Kirstine's Reviews > The Color Purple

’The Color Purple’ is the most life affirming book I’ve read this year. Told through letters first to God, then her sister, Celie tells the story of her life, and it isn’t pretty, but it’s real.

I honest to god read the last line of the last page, closed the book and started crying. It touched me deeply.

It will hit you, hopefully often, that gender issues, racial inequality, and privilege are fucking important to address in books, in movies, in any media, because to some people it might be all they have.

They might grow up not knowing they don’t have to put up with the beatings or the sexual abuse, they might grow up not knowing that looking at a man’s penis and feeling nothing is fine, that not enjoying or wanting sex is fine. These people need to know that they might be queer, that they might be a lot of things, and that it’s okay. They should know they can stand up for themselves, and it’s okay. And books like this can show them that.

Diverse literature and media is so goddamned important. I can’t stop wondering what reading a book like this might have done for someone like Celie. It might have meant the world.

But Celie doesn’t read a book or meet a person who can tell her these things until she’s grown up. She bears the abuse as a child because it’s all she can do, and when she’s married off to an abusive man with three children from a previous marriage, she doesn’t run, she bears it again, because it what she does. Her sister, Nettie, gets away with Celie’s help, and though she grows up "smarter" and more informed than Celie, and lives a very different life, there are things you cannot change. She doesn’t suffer the same abuse, but racism and sexism will take many forms and shapes, and whether you’re in Africa or America you’re likely to find it.

It is not through education that Celie finally comes to terms with herself, it's through her interactions and relationships with other women. It's not our solemn duty as feminists to tell other women how to live their lives, it's our duty as women to support other women in their decisions. To respect them for their choices, and help them the best we can. I love this book because it celebrates that.

Celie is not less of a woman than Shug or Sophia, because she’s passive and doesn’t fight for herself, she hasn’t done anything wrong. She doesn’t deserve scorn because she reacted the way she reacted, society deserves it for not showing her there’s a different way to be.

Despite her often terrible circumstances, Celie finds it in herself to love, to give freely, to forgive and to grow. You might find her a bit naïve, but it’s in her naivety she finds the capacity for acceptance and love, because she will accept bad circumstances the same as good. This acceptance keeps her from being bitter, it keeps her open to all the good, because she doesn’t turn resentful. It’s a very powerful quality in a person, and especially in someone who is continuously disregarded because of her seemingly passive demeanor. We all have different qualities, we’re all worth exactly the same, and it’s only through each other we find a life that’s really worth all the pain.

It’s simply beautiful book, filled with a variety of female characters, each with their own struggles and complexities. They walk different roads, and lead vastly different lives, but it doesn’t change their love for one another.

I want everyone to read this. Everyone should read this.