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