strong and not succumbing to their situation and perceived God, or Jeremiah, as their light and support system. In a letter to the Babylon Exiles from the prophet Jeremiah, he gives words of wisdom to the exiles by encouraging them to maintain their faith, reproduce and emphasized the need to “hear the word of the LORD” as those who have not will receive severe punishment. In their case, the Israelites perception of God grew stronger to aid them in their situation, as well as help mediate the social and political forces that were apparent during this time. They were able to create a sense of unity with each other in a time of political uprising and learn to adapt to their situation through the help of

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