Alice Walker in her novel ‘The Color Purple’ gives the reader an intimate reading into the works of a social setup that in its narration relates to every person that has ever felt suppressed and seeks liberation - the entire human world. The reasons for this universality surround the sexist and racial presentation of the rising and growth of what could be the ‘lowest’ most oppressed segment of modern society - the black woman with an alternate sexuality, combining with an idea and situations most people encounter making it universal.
As a written piece, the novel works and connects to the reader because of the idea of hope it provides - that oppression and struggle can be over come and in parallel is the portrayal of sisterhood in it’s storyline. Sisterhood in The Color Purple is the means to survival, is the hopeful escapist empowering of the protagonist and speaker, Celie. The only constant source of change and eventful happenings is the women that Celie encounters and finds herself in, the growth she undergoes in interaction and memory of these women that Walker writes into the narrative and the positive attention that they receive in contrast to what could have been the constant source of oppression and rejection faced by the protagonist in her personal and private space. In speculation, this focus on the ‘positive’ and the matter-of-factly narration of the ‘negative’ may be in light of the moralistic self-binding spiritual relationship the protagonist shares with God.
God plays a major role in the epistolary; that the confidante is God is a spiritual awakening of the protagonist, however in analysing, the reader finds that the confidante God is interchanged with Celie’s sister Nettie. The reader also reads that the understanding of knowledge/God and spirituality/strength that Celie finds is through her interactions with women and Nettie and thus the replacing of God with Nettie may only be a literal replacement, whereas it could have always been a grey-matter-esque combining of ideas that later gets separated - meaning to say that Celie’s Gods could always have been Nettie and Nettie’s understanding of God. In one of the early letters of Celie, the narrative voice writes “I know I’m not as pretty or as smart as Nettie, but SHE say I ain’t dumb.” - this idealisation of Nettie seen throughout much of the book including the acknowledgement of Celie’s knowledge and sense of the world coming from Nettie
“…Nettie steady try to teach me what go on in the world. And she a good teacher too…All day she read, she study, she practice her handwriting, and try to git us to think. Most days I feel too tired to think. But Patient her middle name.”
invokes in the reader a sense of mentoring and learning from someone admired and idealised, in many ways a sense of devotion. However it is important to recognise Celie’s re-imagination of God, particularly with the help of Shug and the removal of God as a patriarchal white male and Celie’s connection changing to her space itself (Nettie’s travel and Celie’s understanding of wider, larger spaces) provides Celie with her confiding in “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God.”
With idealisation and devotion comes in the idea of hope and redemption. Nettie’s character is one in which Celie finds hope - which is why she is willing to do anything to protect Nettie as she believes her younger sister can live a good life. Nettie is quite omnipresent even when Celie has no contact with her. Despite the lack of physical contact or proximity at times, their bond is never severed. There is not a single instance where they became disillusioned with one another or lost hope. Even when Celie hears of that the boat that Nettie was on sank, she cannot believe that she is dead as she still feels a connect with her which is later proved when Nettie is revealed to be alive. In this way, she is a pillar that Celie can rely on. In fighting to protect Nettie, Celie finds innate strength to carry on.
Protecting is a major issue in light of the sisterhood portrayed in the novel. Walker writes a picture where the norm is not ‘every man for himself’, it is ‘every woman for another’. From the third letter, when Celie promises to “take care of you (Nettie). With God help” to throughout when Shug in her presence at Celie’s home confronts and fights back Mr. _____ for Celie. A particular visual of this sisterhood is witnessed by the protagonist in her conversation with Sofia’s description of Sofia’s family - “All the girls big and strong like me. Boys big and strong too, but all the girls stick together. Two brothers stick together too, sometime. Us git in a fight, it’s a sight to see.” This idea of girls sticking together is perhaps the primary most redemptive aspect in Celie’s life - the fact that she ‘is not scared of women’ and that she confides in them and gains her support in them too.
A particular instance of sisterhood which is often overlooked is the small bond Celie shares with her sister-in-law Kate. Kate is instrumental in Celie’s receiving her first set of new clothes and thus is involved in what could have been Celie’s beginning of understanding of self-identity. The instance becomes iconic because after Kate’s instructions to “You got to fight them, Celie…I can’t do it for you. You got to fight them for yourself” Celie could be said to start on her journey of fighting back and finding herself.
Sisterhood in the novel also comes through with the idea of stories, secrets, bonds and listening. In Shug and Sofia, Celie finds sympathetic ears and learns lessons that enable her to find her voice. In renaming Celie a “virgin,” Shug shows Celie that she can create her own narrative, a new interpretation of herself and her history that counters the interpretations forced upon her. Gradually Celie begins to flesh out more of her story by telling it to Shug. However, it is not until Celie and Shug discover Nettie’s letters that Celie finally has enough knowledge of herself to form her own powerful narrative. Celie’s forceful assertion of this newfound power, her cursing of Mr. ______ for his years of abuse, is the novel’s climax. Celie’s story dumbfounds and eventually humbles Mr. ______, causing him to reassess and change his own life.
Sisterhood is the strongest support system Celie finds and is therefore the strongest theme in the novel - that it holds and builds the character despite the constant obstacles she faces in finding herself, her identity and being. The Color Purple if seen as a spiritual text finds sisterhood as the religion that Celie uses to reach her upliftment. In her conversations narrated, in her lover Shug, in her relationship with men, and in her realisation of space and the world, Celie’s only constant is the connection of sisterhood she finds in the various women of her life. Celie has emancipated herself from the patriarchal bondage. Economically independent and spiritually free, she wins her respect, love and dignity when Celie’s self-consciousness begins to be aroused, with the encouragement, help and love from Shug, Sofia and Nettie. She escapes the degradation of the treatment by men and wins dignity at last. Alice Walker conveys the empowerment and defiance of oppression that women may find possible in the most simplest and easiest bonds available - the sisterhood.
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| Artwork by Kalansh Gala |
Citations:
- Bond, Victoria. "'The Color Purple' Is a Cultural Touchstone for Black Female Self-Love." New Republic. 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 10 Sept. 2015.
- Singh, Sonal, and Suhsma Gupta. "Celie’s Emancipation in the Novel “The Color Purple”." International Transactions in Humanities and Social Sciences 2.2 (2010): 218-21. JustUsLearning. ITHSS. Web. 9 Sept. 2015. <http://www.justuslearning.com/>.
- V, Stephen. "The Color Purple By Alice Walker." : Celie and Nettie's Relationship. 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Sept. 2015.
- "The Color Purple on Sparknotes." SparkNotes. SparkNotes. Web. 10 Sept. 2015.
