Theme

The theme of my novel “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker I believe is sexism and gender roles. Sexism and gender roles is a theme that prominent throughout the whole novel. During this time period the book takes place in, sexism against women was very normal. Men were the ones in power and most women cleaned, cooked, and took care of the children and thats what was expected. The two main characters and Celie and Mr.____ are prime examples of gender roles. Mr.____ is a very controlling and a misogynistic man and Celie is his servant practically, doing all the house work and also is his sexual pleasure whenever he feels like it. Celie doesn't have the power to use her voice against him because he believes he has the upper-hand and she shouldn't speak back to him; what he says goes. An example of sexism is when Nettie, Celie's sister, says, "Albert is not going to let you have my letters..."(Walker130). Nettie left her sister in Georgia and to keep in contact she wrote Celie letters almost every day and Mr.___ would take them and hide them because he didn't want Celie to have that contact and now Celie is just finding them and reading them. That shows how controlling Mr.____ is and doesn't even care how Celie feels and wouldn't want her to read her sisters letters and keep in contact with her because Nettie ran away from him. He did it for himself and his own anger. Celie is the one that is truly heartbroken from her sister running away and it shows how heartless Mr.___ is towards Celies feelings, but wants what he wants from her. It's not his place to hide letters from her sister that are addressed to Celie herself. A second example is when Celie is writing to Nettie and tells her all the mean things Mr.___ says to her after she told him she was leaving. He said, "You'll be black. Nothing up north for nobody like you....Shug got looks, he say. She can stand up and be notice. But what you got? You ugly.You skinny. You shape funny. You too scared to open mouth to people....you not that good cook either. And this house ain't been clean good since my first wife died. And nobody crazy enough or backwards to marry you, neither"(Walker205). Every sentence he said degraded Celie a little more each time. He didn't like that she was going and doing something on her own terms, so the only way to help himself was to criticize her. He told her she's black and has nothing to offer. He is a sexist pig and doesn't realize she ran his house and did everything while being a black woman. The theme of sexism and gender roles has helped the plot develop of this book because now almost more than halfway done, Celie is now trying to find her freedom and become more than a house maid and be used.

So far I have read 205 pages of my novel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqmreq-dV84

Literary Devices

So far, in my book The Color Purple by Alice Walker, I've read 130 pages. Throughout my book Walker uses the literary device imagery very often. I think she uses this device because it paints a picture in the readers head and that helps the reader experience what their reading. Not only does it  engage the reader even more, it can also help the reader understand a certain scenario exactly. An example of imagery is, "I stand in front of the glass trying to make something out of my hair. Too nappy to be kinky, to kinky to be nappy. No set color either. I give up, tie on a headrag"(walker107).
In those lines the author is giving the reader a description of a generic African American women in the deep South. I think for this book it's important to put a face to the characters for Celie especially. She focuses on her appearance a lot, only how she's ugly. It never went into deep detail how she looked and these lines create that picture of a crazy haired, no real style, young women who throws a rag on her head and is ready for the day. It helps further the characterization of Celie and gives a better understanding of what life is like in the south during the 1930's to 1940's. Secondly, Walker described the pain Celie feels and her emotions one night, and it was the first time I felt for her myself truly. Walker said, "I start to cry too. I cry and cry and cry. Seem like it all come back to me, laying there is Shug arms. How it hurt and how much I was surprise. How it stung while I finish trimming his hair. How the blood drip down my leg and mess up my stocking. How he don't never look at me straight after that. And Nettie"(Walker112). I felt Celie's pain, as if she was just being the normal 14 year old girl she is and was having a mental break down. For a 14 year old though, she has gone through the some of the worst situations ever and in the book thus far, she has never had her moment of defeat with her emotions. She complains, but never breaks down. I heard the sobs of a truly innocent 14 year old girl when I read that, aching for some sort of normalcy because her life was any thing but. I felt the chest pains and through those lines the author accomplished placing the reader in Celie's shoes, feeling her emotions and understanding Celie is suffering more than what meets the eye to the reader. A third example where Walker uses imagery is when Nettie writes to Celie how Mr.____ tried to attack her. She states, "I had to rest, and that's when he got down from his horse and started to try to kiss me, and drag me back in the woods"(Walker126). These line give further proof as to the monster Mr.___ is and I pictured it as almost a scary seen from a movie. He acts like a predator and this show how he is one. Using imagery through out novels is very important because it places the reader in that moment in the book, it almost comes naturally while reading. Not only does it help the reader experience the book like there a character, it helps develop the story.


Nettie & Mr.__ in woods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXkTFMqV_b4

What I think So Far?

So far of my book "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker I have read 107 pages. This far into the book I can say I really enjoy it. At first I didn't believe I would like it because the format of the writing is as if Celie is writing a "diary" to God, but it really has no effect on the story. If anything it is a creative way of writing because it shows Celie's thoughts and her point of view in every situation, and it's read like its present time. I really love this book so far and it has been everything I expected. I have seen the movie previously, but I believe the book is more personal on understanding Celie's life and it makes me feel more connected to the story. I honestly don't enjoy reading the parts of Celie's experience with being sexually taken advantage of by Mr.___. Sometime's it disturbs me because she's just 14. It's eye opening though because during 1930's-1940's this was almost normal, especially for young African American girls. This book has given me a better understanding as to what life was like back than. I'm getting more into the story as well because their just beginning to talk about how slavery is prevalent in their lives, and I have always been interested in novels on slavery. I'm excited to read on and see how it'll be incorporated into the story because I always refer to Celie as a slave to Mr.___, even though she's represented as his "wife." My favorite part so far is the strength Celie gives off through all her adversities; loosing her children, being sexually abused, feeling and being told she's ugly. I believe she's someone that can be a character to admire for readers for her drive in life through all her tribulations. After reading many pages, Celie is a spiritual, mysterious, compassionate, introspective, inspiration woman. Those words are represented by the color purple and they also represent Celie. Knowing more about Celie I love reading to know her thoughts and see her next move with what life throws at her. Even though I'm not close to being done I still would recommend this book to readers and I can't wait to read on.

Character

So far in my novel "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker I have read 84 pages. The character Mr.___ or also now revealed as Albert is shown has an evil man both directly and indirectly throughout the novel. Mr.___ is one the most important characters in the novel. He's Celies "husband,"but more like a master to her. Indirectly characterization is shown when Celie hears Mr.__ muttering, "My wife can't do this. My wife can't do that. No wife of mines..."(Walker72). Here, Mr.___ did not want Celie to go out with them to the jukejoint because he says wives don't belong there. It shows how controlling he is and isn't a husband. He treats her like a child and likes things his way. A second example of indirect characterization is when Celie says, "I don't like it all. What is it like? He git up on you, hesit your nightgown down round your waist, plunge in. Most times I pretend I ain't there. He never know the difference. Never ast me how I feel, nothing. Just do his business, get off, go to sleep"(Walker77). This shows how Mr.__ is a dominant pig and only cares about himself. He is an extremely selfish person. Ceclie is explaining how she doesn't enjoy sex with Mr.___, he's concerned about himself in the moment. All he's worried about is making sure he's pleasured and is basically sexually assaulting Celie. Direct characterization is used as well. For example, "He never had a kine word to say to me"(Walker1). After this line Celie goes onto say, how he just makes her do what her "mammy wouldn't" and than proceed to have forceful sex with her. It shows the man he is. She is a fourteen year old girl, he says nothing nice to her, but knows how to have sex with her. He is a pig and it proves how he is an evil man. Taking advantage of young girl and he isn't the slightest bit nice to her, he's an egotistical man. If he is taken care, it is evident he doesn't care about anyone else's feelings. Not only, does he know how to have sex with Celie and treat her like a dog, he gets her pregnant and he doesn't act like a father to the baby. Celie says, "He took it. He took it while I was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods. Kill this one too, if he can"(Walker2). Mr.___ is a monster. He has sex to please himself with such a young girl, and the babies she than births he kills. That is terrible and truly against the morals of religion and down South they are very devote to their faith. He should be in jail and is an abusive predator, but most importantly a murder. If he feels he has the right to have sex with Celie, she should be able to keep her children. I believe Mr.___ is a repulsive man and his abusive tendencies and controlling ways is disgusting and I feel for Celie because she is such a young girl and does everything she is told. She is his "wife," but is treated like a slave. There is nothing I like about him at all. He's a terrible person and I think everything he does is so wrong and he deserves to be murdered or in jail. He's a viscous person. I hope to see a turn around in his personality because overall reading some the things Celie says, makes me sick to my stomach.

Setting

The setting of my book, "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker has not yet been confirmed, but I am assuming it is in the rural south. The book is mainly about a young girl named Celie and her experiences as an young African American who is a slave and gets sexually abused by older men. The time frame the book is set in I believe is the 1930's to the 1940's. The language in the book proves how it's taken place down south and in the earlier 1900's because the twang and accent on words are spoken give off that southern tone and also poor education. For example when Celie says,  "My little sister Nettie is got a boyfriend in the same shape almost as Pa"(Walker4). The grammar is as if a toddler was speaking. During the early 1900's education wasn't top notch, especially down south. What also proves the southern setting is how Celie's journals is "Dear God." Down south especially religion was and still is a very big priority. Celie is writing a diary almost, but it isn't "dear me" or "dear diary," its "dear god" and it's as if she writes confessions. Also when Celie says, "But I just say, never mine, never mine, long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along"(Walker17). Celie doesn't care that one day she can be buried as long as she can spell God and be close to him thats keeps her mind at piece about it. It shows how devoted she is to her religion and God, that thought of death doesn't scare her much because she can still be with God. The language in the book influences the setting in the deep south because it depicts religion focus, southern twang, and uneducated grammar. So far I've read 40 pages.

What's in a name?

The book I chose for my free read was "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. Reading the title, I really didn't know what to expect what this story will be about. I knew this book was about slavery and all its unjust behaviors that came with it, but I didn't know what the color purple exactly meant for the book. I once studies colors in psychology and the color purple is associated with pride, independence, and power. Understanding what the story plot is, I assumed that the story was going to focus on an "owner", some higher power, being a prideful, ignorant jerk and a slave, with ultimately no power, who wanted to claim their independence and power through the discriminatory abuse. The title being "The Color Purple" drew me in because it intrigued me to know what represents that color purple exactly. Does the color signify the slave is some way? Was there another meaning to the color purple during the time of slavery, does it have a racist negative connotation? I really was dumb founded on to what the title has to do with the overall plot of the book. There's so many things that could be behind the color purple. I thought to myself, maybe the slave escapes when the sun is setting and the sky is purple and it means independence, and the slave running away would be gaining their independence, so thats how purple ties in. I was trying to connect the dots, but as much as I tried I couldn't. It made me frustrated but made me eager to read this book, as I know it's one of Alice Walkers most greatest works. The title just doesn't reveal much about what this book can be about and had left me hanging for answers already.
http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/98/10/04/specials/walker-color.html