The major problem of this study is how African-American women's suffering is

reflected in the color purple novel by Alice Walker. The novel is dedicated to black
women's rights.

The Novel has become the feminism canon of contemporary western literature. It
deeply reveals the erosion of patriarchic thoughts for black men and black women,
and also shows the physical or psychological enslavement of black women were
suffering from both race and gender discrimination at that time. Alice Walker sets
herself to expose as well as oppose the patriarchal culture consciousness and gender
order, and highlighted the strong female consciousness in "The Color Purple", Walker
proposed the term "womanism", which is highly influential for the study of black
women. Womenism focuses on the liberation of black women. The central thought of
womanism gets rid of exclusive feature of traditional feminism and has a vision of
integral survival of all people, inclusive of men and women. Integral survival is
literally a central idea of womanism, is widely demonstrated in Walker's novel "The
Color Purple", she places herself within a tradition of black female creativity.

The book gives a detailed analysis of the challenges and predicaments many women
of color had to experience throughout the first half of the 20th century in the southern
regions of the United States. This kind of portrayal is intended to give a true picture of
the issues affecting the progress of many communities in the southern United States.
The author uses different characters to describe hardships and abuses many women
face from those who are close to them. The example of Celie reveals how different
women are abused, raped, and even forced to be married at a tender age.

One of the main goals of feminist literary criticism is to look at how power is used in
works of literature. The focus of the analysis changes slightly because both Alice
Walker and her book are very clear that they are feminist. Then, the goal is to find out
and explain how these differences in power between men and women show up (Barry,
2009).

This essay also wants to bring attention to problems with the way Walker tells the
story. Since The Color Purple is, among other things, a story about freedom, one
could say that it is a good place to start this kind of analysis. The book talks about
domestic violence and how power is taken away from women. This shows how
dehumanising patriarchy can be in the modern world.

The Color Purple not only shows how bad power relationships are in society, but it
also tries to change them. Seeing the story through Celie's eyes gives a clear picture of
what some women in the society shown go through, as well as a clear critique of how
power works. Mister's cruel and dehumanising treatment of Celie shows how harsh

1
and controlling patriarchy is. Celie's phallic overlord keeps her subservient and less
than human by using force. The fact that Mister sounds like a man's name supports the
idea that he is a symbol of patriarchal oppression.

Celie's change towards becoming a womanist is closely linked to her becoming one.
The book is mostly about how she changed as a person. Early on in the story, she goes
through a lot of pain, which has a big effect on her personality. Because of this, she
has become very different from a womanist in many ways. She also works with both
men and women, which is another thing that makes her different from a womanist.
She doesn't like women because she isnt one of them. Instead, she gives in to men.

Throughout her novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker investigates the notion of
double discrimination. She points out that a woman's gender largely contributes to her
discrimination. Walker outlines race as an equally influential component of
discrimination and, with that, highlights both gender and race as a driving force
behind an individual's identity. Through her carefully constructed female characters,
Walker successfully exposes how both gender and race act as a catalyst for oppression
against African American women. The novel focuses on rigid gender and race-based
stereotypes imposed by society on African American women in the early 20th century.

The Color Purple is the perfect novel to describe the Feminist Criticism Approach.
Walker wrote about three different black women, and how each of them was criticized
for being of the opposite sex. The male domination over women in every part of life is
illustrated, but in the course of time, women want to release themselves from the
abuses of men and be independent. They are succeeding in their aim and we see the
traces of female domination in the name of Celie, the protagonist. We see the male
domination over women in every part of life, but in the course of time, women want
to release themselves from the Zabuses of men and be independent.

Alice Walker's true intention from writing this novel is to give voice to black women
and to provide them with a path to follow in order to emancipate and get their
freedom. Walker shows us the evolution of her major character, Celie, a poor, barely
literate southern black woman from being a sexually abused child to a passive wife
and finally to an emancipated woman. Walker in The Color Purple, focuses on Celie,
who is trapped by racist and sexist oppression and the way she seeks to define herself
is through the use of language. The Color Purple reveals the plethora of violence in
the form of harsh economic, social and emotional crisis facing the blacks. Celie's
relationship with her step-father and husband is characterized by sexual oppression in
the patriarchal society in America. Celle endures a barrage of rape and harshness that
causes her to experience her body as fragmented and as being possessed by her
victimizers. As Gabriele Griffin observes we can see that "the body constitutes the site
of oppression and become the source of permanent onxiety". Celie has no control over
her body and her physical environment. Victimized from an early age she is the object
of perpetual abuse.

Celie is an invisible woman, "a character traditionally silenced and effaced in fiction;

2
and by centering on her, Walker replots the heroine's text". She gives voice to Celie
and permits her to express all the miseries she has undergone.

Alice walker depicts Celie's experience of subjugation in a male dominated society,

her sexual abuse by her father and husband and how she successfully comes up from
submission and subjugation to a self-realization and thereby attaining emancipation.
The journey of self-discovery that Walker's protagonist, Celie, undergoes is
accentuated by an internal understanding of God that is woven into the structure of the
novel, In The Color Purple Alice Walker has projected her women characters as
victims of violence, violence especially in domestic space, curbs womens' resistance
and fractures her subjectivity as it poses threat to both her wholeness and the
establishment of a whole black nation. The Color Purple is an epistolary novel a work
structured through a series of letters. Celie writes about the misery of childhood
incest, physical abuse, and loneliness in her letters to God.

The Color Purple is a novel that begins with a fourteen-year-old girl's cry for help.
Celie has suffered repeated rapes and brutal beatings by the man she believes to be her
father, Alphonso, it begins with a patrimonial injunction of silence: "You better not
never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy". Celie's story is told within this
threat: the narrative is about breaking silences, and, appropriately, its formal structure
creates the illusion that it is filled with unmediated "voices." According to Carole J.
Sheffield, "the right of men to control female body is a cornerstone of patriarchy.
Violence and the threat of violence against females represent the need of patriarchy to
deny the woman's body of her own property". Throughout the story, Celie is told to
keep quiet about what has taken place between her and her father Alphonso.

Celle finds her identity as a woman that she has to step up on her own feet. Celie's
pants making is an important symbol of her freedom. From an abused woman, Celle
emerges as an independent, creative business woman. She gradually discovers the
power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past.

reuniting her with those she loves by voicing against patriarchal order and thereby
attained an autonomous state. Her spiritual journey is completed when she addresses,
"Dear God, Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear everything. Dear God."

Thus Celle goes through complete transformation in every aspect of life. To sum up,
Alice Walker in The Color Purple represents the African American woman as a
symbol of hope and resurrection for humanity. Walker insists the significance of
bonds between women as a means to contend with racism and sexism. Its a novel
that portrays the gradual forming of a new black woman, Celle, who evolves from
patriarchal oppression to awakening and independence. Walker emphasis that women
would learn to make 'room' for themselves. The women characters of the novel prove
Walker's idea by facing the challenges boldly. Walker does not eliminate men, as it
considers their transformation too. The transformation of men and the improvement in
womens' situations in the novel envision a better future for black people. Women
perceive that through friendship they can realize their dreams, follow them in society
and achieve them. The ray of hope even in despair is the important aspect of the

3
novel. Thus, The Color Purple examines the quest for wholeness, for communication
in a world of fragmentation and alienation.

The Color Purple concerns a universe in which many characters break the boundaries
of traditional male or female gender roles. Traditionally masculine traits such as
assertiveness, sexual gratification, and physical strength are present in female as well
as male characters. Sofia's strength and sass, Shug's sexual assertiveness, and Harpo's
insecurity are major examples of such disparity between a character's gender and the
traits he or she displays. Sofia's assertiveness and strength are virtually unsurpassed
by any of the male characters, whereas the nurturing and care that Harpo displays
toward Mr. could be considered feminine. This blurring of gender traits and roles
sometimes involves sexual ambiguity, as in the sexual relationship that later develops
between Celie and Shug.

Walker, in fact, does not really represent Celie as "finding" a voice. Even in her most
oppressed state she is able to express herself by writing. It is the process of
developing that voice, orienting it toward her different audiences, that is really at
stake. Above all, Celie needs to learn to use her voice to resist oppression. She must
be convinced that resistance and contestation are not incompatible with fulfillment
and satisfaction. Making this convincing. [...]. proves a very difficult task (Kaplan
185).

In the course of this paper I would like to show how Celie gradually overcomes her
situation as an oppressed and finds and uses the voice that brings her freedom and
happiness.

Disruption of gender roles also sometimes causes problems. Harpo's insecurity about
his masculinity leads to marital problems and his attempts to beat Sofia. Likewise,
Shug's confident sexuality and resistance to male domination cause her to be labeled a
tramp. Throughout the novel, Walker wishes to emphasize that gender and sexuality
are not as simple as we may believe. Her novel subverts and defies the traditional
ways in which we understand women to be women and men to be men.

However, though Shug's sexy style, sharp tongue, and many worldly experiences
make her appear jaded, Shug is actually warm and compassionate at heart. When
Shug falls ill., she not only appreciates, but also reciprocates the care and attention
Celie lavishes upon her.

This paper advocates bonding among women and female creativity in order to gain
strength and inspiration against the violence suffered by the burdened Afro-American
women. Through a character Celie, the writer Alice Walker portrays the damaging
effects of male domination and explores the frank treatment of sexism within the
community of Blacks and also Whites in US and in Africa during the Second World

4
War.

"The Color Purple represents a more explicit turning toward the question of the
making of a text by a black woman. With this work, Walker has created a truly
modernist text; that is, a text that manifests itself as an artistic production in which
language is essential to the shaping of vision. She has created a text that shows
language as power and has also demonstrated through this work what the nature of
black women's discourse might be"

The novel speaks of suppressed women, their struggle both in America and Africa. It
is the story of Celie and Nettie who narrate their struggle to escape numerous acts of
violence in their lives. Celie is a young black woman who suffers from not only from
racist white culture but also patriarchal black culture while Nettie is her sister.

The White people treat the African women as slaves and would not wait for their
approval or explanation. The Blacks have to abide to what the American society tells
them. Women are discriminated in their own society and in the adapted environment
also.

Thus The ColorPurple portrays women's tolerance against racism, sexism and gender
discrimination. Women are not inferior but are shown as such by the patriarchal
society.

5
In the 16th century, the African-Americans who lived in the United State had been
through difficulties life. It happened since they arrived in America. They faced
discrimination, segregation and stereotype for decades. Sometimes, they were being
treated as animal and they lost their human rights. Especially for women, they were
not free from suffering as a part of society.Suffering is when someone feels
unpleasant in her life. It can be in psychic and mental or both of them. Suffering is an
individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with
harm or threat of harm.The suffering of women can be reflected in the literary works.
It can be realized in the kind of short story, novel, poem etc. Novel is the one example
of it. Novel is a long narrative in literary prose that serves fiction story on the word
form which has intrinsic and extrinsic element. Generally, a novel tells about human
life with many problems in society.Feminist is a literature view that believes women
and men are equal. There are not different between men and women in the society.
The men and women have same rights and duties in their life. This condition
encourages feminism to citizen patriarchy that still valid in the society and who try to
built gender equality. Patriarchy is a social system that believes men have the highest
position than women in society. Patriarchy judge that men have dominance and
authority in all activities in public life. All decision are depend men. Women do not
have opportunity to get their rights like men in the public life.

1) Women’s Position

In the society, the position of men is super ordinate class and women are the
subordinate class. It means that women have lower position than men. Men dominate
all aspects than women, so women are only having a few opportunities to get equal
education like men. The Color Purple novel shows that the position of black women is
under men in their society. It can be seen from the major character of The Color
Purple novel, namely Celie. Celie is drawn as a weak girl. As a black woman, she is
not only getting discrimination from whites but also from African - American men. In
her family and society, Celie always placed under men. She always accepts bad
treatment from men in her society especially her step father, Pa/ Alphonso. Pa/
Alphonso always beats, rapes and subjected her like a dumb. As the oldest child in her
family, Celie must have to take care of her sisters, cook, and does the entire
household. She does not know the way to against her father although her sister, Nettie,
suggests her to fight back and depend with herself. You got to fight them, Celie, she
say. I can't do it for you. You got to fight them for yourself. I don't say nothing. I think
bout Nettie, dead. She fights, she run away. What good it do? I don't fight, I stay
where I'm told. But I'm alive. Celie never gets better education, because her father, Pa/
Alphonso, forbid her to go to school. Pa/ Alphonso thinks Celie is very stupid than her
sister, Nettie. So, Celie cannot read and write well. The first time I got big Pa took me
out of school. He never care that I love it. Nettie stood there at the gate holding tight

6
to my hand. I was all dress for first day.You too dumb to keep going to school, Pa say.
Nettie the clever one in this bunch.

2) Women’s Role

In the society, Women’s role is very limit. It is because of the domination of men in
the society. Men have big dominations than women. Men can do anything what they
want, but not for women. Women are associated with domestic role. Traditionally,
women’s roles are as the cooker, cleaner, mother and nurse of the family, and often
forces into the demanding commands of men. In The Color Purple novel, Walker
wants to show that women’s role in that period is very limited. Women and men have
different role. Women’s role is only in the domestic role. They cannot easy do what
they want to do. As the major character, Celie faces these problems. She is required to
take care of her own family after the death of her mother, caring for her siblings and
her stepfather. She spends all her time only in the home. I'm big. I can't move fast
enough. By time I git back from the well, the water be warm. By time I git the tray
ready the food be cold. By time I git all the children ready for school it be dinner time.
After she marries with Mister/Albert, her life does not change. Mister/ Albert marries
her not as a wife but as a servant for his family. It is happen He needs someone who
can take care his children, house, and serves his sexual desire. The girl’s hair ain't
been comb since their mammy died. I tell him I'll just have to shave it off. Start fresh.
He say bad hick to cut a woman hair. So after I bandage my head best I can and cook
dinner? They have a spring, not a well, and a wood stove look like a truck?I start
trying to untangle hair. They only 8 Denik Fajar Darmawanti|six and eight and they
cry. They scream. They cuse me of murder. By ten o'clock I'm done. They cry their
selves to sleep. But I don't cry. I lay there thinking bout Nettie while he on top of me,
wonder if she safe. It shows that Celie does not have free time to actualize herself. As
a wife, she spends all her time to take care all households. Her daily activities in
Mister’s house are not like a wife but a slave. At that period, the women must follow
the culture’s role that is valid in the society. Their fashion is so limited. Women
cannot choose clothes that they want. They cannot follow trend fashion at the time.
They must wear dress. Because if women use tight clothes or pants that is not
reasonable in the society. Men and women not suppose to wear the same thing, he
said.

3) Women’s Right

All of humans have right. Men and women absolutely have same rights. Actually they
have same right to life, to get education, to get occupation, etc. Women also have
rights to get freedoms in family and society. Feminist appears to gain the democratic
right of women, such as education, politic, economy and occupation. So today,

7
women can do anything which suitable with equality rights in the world. In The Color
Purple novel, Celie has been lost her rights since she was child. It begins when her
step father rapes her several times. Her father impregnates her twice and also takes
away her children after they are born. She also loses her right to study because she
gets pregnant. And then, her step father sells her to Mister/ Alphonso. 9 Denik Fajar
Darmawanti|, next time you come you can look at her. She ugly. Don't even look like
she kin to Nettie. But she'll make the better wife. She ain't smart either, and I'll just be
fair, you have to watch her or she'll give away everything you own. But she can work
like a man. After marriage, Celie’s suffering does not stop yet. She loses her right to
freedom and becomes what she wants because of men in her life. She spends her time
to take care of Mister’s children, house, and works in fields. I spend my wedding day
running from the oldest boy. He twelve. His mama died in his arms and he don't want
to hear nothing bout no new one. He pick up a rock and laid my head open. The blood
run all down tween my breasts. His daddy say Don't dothat! But that's all he say. He
got four children, instead of three, two boys and two girls. The girls hair ain't been
comb since their mammy died. I tell him I'll just have to shave it off. Start fresh. He
say bad hick to cut a woman hair. So after I bandage my head best I can and cook
dinner? they have a spring, not a well, and a wood stove look like a truck?I start
trying to untangle hair. They only six and eight and they cry. They scream. They cuse
me of murder. By ten o'clock I'm done. They cry theirselves to sleep. But I don't cry. I
lay there thinking bout Nettie while he on top of me, wonder if she safe.

4) Women’s Participation

The participation and opportunities of women are very fewer than men in public life.
Women still have lower position than men. In the public life, the participation of men
are important than women. It is caused men still think that women are weaker than
them. These conditions make women are not appreciated in the working place too.
They often get lower paying and position jobs than men in working place. Based on
the feminist argues, women should be equal with men. They should not only in
domestic area but also in public area. So, women also have similar participation to
men in public area such as in social, politic, economic and etc. In The Color Purple
novel, the participation of women is limited. Women are not permitted to speak up
their mind. They cannot share their Denik Fajar Darmawanti opinion in the public
life. Men think that women’s speaking are not important to hear. Therefore, when
women are speaking men ignore their face.

Nettie runs away from rape twice; first time from her dad and the second time from
The Mr.-. She refuses to have the same destiny that her sister has, so she leaves the
house twice. Her dad refuses to let the Mr.- marry her because she isn't" spoiled" yet.
She is much prettier than Celie. She goes to school and she knows how to read and
write. She teaches Celie how to read and write yet, Celie couldn't complete her home
education because the Mr. makes Nettie leave the house. Even worse, he doesn't let

8
Celie read her sister's letters. He hides them whereas Celie keeps writing to Nettie
hoping that one day she will receive something from her sister that proves that she is
still alive. His control over the two females in the novel is a sign of his power and his
silencing attitude. He knows that in hiding these letters he prevents Celie from
communicating with Nettie and finding her own voice. And Nettie as well will suspect
her sister's existence. Nettie hides a secret that detaches her from Celie, Samuel and
Corrine. She knows that the two kids aren't Corrine's they are Celie's. She can't have
the voice that is needed to express her thoughts and suspicions till the end of the
novel.Racism in the novel doesn't appear only among White- Black people but intra-
racial racism plays an important role as well. Where Nettie has the right to go to
school and has her right of education, Celie doesn't have that right only because she is
" ugly". She has to accept marrying the one she doesn't love because her "Pa" forces
her to and she has no right to say no. "Pa" even doesn't respect her and describes her
with bad words because she is ugly black old spoiled girl. So, Sofia is not the only
maid in the novel, Celie is a servant at the end. She has to cook to the Mr.- and his
children. She has to run after the kids and make sure that they don't need anything.
She has to comb their hair and not hurt them or shout at them. She has to say nothing
at all regarding the kids only to respond to their needs and desires. She writes to God
telling him about the hardships that she has to handle without complaining. Yet, she
does all that as fast as she can; nevertheless, the Mr. beats her if he finds something he
doesn't like or approve of. That leads Celie to some transformation. She doesn't
believe in her domestic role in the house only. She doesn't find it a bliss to be a wife.
She leaves her house feeling more confidant and satisfied. She knows that by being a
devoted wife she agrees to the traditional gender role that the black society is deeply
built on. She refuses to give her body and soul any more to be a good woman in the
society's eyes since she becomes aware of the oppression, self- destruction and
humiliation that she passes through. She casts herself in a binary opposition with
Sofia and Shug to realize the differences between them and her. She makes them as a
reference for the picture of woman that she seeks for. She knows exactly what she
needs to acquire and what shedoesn't want to have. She frees herself and her body as
well form commodity. At the end of the novel she sees herself beautiful and she also
suspects being ugly. Along the novel the Mr.- tries to objectify Celie while at the end
she departs from the patriarchy and starts a tie of womanhood for herself. She is now
able to see herself from another view and to feel her existence far from submission to
patriarchy. Celie now possesses the strength, the character and the self acceptance to
stay alive and to gain the personal identity away from consuming his money or his
reflection as a husband.

Feminists believe that one of the reasons why men are strong is because of their
financial status as providers. They consider themselves as producers while women as
consumers. All that leads women to be self-scarifying and deny themselves even
though, they bear the pressure of their hard life. Women in The Color Purple decide to
break this idea and to work to establish their own businesses. Ceile becomes a self-
empowered woman by starting business in making pants. She has her own money
after that while Shug sings and gains the money. Even Squeak pursues singing as a
career and has money. In this way, we see a clear movement from traditional
feminism to the new womanism where women are empowered to have their business,
to have their jobs, and to be morally and spiritually indent and free of men's pressure.

9
Walker as a womanist believes in the power of change that women can do to each
other since the world that they live in is male dominated. Women change their
perspectives about men because of a woman. Celie rebels against Mr.- after she
knows Shug and Sofia. Shug and Sofia help her to transform from a silent naïve
young girl to a mature self-asserted woman. Celie's ability to move from one place to
another is a proof of her maturity. She learns by this how to face life's challenges
without a help of a male. Actually, all these developments and new changes make a
turning point in the way feminism is treated. Women in The Color Purple are not a
repetition of countless previous women who continued to the subservient to men.They
are now new women who can challenge the traditional role in which feminism
presented them.Sofia is another strong female character. During the novel, she suffers
greatly for her independent spirit and impudence. As husband and wife, she and
Harpo do battle for years, for she refuses to follow the expectations of the patriarchal
lifestyle. She refuses to be tied only to housework and child rearing and works in the
fields, like a man; she also expects Harpo to help with the domestic chores. When
Harpo tries to criticize or punish her independent ways, she regularly gives him a
beating, since she is larger and stronger than he. In the ends, she finally leaves him,
tired of his abuse.Sofia is then abused by the white power structure. When the mayor's
wife suggests that she come to work for her as a maid, Sofia tells her "hell, no." For
her impudent manner, the mayor slaps her. In turn, Sofia socks the mayor, knocking
him down. She is then beaten, arrested, and put in prison, where she is constantly
abused by the white staff. During her years of confinement, both in prison and in the
home of the mayor, Sofia survives on hatred, even thinking of murder. In spite of her
anger, she is a good nanny to Miz Millie's children, and Eleanor Jane develops a
devotion to her. In the end, Sofia is able to love her in return, especially when Eleanor
Jane agrees to help care for Henrietta.After she is freed from her servitude at the
mayor's home, Sofia quickly returns to her old self, proving that the white power
system does not have to break the spirit of blacks. In many ways she is a reflection of
Celie, showing unbelievable endurance in the face of great hardships. It is not
surprising that the two women form a strong bond of friendship that last throughout
the novel.All the women the novel are presented scarifying and self- denying
Acconfing to Walker, they are "suspended women where they are victims by society
and men. They have to speak. As part of her womanisms the fint thing that Walker
does is involving the women in the novel in a close sisterhood. Walker chooses quilt
making which is a traditional handicraft in Africa as a symbol of the female bonding
that restores the wonen sense of completeness and independence (Henderson, 2014, p.
320). The quilt nends to collect different things in order to make one piece. Celie does
so when she collects het pam of her and establishing string person. Quilt making
becomes a reminder in The Color Purple for the heritage of Als American people.
Another important reminder is the color. Afro-American people used to feel ashamed
of wearing bright colors like red or purple or yellow. They believe that black people
shouldn' such bright colors hecause these colors belong to Africa, the uncivilized
Africa. So, wearing these colors means the peram is not civilinud. Walker wants the
Afro-American to be proud of the African culture and heritage.

Finally. can say that Walkat twish the ending of the novel she opem the novel with
honible sufferings that female characters face while she ends the novel with a happy
end where all the female characters reconcile with themselves and see themselves as

10
self-worthy people. Celie feels the respect and the love that she lacks all through the
novel. She is rounted with her two kids, ssten her friends and the Mr- but only a close
friends. She refuses in the hiv wife again. That reunion is on the 4 of July the
Independence Day of the United States of America, and the Independence Day for
Celie as well. She is t able to let her voice be heard, she fades of the gender-roles in
her society. Nettie on the other hand, returns to the south where she Finds her sister
waiting for her. Sofia returns to Harpo after she gains her freedoms, Women in the
novel had their right to reconstruct their identity either as independent women or
naïve women. We believe in Celie since she is the narrator, her suffering are real and
her expression of the oppression that the males she knows did to her has a great
impact on her sprit.

The paper discusses and attempts to explain how the female protagonist Celie
gradually liberates herself from misery, oppression and fear. Alice Walker, Pulitzer
Prize winning novelist has emerged both nationally and internationally, as one of the
most versatile and controversial writers of African American Literature. African-
American literature is designed with a mission to make their consciousness known to
the world. Its aim is to change social, political. economical aspects of society. Readers
get acquaint with exploitation oppression, persecution and consequent revolt of
African-Americans. The revolt is dominant theme or motif in Afro-American
literature, African-American has proceeded along with different paths and taken
different turnings. However its moment is struggle for human rights and against
exploitation of white people. Despite differences of country, religion, conditions,
society and language, the lives and experiences of Afro-American community derives
from the fact that subjected to injustice and slavery. Still it is to some or greater
degree is the victim. of this social evil.The characters in Afro-American literature
have been created through the chemistry of life, experiences, society and problems,
pain and rebellion against the set order. We find there are numerous expressions of red
and hot experiences and fighting in Afro-American Literature. The problem of
twentieth century as the problem of color line, the relation of the darker to the lighter
race of men in Africa and America. African-American Literature is in search of its
respective identity, in its own country African people lived the life of others. They
were not considered as human being though they have surfaced from social life based
on inequality and was roasted alive. They could not live in the white. locality.
American culture allotted them the bottom place in society and even they could not
raise their voice against exploitation. The life of African American is largely mirrored
in its literature. The totality of people's experiences has been well reflected in its
literature. Nathan Huggins opines that,"For most blacks, there has never been any
doubt that their identity is embedded in the general American history, and that they
will never know. themselves until they mine and refine that history themselves"

Black literature made real progress after the First World War. Black writer like Alice
Walker began to portray their life in their characteristic language. An outspoken
advocate for social and political change, Alice Walker consistently. speaks out when
she sees injustice. She was part of a civil rights protest at the White House at the age

11
eighteen. Walker's isolation made her a keen observer and lover of nature. Her
lifelong commitment has been against injustices to all humankind as well as nature,
but her primary goal has been to uplift women. Having witnessed so much suffering
among women as she grew up, her writings constantly reflect their struggle. She
recalls, in an essay, a most painful scene the witnessed of the age thirteen:

She is probably best known for her novel, The Color Purple, the story of an oppressed
woman, Alice Walker has portrayed sexism, racism, oppression and poverty. It deals
with the struggle of women to gain recognition as individuals who have a self-identity
of their own, there by defying the exploitative and appressive chains of society
dominated and constructed by male.

Walker has presented the experiences of a woman character. Celle who is oppressed
by a male dominated society. She is sexually abused by her father and husband. She
successfully comes up from submission and oppression to a self-realization and there
by attain a total freedom. The major concern of walker is black women. Black women
are ruthlessly exploited and considered as mere objects intended only for male sexual
satisfaction. Celie's world was one of fear. despoir, insecurity and loneliness unspoken
and unspeakable, suffering. colorless, dark and with no ray of any hope. Throughout
the novel Walker depicts a world of oppression and abuse of black girls and women.
Celle's attitude about herself and about god is clearly visible through the letters which
she writes to God to help her to survive the spiritual, emotional and physical abuse
she suffers at the hands of her step father. The experiences of the black female
protagonist. Celle are presented through her letters to God. Through her letters to

God. Celie namates her first experience of sexism, her father sexually abusing her.

This quote was taken from COLOR PURPLE by “ALICE WALKER” walker
03).

Celie is made to suffer by the man who she had for long believed to be her father. Her
father rapes her repeatedly. She is considered ugly and dump. She wants to protect her
sister. Nettle from her father's clutches and wants her to study and escape from the
world of abuse and oppression, She is defenseless and threatened and not in a position
to share her feelings and frauma to another one other than God. Celle is considered as
ugly and dull outwardly, she has an inner strength which allows her to protect her
sister from evils that she has experienced. She finds no other way out rather than
recording her experiences letters to God.Though ill-treated by her step father and
husbond the always wished to be cored and loved. She is beaten, cursed beaten and
humiliated simply because she is a woman. Celle lives in a surtouriding to the male
supremacy. Her husband presented as Mr. in Celle's effters. Her continued
exploitation increases her inner shength. Celle's relationship with Soft, Harpo's wife

12
tingi about a huge change in her. Sofia constant reminder to Cele of the shength that
the lacked Sofias able to escape gender discrimination tay leaving her husband and
her protest against sexual and racis exploitation clearly depicted in the novel. Safia act
as a medium in Celle't understanding of herself.

Celle's relationship with Shug Avery, a confident, glamorous bold and beautiful roman
the lover of her husband enhances and enabled her to have befter faith in hersell, and
courage to face the atrocites and to express her feelings. Shug and Sofia are
considered the strongest women who are ready to fight for the righh, Nettle has a
shong desile within her to raise hernel to o higher level. The goes to Alica team of a
black missionary. She suffers ocial and gender dicimination. But she works for the
betterment of her people and dedicates herself fully to the Though women in the
Color Puple oppressed and suffered but having the mental and moral support they are
able to overcome the oppression leveled upon them.With the help of other women
Ceile starts dilching cloths and thus leams fo manage her own ife. She reasserts her
own individually, She regains her identity and latter addresses her letters to her Nattie
feeling that God whom she has been witting. Cele gradually discovers the power and
joy of her own spent. freeing her from her post, reuniting her with those she loves by
voicing against poblarchol order and thereby attains an autonomous state. Despite
everything women are able to raise their vace against injustices and regain their inner
strength and selfhood. Alice Walker, the novelist thus preoccupied with the survival
whole of her people and in exploring the oppressions, the insanities, the loyalties and
the triumphs of black women.

Despite this oppressive situation, the other women in this novel have an important
role in Celie's life, especially Shug Avery and Sofia as the main female characters
who change Celie's behaviour. Shug Avery changes Albert's life and, of course,
Celie's. The reader appreciates an interesting change in Albert's personality when
Shug is close to him, as he behaves very differently with Avery. But Mrs Shug Avery
is also an essential character in Celie's life. Thanks to her, Celie becomes another
person with the passing of time. Celie learns about sexuality and about other women's
prototypes. They do not have to be obedient because they are equal to men. Celie
admires Mrs Avery in every sense, especially the way in which Avery has a voice and
does not have to submit to the man of the house. She is a woman but with a strong
personality: an independent, strong and disobedient female character. Mrs Avery's
presence is essential in order to understand Celie's process. Celie's knowledge about
sexuality changes because she has been obliged to do what she did not want. She has
been forced to marry Mr_and then forced to have sex with someone that she does not
feel neither love nor passion for. Things change when Celie discovers what she really
likes. She falls in love with Mrs Shug Avery and she feels something special. In short,
Mrs Avery has a great impact on Celie's life speaking about sexual issues and
women's roles. When we talk about survival strategies of women in this novel, we
refer to female bonding. When women come together, they share their ideas and fight
for what they desire, there is nothing stronger than that Celie changes her life and
begins to know and own herself.

13
The same happens with Sofia, she is another female figure associated with some traits
assigned to male behaviour. Harpo is her husband and Albert (Mr Ts son, and he
always compares his life with his father's. It is frustrating for him, because he does not
understand why he has the same rights and duties as his wife. Sofia's behaviour is
fascinating because it is very transgressive. In this quotation: "Mr. blow smoke, look
down at him, and say, Yeah, I see now she going to switch the traces on you" (37), we
can see how Mr realises that something is wrong in this relationship following
patriarchal ideas. He knows Sofia's dominant position in their marriage. Walker wants
to imagine the possibility of a different world in which the "dominant figure can be
women: "Harpo want to know what to do to make Sofia mind. He sit out on the porch
with Mr. He say, I tell her one thing. She do another. Never do what I say. Always
backtalk" (37) Sofia is not a submissive woman, she does whatever she decides, and
does not obey her husband's orders Later in the novel, we see another Sofia, that is,
she has changed throughout the novel because she has been punished by white
society: a struggle between her and the mayor's wife sends her to prison, till then she
has always been an independent woman but the prison makes her crazy. However,
thanks to Harpo's family's intervention, she has to serve a White family instead of
staying in prison. The new Sofia becomes the slave of that new family. So we have
the disobedient Sofia vs the submissive one. It is really sad to witness how a woman
who has a strong and independent nature and who is powerful as her husband, loses
everything. The prison and the white house represent the dominant world in which
racism is at work. Concerning Sofia's influence on Celie's life, we can observe how
important the presence of this female character is. Undoubtedly, when Celie meets
Sofia, her life also changes a little. She begins to understand how women can have a
voice and vote for their decisions, she also begins to see how a couple can be equal. If
we compare Sofia and Harpo's relationship with Mr and Celie's one, we might clearly
see the way in which Sofia becomes a great support for Celie. And they never forget
cach other Analyzing female bonding further, when Celie writes to God, she is
another Celie, she is more obedient, always serving the others. However, we have a
different Celie when she starts writing to her sister. She is a woman with more
ambitions and more mature. She has changed thanks to the "others." Indeed, we have
other women different from Celie who teach her the true essence of life. These kinds
of women in the novel are called "helper women" according to Ottoh. As we have
said, we have the example of Sofia, she is a strong character in the novel and can be
considered a heroine in the work. Initially in love with Harpo, her love for him dies
out due to the patriarchal society of that time, a dominant society where men have
control and power over women. And Sofia does not allow it and it is the main reason
why Sofia's love dies. Also, Avery represents the symbol of the other women" in that
novel. They are the clear example of being a black woman with voice and choice, they
are strong women and thanks to them, Celie begins to think that the world does not
have to be necessarily dominated by the black male oppresor

Nettie, Celie's sister, is also relevant in the novel. We consider her as an example of
"the other women because she is stronger than Celie, Nettie has more experience
traveling with a new "family" She is welcome in this new home, she is well educated
and she has learnt a lot about many things, she is independent not like her sister Celic,
who has to depend on men's necessities. At the beginning of the novel, Celie had to
leave school because of her Pa, and Nettie taught her what she could. Again, we have

14
the educated, intelligent and independent Nettie versus the opposite character, het
uneducated sister. However, their love remains despite distance and time, because
they do not see each other for almost thirty years.

As we have said, although women are the main aim in this analysis, men are also
presented in the novel as the dominant figures. Men are usually portrayed as lazy,
selfish, abusive and unkind This is what Walker wants readers to reflect upon. We can
study the figure of Albert, he is tremendously abusive and completely lazy. We can go
on studying the different personalities of Albert, because he becomes another person
when he is with Avery. He is different because he is in love with her. Besides him,
Harpo wants to be like his father, a dominant figure and abusive person. Nevertheless,
he has married another kind of woman who is Sofia. So he cannot show his dominant
behaviour, and cannot be like his father.

In "Language, Gender, and Power in The Color Purple: Theories and Approaches,"
written by Pi-Li Hsiao, he talks about men's roles in the novel. They are essential
figures, with a dominant position. So the patriarchal society is pervasive in Celie's
life. Pa (Celie and Nettie's stepfather) and Albert, called Mr by Celie, have a superior
position with respect to Celie, they have authority over her. We notice several physical
and linguistic scenes of violence against Celie. According to Hsiao, Celie is in silence,
she is immobile, and we think that at the beginning of the novel, when she does not
know Mrs Avery, but then she evolves. With the presence of Pa and Mr Celie has to
obey and has to be a good housekeeper.Now attention is turned to the
autobiographical novel / Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, written by Maya Angelou
which is similar to The Color Purple. To start, we should mention the interesting title
of the book. It may be a metaphor, we have a bird that is in a cage, the cage is a prison
and the bird has many qualities to show to the world but it cannot do anything,
because it is only an animal, a simple bird. For this reason, the bird continues in the
cage but it still sings. The same happens with the main character of the novel,
Marguerite (Maya), she starts being a poor and a dependent girl but at the end of the
novel this character changes. Society does not treat her well due to her skin colour,
and she suffers a lot. We can compare Maya with Celie, they are similar characters
who have turned into others with the passing of time.The characters in The Colour
Purple have womanist traits. Through Celie, Shug Avery, Sofia and Nettie who are
major characters in the novel, Walker suggests that women can get an upper hand at
some point by challenging the authority of their husbands and oppressors, and dare to
overcome their odds. It is noteworthy that a womanist "loves struggle", it is evident
through the character of Celie who has the capacity to ask questions that are
uncomfortable, even subversive as a route to truth. She was sexually forced both by
her father and her husband where her corporeal body was denied agency. But later
with the help of Shug. Celie takes charge of her life and becomes an independent
woman, by opposing Albert who resisted Celie's idea to accompany Shug to Memphis
and even starts her own business of Pants. Her sister. Nettie also plays an important
role in her, she was able to explore the world outside her simultaneously malevolent
and banal sphere.

The characteristic of Shug Avery in The Colour Purple is a typical one, within the
African-American racial societies. Walker shows her as a free and independent

15
woman who has agency over her own body. When Celie first lays eyes on Shug, in
her husband's house, she thinks Shug looks glamorous and instantly begins to take a
liking to her. She states, "First time I got the full sight of Shug Avery long black body
with it black plum nipples, look like her mouth, I thought I had turned into a man".
Shug and Celie's relationship is based on a shared experience and were the help of
each other. Women's collective agency is transformative and helps in promoting
changes in society. The character of Shug Avery is unconventional. She is a blues
singer which was unconventional for women of the rural Georgia. She is an
entertainer and singer who find power through her sexual identity. Shug makes her
decisions by herself without the influence of any male dominance like power and
control. She also provides guidance and a path of liberation to Celie and helps her to
be an independent woman. A woman like Shug has power over her own body and
denies masculine assistance. Through the character of Shug, Walker tries to show the
empowerment of women by their own agency. Nettie, who is the sister of Celie also
plays a major role in building Celie's life as an independent woman. As Nettie had the
privilege to go to school, she helped Celie to learn letters. Throughout Nettie's journey
as a missionary, she wrote many letters to Celie giving the knowledge about the world
that exists outside Georgia. This encouraged Celie to be more enthusiastic and
optimistic about her life. In the novel, Celie tells her story to the readers in the form of
letters. Nettie lives her latter life as a missionary and brings back Celie's children to
her. Nettie is shown as a self- empowered woman who helps others in their journey
towards liberation. Another woman character is Sofia who marries Albert's son,
Harpo, challenges the prevalent notion of gender roles, and engages in physical
disputes. She is a strong female character who is determined to assert her
independence by rejecting traditional ideas about a woman's role in African-American
society. She is assertive, aggressive and would never allow anyone, not even her
husband to step on her toe. She believes in an eye for a eye, a tooth for a tooth
regardless of who committed evil to her. This behavior of Sofia is courageous and
audacious as a womanist character which shows her agency. Like many African-
Americans, Sofia pays for hitting the Mayor and refusing to work as a maid, by being
jailed for twelve years showing her audaciousness and courageousness. Sofia also has
agency over herself but at the end was forced to suffer at the hands of the white
colonizers.it can be said that women empowerment starts from self-realization
of women themselves, Celie, Sofia, Nettie, these are the women characters of this
novel, who have developed their self and liberated themselves from the societal
norms. Everywhere patriarchy maintains power by forcing the female body into a
position of powerlessness thus denying them agency. The women characters of this
novel successfully achieve empowerment and freedom with the help of each other.
Through this novel. Alice Walker brilliantly portrays women's quest for freedom and
their journey of transformation and empowerment. The Colour Purple is a novel
where the women's body and agency is given high dignity and the theory of
'womanism is successfully embodied through the female characters of the novel. By
celebrating the values of love, togetherness, femaleness, and courage to fight against
oppression, the novel succeeds in bringing freedom and equality in its true sense.In
The Color Purple, we can see how Alice Walker gives Celie the opportunity of having
a voice to talk about her childhood and the problems she had with sexuality. In this
way, she can talk clearly about the abuses that she received and, at the same time, she
is putting her voice to the debates about women's sexuality, which at that moment

16
were silenced.There are several reasons why black women kept silent about their
sexuality. One of them could be the fact that many positions of power are not
occupied by black women. Their voice is suppressed by dominant groups, and these
groups were formed by the people who embodied black women as a sexual figure.
Moreover, black women did not have facilities to talk about their sexuality because
they were ignored by black intellectuals who did not talk about this in their black
studies scholarships, for instance. Analysis about black women sexuality were scarce
at this time, and they were only present if it was to relate them to some study about
African-American men.Another reason why black women were in silence, is because
they were not given the courage to talk about certain topics, and sexuality is one of
them. Paula Giddings, as Patricia Collins points out in Black Feminist Thought,
explains another factor that is important: "the "last taboo" of disclosing "not only a
gender but a sexual discourse, unmediated by the question of racism". In this way, and
with the presence of this taboo, the studies on sexuality that had something to do with
black men were not seen as acceptable, while white racist assumptions about black
women's sexuality were. Some characteristics of black women's sexuality could be the
subject of a study, while themes like rape or incest, in which the image of men was
present, were taboo.Finally, in some cases being in silence had certain benefits for
black women. This is what is called by Hine, cited by Patricia Collins, "culture of
dissemblance". Culture of dissemblance served black women to hide everything they
wanted about their sexuality, thus avoiding possible situations of violence, for
example. As Collins says, "in contexts of violence where internal self-censorship was
seen as protection, silence made sense".

As we talked about rape before, it is important to know that "rape has been one
fundamental tool of sexual violence directed against African-American women".
These violent acts show us how standardized this system was. If these acts were
aimed at people from another social group, they would probably be punished
immediately. However, as they are oriented to black women they are "forgiven". As
sexual violence is constructed in terms of gender and race, we can say that white and
black women and black men did not live the same kind of violence.Rape was the most
characteristic way to force women sexually, and, of course, there was always
justification for these acts due to the existence of the image of the black woman as a
"whore" or "jezebel". An important consequence of these women being raped was that
they were doubly victimized. On the one hand, and mainly, because of the fact of
being raped; but, on the other hand, they were victimized by their relatives, who made
them responsible for this fact.Something that was hidden in the silence of black
women about their sexuality, is that they were also raped by black men, because these
men also assimilated the stereotypes about black women that we mentioned before.
Angela Davis says that "rape was a weapon of domination, a weapon of repression,
whose covert goal was to extinguish slaves women's will to resist".Sexuality can be
studied as another type of oppression without relating it, for example, to the
oppressions of race, gender and class. Because of the existence of images like the
"whore" one, people saw the sexuality of black women as something obscene. Their
bodies were exploited, objectified and, for white men, they were like products that
were made to give them pleasure. As Carby writes, quoting Anna Julia Cooper, "black
women's struggle for sexual autonomy was "a struggle against fearful and
overwhelming odds, that often end in terrible death".She contrasted the white woman

17
who "could at least plead for her own emancipation" to the black woman of the South
who have to "suffer and struggle and be silent”.

To summarize what was written previously, we can basically say that black women
were not in absolute possession of their body and, even less, could be sexually free. In
addition, their lives were marked by continuous rape and sexual violence. Therefore,
sometimes, it was better for them to remain silent and not say anything about their
sexuality.In a deeper study of the novel, it is easy to see that almost all the women are
under the domination of men. Women were abused especially Celie is raped, beaten
and abused by all the men around her, firstly by her stepfather and by her husband.
Celie symbolizes a good housewife who tries to look after her husband and his
children. Simone de Beauvoir, in his book The Second Sex says that "one is not born
a woman; rather one becomes a woman", and Celie is the most suitable example to
prove this paper. It is Shug Avery, Albert's mistress, who supports Celie to be
independent and she gives Celie insight to free herself from the domination of her
husband Albert. Christian Froula writes as "The abusive or seductive father does
serious harm to the daughter's mind as well as to her body, damaging her sense of her
own identity and depriving her voice of authority and strength". We see the male
domination over the women in every part of life, but in the course of time, women
want to release themselves from the abuses of man and be independent.

The novel is an epistolary novel which consists of her, Celie, letters addressed to God,
and then to her sister Nettie. Letters becomes the only way for Celie to express
herself, and only key for reader to have al better and deeper understanding for Celie,
the protagonist. From the very beginning of the novel, the reader becomes familiar
with a fourteen year old poor girl who is used to do the works of her husband. In the
novel, Celie is just a servant who is responsible of looking after her husband, Albert,
and his four children and to meet the sexual desires of him. He always abuses Celie
until she declares her identity as an independent woman.Celie's experiences some
changes, and as a result of these changes the novel turns out to be not only a story
about pain and despair but also a story of ultimate triump. Novel begins in the early
1900's and ends in the mid 1940's and, between these time spaces, the readers witness
Celie's changing from a small girl who is abused continuously in to a mature, young
woman, realized herself. She frees herself from her husband's repressive control, and
her conditions improved dramatically. Improved by her friendships with other women,
especially Shug Avery, Albert's mistress, and by her fondness for her younger sister,
Nettie-who went to Africa with a missionary group with the help of Celie, Celie
decides to leave Albert and moves to Memphis. She starts a business designing and
making clothes, and becomes a business woman and earns her own money. The
protagonist Celie symbolizes a good house wife who tries to look after her husband
and his children. Simone de Beauvoir, in his book The Second Sex says that "one is
not born a woman; rather one becomes a woman", and Celie is the most suitable
example to prove this thesis. She tries to do her best to provide a better life for them

18
and even her husband's sisters realizes this. Albert's two sisters, Kate and Carrie,
comes to visit them. They say "Celie, one thing is for sure. You keep a clean house.
Good housekeeper, good with children, good cook. Brother couldn't have done better
if he tried."She is suitable for the social norms which support the idea of a woman
being a good housewife, a good wife and a good mother. With the development Celie
experienced, Celie adds something more to the idea of woman who just sits in the
house and look after the children, she also becomes a working woman and gain her
own money which gives her the self-confidence and the power to remain standing by
herself.

Black women are in the lowest position of humanity. As Celie's life progresses, she is
forced to marry an older man in the neighborhood. Being a widower, one would
expect that he needs a wife to be his companion and to look after his four children.
However, this is not the case with the widower, who rejects marrying Celie at first
until he is offered cattle; an indication of the worthlessness of black women (Walker,
1985). Walker links black oppression against women to racism. The cruelty of black
men presented in the story results from their frustration on being male in a white-
dominated region (Sattar, 2014). The African- American men struggle to be accepted
in the society due to racial bias, and hence release their frustration on the colored
female (Jinke, 2006). Explaining the predicament the double victimization of black
women in the society, Walker explains that they have no place in such a society. She
describes how the black women are regarded as slaves although the country is said to
be free. Furthermore, the black women experience gender bias in a male-dominated
world.

Walker, in her novel describes a community that is characterized by social

organizations that are oppressive. Social organizations refer to relations that guide
interactions of people in the social setting. They are formed through the interaction of
people in the community. Among the aspects that describe social organizations in a
given society is gender, because people of the same gender interact differently. The
other aspect that influences social organization of the society is the structure of
division of labor, as indicated by discrimination in the recruitment agencies. Sexual
orientation is the other aspect that determines the social organization of the
community. In the novel, it is clear that social organizations in the society promote the
oppression of black women.

In the novel, black feminism is unsuccessful at first because women are unaware of
the existence of their problems. They suffer in silence as each one of them feels that
the problems are unique to their lives. For example, Celie is reluctant to report Pa,
even as he rapes her repeatedly for the fear of losing her mother (Harris, 1986).
Instead of confiding in another person in the society, she prefers to suffer in silence
and written her letters to God. As time passes, Celie gets used to the brutality and
chooses to remain passive instead of acting on it. By refusing to share her experience

19
with other women, Celia lives a miserable life. However, her ability to open up the
issue leads to her realization that her problems are not unique and she makes a
conscious decision to end the oppression. She shares her experience with Shug after
realizing that black women do not have to tolerate oppression in the society. In the
conversation below, Celie expresses her realization that there is a better life,
indicating success of black feminism. fondness for her younger sister, Nettie-who
went to Africa with a missionary group with the help of Celie, Celie decides to leave
Albert and moves to Memphis. She starts a business designing and making clothes,
and becomes a business woman and earns her own money.

The protagonist Celie symbolizes a good house wife who tries to look after her
husband and his children. Simone de Beauvoir, in his book The Second Sex says that
"one is not born a woman; rather one becomes a woman", and Celie is the most
suitable example to prove this thesis. She tries to do her best to provide a better life
for them and even her husband's sisters realizes this. Albert's two sisters, Kate and
Carrie, comes to visit them. They say "Celie, one thing is for sure. You keep a clean
house. Good housekeeper, good with children, good cook. Brother couldn't have done
better if he tried."she s suitable for the social norms which support the idea of a
woman being a good housewife, a good wife and a good mother. With the
development Celie experienced, Celie adds something more to the idea of woman
who just sits in the house and look after the children, she also becomes a working
woman and gain her own money which gives her the self-confidence and the power to
remain standing by herself.black women are in the lowest position of humanity. As
Celie's life progresses, she is forced to marry an older man in the neighborhood.
Being a widower, one would expect that he needs a wife to be his companion and to
look after his four children. However, this is not the case with the widower, who
rejects marrying Celie at first until he is offered cattle; an indication of the
worthlessness of black women. Walker links black oppression against women to
racism. The cruelty of black men presented in the story results from their frustration
on being male in a white-dominated region. The African- American men struggle to
be accepted in the society due to racial bias, and hence release their frustration on the
colored female. Explaining the predicament the double victimization of black women
in the society, Walker explains that they have no place in such a society. She describes
how the black women are regarded as slaves although the country is said to be free.
Furthermore, the black women experience gender bias in a male-dominated world.

Walker, in her novel describes a community that is characterized by social

organizations that are oppressive. Social organizations refer to relations that guide
interactions of people in the social setting. They are formed through the interaction of
people in the community. Among the aspects that describe social organizations in a
given society is gender, because people of the same gender interact differently. The
other aspect that influences social organization of the society is the structure of
division of labor, as indicated by discrimination in the recruitment agencies. Sexual
orientation is the other aspect that determines the social organization of the
community. In the novel, it is clear that social organizations in the society promote the
oppression of black women.

20
In the novel, black feminism is unsuccessful at first because women are unaware of
the existence of their problems. They suffer in silence as each one of them feels that
the problems are unique to their lives. For example, Celie is reluctant to report Pa,
even as he rapes her repeatedly for the fear of losing her mother. Instead of confiding
in another person in the society, she prefers to suffer in silence and written her letters
to God. As time passes, Celie gets used to the brutality and chooses to remain passive
instead of acting on it. By refusing to share her experience with other women, Celia
lives a miserable life. However, her ability to open up the issue leads to her realization
that her problems are not unique and she makes a conscious decision to end the
oppression. She shares her experience with Shug after realizing that black women do
not have to tolerate oppression in the society. In the conversation below, Celie
expresses her realization that there is a better life, indicating success of black
feminism.

In The Color Purple, female characters help each other to live a comfortable life and
follow their feminine desires, e.g. as Shug understands that Mr. beats Celie, she says
that she "won't leave" until she knows that "Albert [Mr.] won't even think about
beating" her. The women bond together and ameliorate each other's situations. If men
force women to obey them and restrict their freedom, women provide each other with
liberty and love. They know how to support, encourage and help each other. As
women have been ignored, misrepresented and mistreated in literature and history, in
this novel, Walker intends to highlight women's suffering and show how they can get
rid of the misrepresentations by proving their abilities, and how they gain power
through relationships with other female characters. For example, Shug realizes that
Celie does not have any sexual feelings when she sleeps with Mr. Moreover, she
perceives that Celie does not know her own body,
therefore, Shug decides to make Celie familiar with her body. Listen, she say, right
there in your pussy is a little button that gits real hot when do you know what with
somebody. It git hotter and hotter and then it melt. That the good part. But other parts
good too, she says. Lot of sucking go on there. and there, she says. Lot of finger and
tongue work.

In order to express her desires, Celie should first know them. One of these desires,
which have been silenced forn years, is sexual desire, and Shug helps Celie to
recognize it in herself. "Here, take this mirror and go look at yourself down there". In
fact, one can consider: the evaluation of the female body as the site of self-awareness
and self-esteem. Thus, in The Color Purple, a crucial moment in Celie's
transformation comes when she perceives the beauty of her genitalia.Shug teaches
Celie to enjoy herself, to know her body and to appreciate her female productive
organs. In fact, "with Shug's encouragement, Celie's self reclamation begins as she
sees her own genitals for the first time" (Pifer & Slusser, 1998, p. 48). For the first
time, she perceives her sexual desires with the help of another woman. As a result of
this repossession of her body, Celie is able to gain selfhood through spoken language.
In fact, as she was forced to forget about rape, she was ignorant about her sexual
organ as well. However, as soon as she knows her productive organs, she becomes
able to express her repressed desires as well. Therefore, she informs Mr. that she is
going to join Shug in Memphis. She revolts against Mr.'s patriarchal ideology which

21
restricts her all the time, and follows her dream of freedom with Shug. She enjoys her
life as the possibility of revolt gives her happiness of being independent.

Besides helping Celie to get to know her body, Shug encourages Celie to perceive her
talent for sewing and improving it. As a result of Shug's encouragement, Celie stands
in front of Mr. She does not intend to have a marginal position in her family. She
verbalizes the words which have choked her all these years. She has suffered all these
years and now she is ready to fight for her progress. In Kristeva's view, a woman is
submitted to "a whole series of authorities: her own mother and father, her husband's
mother and father, her husband, and, finally, her son", Here, Celie has been restricted
for years, first by her father and then by her husband. Now she feels free as she finds a
friend on whom she can rely. She intends to liberate herself from her husband's
dominance and follow her dreams. She is skilful at sewing pants and intends to do it
when she goes to Memphis with Shug. In addition to helping Celie recognize her
sewing talent, Shug encourages Squeak to sing. As Squeak is supported by Shug, she
gains courage and at last Squeak says, "I want to sing... I need to sing”. Squeak
desperately wants to sing as singing is a way to express herself, her miseries and her
problems. Even Shug, as a singer, revolts against people's biased thoughts. Women
and men do not approve of her singing career and always belittle and humiliate her,
but she does it because it is her personal desire. Kristeva notices that, "indeed, the
time has perhaps come to emphasize the multiplicity of female expressions and
preoccupations". Shug and Squeak like singing and Celie likes sewing, and these
different desires make them different and unique in person.

Besides being a supportive friend, Shug is like a mother figure who guides women in
their lives. All the female characters in this novel bond together and help each other.
Squeak decides to sing and Sofia promises to take care of her daughter. Through
bonding, women are able to improve their lives and follow their repressed talents and
desires. These women "defend themselves with words, they discover their potential
sound themselves out through articulation". Although, at first, Celie's talents and
desires were silenced by her father and her husband, she learns to express herself, not
only with Shug's help but also by observing Shug's courageous and determined
personality.

When Celie sews pants and they become popular with her family and her friends, she
becomes financially independent. Shug addresses Celie and says, "you making your
living, Celie... Girl, you on your own way". Now Celie stands on her own two feet
and is on her way to making progress. She revolts against Mr.'s patriarchal ideology,
fights for her freedom, follows her dream of sewing and makes progress through hard
work. Through the relationships with other female characters, Celie is able to cast off
the patriarchal dominance which silenced her all those years. In The Color Purple,
women tolerate racism, sexism and gender discrimination, but they unite with each
other.Through sisterhood, women realize their talents, verbalize them and follow them
As they have emotional supporters, they follow their dreams without worrying and
then achieve their goals. As Haste asserts, by giving authenticity to female
subjectivity there should be some ways to change women's view of themselves and

22
males' view of women . There should not be any preconception of women's
subjectivity.

In The Color Purple Celie intends to attain this linear time of progress and
improvement. The Color Purple deals with Celie's fight for progress and individuality.
She intends to enter society, follow her dreams and achieve them In Kristeva's words,
women should revolt if they intend to have pleasure, as they achieve happiness by
"confronting obstacles, prohibitions, authority. or law that allows them to realize
themselves as "autonomous and free". Here, Celie should confront patriarchal system
which confined her for long time. Moreover, the revolt transforms invisible Celie into
visible one. In fact: The Color Purple, Alice Walker's novel of black feminist
awakening, is a model for the reconstruction of a black feminist literary tradition. If
the existence of such a tradition had previously been marked by the "white page" and
historical silence, Walker subverts the space by embracing the absence. Alice Walker
puts black invisible women, who are absent from classical literature and history, into
the spotlight and permits them to speak and take action.As the novel unfolds, Celie's
stepfather, whom Celie considers as her biological father, warns her not to tell anyone
about the fact that he rapes her. As a result, Celie is obliged to remain silent, but she
needs to tell someone; therefore, she writes letters to God and explains all the misery
which has been forced upon her. Language is in the hands of men and they dominate
women with it; men decide what, to whom and where women can express themselves,
as Kristeva holds, women are "excluded from the single true and legislating principle,
from the Words" because without words, women cannot have independent personality.
Men force women not to use language as speaking helps them to gain a sense of
identity. In fact, "no person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your
right to grow". Therefore, men intend to silence women as they are afraid of women's
progress and improvement. The act of writing is a kind of revolt, as Celie must not tell
anyone about the rapes. In fact, Celie experiences male bullying and domination when
she is raped at the age of fourteen. Besides, as Kristeva notices, "there is no time
without speech"; and in this novel, Celie should start using language to attain linear
time, individuality and social role. She intends to write in order to express her desire
and ambitions within language and ask for her social rights.

When the stepfather grows tired of Celie, he encourages Mr. to marry her. After their
marriage, one day, Tobias, Mr.'s brother, visits Celie and Mr., and Shug, Mr.'s former
lover. They talk about different women. Shug holds that "all women not alike,
Tobias". This speech emphasizes the fact that although women may have the same
sex, they are different in their thoughts, feelings and desires. Each individual woman
has her own desires and fights for them However, in patriarchal families, women's
desires are not respected.In The Color Purple, female characters help each other to
live a comfortable life and follow their feminine desires, e.g. as Shug understands that

23
Mr. beats Celie, she says that she "won't leave" until she knows that "Albert (Mr.]
won't even think about beating her. The women bond together and ameliorate each
other's situations. If men force women to obey them and restrict their freedom,
women provide each other with liberty and love. They know how to support,
encourage and help each other. As women have been ignored, misrepresented and
mistreated in literature and history, in this novel, Walker intends to highlight women's
suffering and show how they can get rid of the misrepresentations by proving their
abilities, and how they gain power through relationships with other femal characters.

Sofia was a strong girl. When Sofia was a child she experienced a domestic violence
from her father, uncle and her brother. And after she married Harpo, she experienced
bad treatment from her husband's and she realize she realize she must struggle and
must fight back because she did not want to be like her mother who suffered from her
father, however she did not want to become a weak woman."They fighting like two
men. Every piece of furniture they got is turned over. Every plate looks like it broke.
The looking glass hang crooker, the curtains torn. The bed looks like the stuffing
pulled out. They don't notice. They fight. He tries to slap her. What he does that for?
She reaches down and grand a piece of stove wood and whack him cross the eyes. He
punches her in the stomach, she double over groaning but come up with both hands
lock right under his privates. He rolls on the floor. He grabs her dress tail and pull.
She stands there in her slip. She never blinks an eye he jumps up to put a hammer
lock under her shim, she throws him over her back. He falls bam up gainst the stove".
(Whenever Harpo hit Sofia, she always fought back because she did not want to suffer
from Harpo's violence. Sofia realized that woman should not got bad treatment from
man. Sofia said that even though she loved Harpo she would kill him if Harpo hurt
her. "A girl child ain't safe in. a family of men. But I never thought I'd have to fight
my own house. She let out her breath. I love Harpo, she says. God knows I do. But I'll
Kill him dead before I let him beat me"Sofia refused to follow the expectations of the
male domination.

Finally, she decided to leave Harpo because she did not want to suffer anymore
although she still loved Harpo. At this point Alice Walker wanted to show the readers
about Sofia's struggle toward male domination. "You gon let her go? I ast Harpo. He
looks like only a fool could ast the question. He puffs back, she made up her mind to
go, he says. How I'm gon stop het? Let her go on. He says, cutting his eyes at her
sister wagons".

Even though Sofia had a lot of suffering, she tried to wake up again and tried to be
strong each day. After she finished working in Miss Millie house as a maid, Sofia
worked for Celie. They ran the pant business well."Meanwhile, I hired Sofia to clerk
in our store... but pit Sofia in there to wait on colored cause they never had nobody in

24
a store to treat'em nice. Sofia was good at selling stuff too because she acts like she
doesn't care if you buy or not. No skin off her nose/ and then if you decide to
buyanyhow, well she might exchange a few pleasant words with you"There were a lot
of factors which cause the violence towards black women. Poverty gave negative
effect to black American people. Many of black Americans did not have good
opportunity to develop their skill and their education was also neglected. Many of
black men became frustrated and they did not know how to protect and how to be
responsible to their family and their women. This transformed them into violence acts
against the people closest to them, especially to their women. The other reason was
male domination culture. Many of the black men had their own perceptive about
women. Women had to obey their husband's demand. Some of the black men felt that
they could not be a true man if they did not dominate and take control of their women.

Women in this novel had to stand up against the unfair treatment they received from
the hands of men. To get out from this problem they rely on God to ask strength and
protection to God, they must be creative to protect themselves Sofia work together in
making pants. This is proven that they can be strong and became independent
women.Besides helping Celie to get to know her body, Shug encourages Celie to
perceive her talent for sewing and improving it. As a result of Shug's encouragement,
Celie stands in front of Mr. She does not intend to have a marginal position in her
family. She verbalizes the words which have choked her all these years. She has
suffered all these years and now she is ready to fight for her progress. In Kristeva's
view, a woman is submitted to "a whole series of authorities: her own mother and
father, her husband's mother and father, her husband, and, finally, her son", Here,
Celie has been restricted for years, first by her father and then by her husband. Now
she feels free as she finds a friend on whom she can rely. She intends to liberate
herself from her husband's dominance and follow her dreams. She is skilful at sewing
pants and intends to do it when she goes to Memphis with Shug. In addition to
helping Celie recognize her sewing talent, Shug encourages Squeak to sing. As
Squeak is supported by Shug, she gains courage and at last Squeak says, "I want to
sing... I need to sing”. Squeak desperately wants to sing as singing is a way to express
herself, her miseries and her problems. Even Shug, as a singer, revolts against people's
biased thoughts. Women and men do not approve of her singing career and always
belittle and humiliate her, but she does it because it is her personal desire. Kristeva
notices that, "indeed, the time has perhaps come to emphasize the multiplicity of
female expressions and preoccupations". Shug and Squeak like singing and Celie
likes sewing, and these different desires make them different and unique in person.

25
Being a proponent of black feminism and conscious of the 'womanist" ideals, Alice
Walker, in her novel "The Color Purple', encompasses a holistic picture of her own
black community in which the women struggle for their existence or cultural identity.
In this novel, Walker exhibits how the power gets deconstructed in search of voice
and identity of various characters. In the first part of the novel, Walker tends to throw
light on the marooned nature of the women being suppressed and oppressed by men in
the patriarchal society as men have occupied the hub of the society. Celie, the
protagonist of the novel, is continuously raped by her step father, yet she cannot
afford to disclose the incestuous relationship that her step father had with her to
anyone, keeping in mind the reverence of the family and the prospect of assault. She
has lost her identity as a black woman just treated as a commodity not only in her
house but also in her married life in which Mr her husband, has treated her more
callously as he used to beat her up viciously as his aspiration of winning Nettie
remained in vacuum. Sofia, the robust and unyielding personality of the novel, is
coerced to bow down before the Whites as she is a woman as well as a black. Here,
she has also lost her identity as an unflinching personality by accepting meek and
mild traits. But, in the later part of the novel, being ignited by the vigorous personality
and unprejudiced thinking of Shug Avery, Celie fences herself off from the choking
atmosphere of Mr's house and builds up a community of women with Shug Avery,
Sofia and Nettie. After being cruelly tortured in the jail, Sofia is released and regains
her dignity and personality. Celie also regains her dignity and reverence after wielding
the power that she gains after leaving the house of Mr Mr becomes mild and generous
and finds beauty in Celie after being failed to wield the power, so he proposes her for
remarriage. The paper focuses on how the power, exerted from the agency of race and
gender gets deconstructed with the progress of the novel that gives the emergence of
new behaviours and identities and a voice to the unvoiced characters. Power here acts
as an identity, as identity alters with the alteration of power.we hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights, that they are among these are life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.But in reality due to the racial discrimination, African Americans
like Celie could not enjoy the equal rights. They are even not regarded as Americans,
so they have to fight for it.If the African part in Celie's identity is the existing
objective fact born with her, then the African identity need to be gained by her
subjectively. Identity is objective but at the same time also subjective and
constructional; one is branded with the feature of his born racial community, but his
cultural identity is underlined in the relations with other groups of people. Celie is
black, so she used to think she is doomed to be ugly, poor and inferior. In her mind,
she never had the concept of being an American. She just dragged out an ignoble
existence under oppressions. But Nettie, Sofia and Shug all tell her to fight for her
own rights live as an American. For centuries, the racial discrimination has been the
major problem African Americans are faced with. Racial discrimination embeds the
subconsciousness that we are non- Americans in America into African Americans
mind.

26
In order to obtain her identity as an American culturally and psychologically, Celie
has to rise against the racial oppression. In this novel, the fiercest racial conflict
happens in the fight between Sofia and the mayor's wife. The mayor and his wife take
their privilege over blacks as natural because of white superiority. Blacks are meant to
be workers or their servants. The mayor's wife says "would you like to work for me,
be my maid?" "Sofia say, Hell no" . "Hell no" is not the words expected by whites to
hear from blacks to insult them. As a result, Sofia was put into prison even if she had
tried her best to fight back. Celie hears about all these happenings. She learns from
Sofia that she needs to rise up to fight for dignity against the arrogant whites. Then
Shug helps Celie to break the fetter of whites. Oppressed in the society for a long
time, like most African Americans, Celie is brimming with fear for the white as if
white men are al 1 God. Shug tells Celie:Ain't no way to read the bible and not think
God white." "God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world
with God." "I believe God is everything, say Shug. Everything that is or ever was or
ever will be. And when you can feel that, and be happy to feel that, you've found it."
Celie gradually becomes free from white men's fetter. From Shug, Celie knows that
everyone is born free to chase his or her happiness and she should enjoy her rights of
life, liberty and pursuit of happiness which the American constitution has endowed to
every American despite their skin colors. Once Celie acquires the self-consciousness
that she is as equal and as free as anyone else to choose her life, she owns the
American spirit. She dares to fight for herself and she gradually recognizes herself as
an American. Her struggle for equality and for integration into the mainstream society
reversely contributes to defend American spirit.The problem of racialism, however,
has not been settled today in America. It is a long process of reconciliation and
understanding. No one side can crush down the other. The result of Sofia's violent
fight is:When I see Sofia, I don't know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they
crack her ribs. They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She
swole from head to foot. Her tongue the size of my arm, it sticks out tween her teef
like a piece of rubber. She can't talk. And she just about the color of an eggplant.
But the black cannot be easily beaten down by torture. "I dream of murder, she says, I
dream of murder sleep or wake". Revenge violently on each other just causes
destruction to both sides. The white and the black are both the children living in one
land. They cannot "throw out they own children, just cause they was a little
different" . "The only way to stop making somebody the serpent is for everybody to
accept everybody else as a child of God, or one mother's children, no matter what they
look like or how they act". No matter what happens, the two races have to live
together in one country finally. It is just like Sofia finally makes a peace with the
daughter of the mayor's wife, Miss Eleanor Jane. After all, they are all Americans,
including Celie.

Double Identity of African American

African Americans usually find it difficult to search for the proper identity on account
of their dual nature. They are with double consciousness that they are Africans and
they are Americans. They are born in African culture, but when they come in the
American society where they interact with outside world, the collision between

27
African culture and American culture causes the cultural dilemma for them. African
culture is the mother whom they are born from,while American culture is the mother
who nurtures them.They do not want to give up any of the two cultures between
which they cannot choose. The reason why culture is so important to a person is that
one's cultural belongings decide his cultural identity. Under such circumstances, only
African Americans combine the two cultures well, can they establish their double
identity of African Americans. W. E. B. Du Bois says in The Souls of Black
Folk:...this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through
the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in
amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness an American, a Black, two
souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,
whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

African Americans opinions about themselves are mostly obtained from the white's
eyes from which they just get pity and contempt, so their inner world is almost
distorted. They always struggle between their two identities. Celie in this novel is no
exception. Trying to keep the complete two parts of her identity, she does not lose her
African culture and at the same time she wins herself the American life. On the one
hand, she keeps African tradition of sewing. On the other hand, sewing is not only a
kind of housework to make quilts anymore but a skill to win her a career which helps
her live independently. Although she still lives in the black people community, Celie
knows to strive for her rights as an American citizen, including independent life, equal
position, free love and inheritance of property etc. In the novel, Shug sings a song for
Celie. "The beautiful and meaningful song here emphasizes the importance of Celie
and improves Celie's self-awareness of a lot". For the first time, there is one thing in
the worlds named after her name and totally for her own. Celie feels her existence and
importance as a black woman, which signifies her self- consciousness begins to be
established. After obtaining her identity of African American, Celie benefits a lot from
it. She both can preserve her African traditional culture and develop her American
spirit. The racial problem exists all the time. The Celie used to fear to admit her
female identity due to the ill-treatment by the men. At the beginning of the novel,
Celie writes letter to God for help. She is scared because she is raped and beaten by
her own father who later is proved to be her stepfather. "When that hurt, I cry. He start
to choke me, saying You better shut up and get used to it". Celie is ill treated by man
but still cannot call for help. Even she cannot choose her love and marriage. Her
marriage to Mr. set up by Pa turns out to be another nightmare. "I spend my wedding
day running from the oldest boy." Mr. marries her just to get her to cook, clean and
take care of his children. Like in Pa's house, Celie has to do everything told by the
man, Mr., or she gets beaten.

"Harpo ast his daddy why he heat me. Mr. say, Cause the my wife." "He beat me like
be beat the children. Cept be don't never hardly beat them" . Celie is so afraid of men
that she just bears all the pain silently. "It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood.
I say to myself, Cee you a tree That's how come I know trees fear man"Abused by
men all the tine, Celiu hates all the nam and is assaned of her fernale identity. She
thinks all the disasters are caused by the natural weakness of female, so he never dares

28
to look in the mirror to face her femaleness.Until Shag appears in Celie's life, Celie
begins to appreciate the beauty of females. When Celic first sees the photo of Shug,
she says Shug Avery was a woman. The most beautiful woman 1 ever saw. She mote
pretty then my mama. She bout ten thousand times asure prettim thien me. I see her
there in furs. Her face rouge Her rhair like somethin tail. She grinning with her foot
up on somebody motorcar. Her eyes serious tho some Sad Shug is a female adol for
Celle. Celie never krows a female could be like this. When Shug integrates into
Celie's life, she also becomes Celie's teacher to teach her to find female slentity.
Zhang Dongfang coramersShang's attention to Celse are really significant to Celie's
realization of her self-identity... Celie loves Shug not only because Shug is the woman
she always dreams to be, but also for the reason that Shug is the only two people in
the world who loves her and cares about her. It is her love for Shag that enables Celie
so bury her sad double narrative of paternal origins and construct feminine domain
identity within from being ashamed of her feule identity to being touched by the other
female. Celie has one more step to go. "She say, What, toc shame even go off and
look at yourself? And you look so cute too, she say, laughing" With Shug's
encouragement, Celje finally goes in front of the mirror and looks at herself directly.
She faces up to her female identity for the first time and the confidence to her
femaleness lays the foundation for her future independence.

The Upift of the Black Woman

If Celie's Erst double identity is African American, then her second double identity is
black woman. She is a black oppressed by the white and she is woman oppressed by
men. The only way o uplift is to break the double way to t Alice Walker Walker
defines "womanist" oppression black Seminist who enjoys women's beauty, love and
strength. Feminists strive for female position, rights and equality, but they often
ignore colored women. Therefore cobred women aced womanists to fight for their
own rights, liberty and love.

Celic is a womanist character who fights against the double oppression in the novel.
The issue of racial oppression has been discussed in previous part. This part will focus
on how Celie breaks through men's domination. In the American patriarchal society,
women are totally controlled by men about what they have to do and what they must
not do. Shug is the pioneer to break men's authority and the helps Celie get out of the
custody of men. With Shug's support Celie goes to the jukejoint where Mr. forbids her
wife to go. Then together with Shug Celie makes pants and wears pants which used to
only be worn by men. Finally here comes the wining day of Celie. When Shug
declares Celie is leaving Mr. to Memphis, Mr. gets angry and shouts at Celie. But this
time, Celie fights back and gets her voice be heard. "I say, Until you do right by me,
everything you touch will crumble". "Mr. reach over to slap me. I jab my case knife in
his hand". After that quarrel, Celie manages to leave and starts a career by making
pants. It is a great turning point. Since then Celie lives a better life, while Mr. is
beaten down physically and mentally. It is a black woman's triumph. "I am so happy. I
got love, I got work, I got money, friends and time". Living independently, Celie wins
herself a decent life.

29
The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife, this longing to attain
self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this
merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize
America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not
bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro
blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to
be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows,
without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.

African Americans were born as African and American at the same time. They have
no way to give up any of the two parts in their identity. Segregated by the white in
America and at the same time not identified with native Africans, they are in plight in
the society. For a long time. African Americans have always been confused about who
they really are. They feel like forlorn children of the world. They just wish they could
be both Africans and Americans at the same time. Therefore, double consciousness of
being both Africans and Americans is their way to get their identity back. Celie is one
of those who are struggling with double consciousness and double identity. She is an
American and she is a black. She is a black and she is a woman. As is commented in
academia, "double consciousness" contains three levels of meaning: first, faced with
the negative stereotype about them from the society, how the black define themselves;
second, excluded by the white-dominated society, how they live in the environment
where they are American but at the same time not American; third, how they deal with
the psychical conflict as both Americans and Africans. Thus, with double
consciousness, Celie needs to recognize herself as both an African and an American to
establish her double cultural identity as an African American, after which she also
needs to face her female identity bravely to ultimately obtain her complete cultural
identity as an African American woman. This complete identity is the key for Celie to
win herself a decent life. Only after she removes the shadow of racial and sexual
oppression of the white and the male can she establish herself well in the society.
Therefore, from the perspective of double consciousness, in Walker's The Color
Purple, Celie is searching for her complete cultural identity as an African American
woman through her struggle for class, racial and sexual identification. Only winning
the independent identity can African American women like Celie be emancipated and
uplifted. By analyzing the process of Celie's identity search, this thesis aims at a better
understanding on the significance of cultural identity for Celie and other African
American women.

Celie traces her African root through Nettie's letter from Africa. For Celie, when
reading the letters from Africa she feels like she is experiencing everything there
personally. It is a process of self-recognition. As the offspring of African slaves who
were imported to America, born in America,Celie knows nothing about her African
ancestor. She only knows that she is black and is different from the white who
proclaim themselves as Americans. Therefore, Celie regards herself not as an African
and not as an American either. She is nothing and nobody, while through the letters
from Africa Celie finds her African blood. In the letters, Celie knows about her
African root from the very beginning of the history. Going back to her born land for

30
the first time, Nettie is so excited that she wants to tell as much as possible about the
land. It writes: Did you know there were great cities in Africa, greater than
Milledgeville or even Atlanta, thousands of years ago? That the Egyptians who built
the pyramids and enslaved the Israelites were colored? That Egypt is in Africa? That
the Ethiopia we read about in the Bible meant all of Africa? Well, I read and I read
until I thought my eyes would fall out. I read where the Africans sold us because they
loved money more than their own sisters and brothers. How we came to America in
ships. How we were made to work. There Celie knows about her race and the history
of her race. She knows how they become the black in America.

More importantly when the letter mentions about the Egyptians and the Ethiopia,
Celie's racial pride is aroused for the first time. They colored people in America are
always enslaved and dominated by the white, but here the Egyptian who are colored
people used to enslave the Israelites (who belong to to C Caucasians): America is a
Christian country where people see the Bible as the noblest thing, and the Ethiopia in
the Bible means Africa where Celie comes from. For the first time, Celie is not
shamed of her race, which gives her courage to continue to search for her African root
and admit her African blood. Then Celie finds her origin of blackness. She makes sure
she is from there. Nettie describes to Celie:Did I mention my first sight of the African
coast? Something struck struck in in me. me, in my soul, Celie, like a a large l pe bell.
and I just vibrated. Corrine and Samuel felt the same. And we kneeled down right on
deck and gave thanks to God for. letting us see the land for which our mothers and
fathers cried, and lived and died, to see again.Back in Africa, the African Americans
find a home for their spirit. On that land, they connect to their ancestors and to their
unchanged African root which is an indispensable part in their identities. Separated
from their native land and living in a different culture environment for a long time,
African Americans have lost the cultural sense of belongs. But back in Africa they
find their cultural root bock. Like all the other African Americans, after seeking out
her root in Africa Celic does not swing in the wind anymore. On the contrary, in terms
of racial root, she has scitled down.

Finding her racial origin, though, Celie cannot just define herself as an African
because she is away from Africa since she was born. Identity is dynamic but not
stationary. especially the search for identity which changes with the particular person,
events and social environment. Living in America all her life, Celie mast differ from
the native Africans. There is a conflict that she comes from them but she is not one of
them. They are all black, but the native Africans are even blacker and speak the
different language. Nettie describes:They are the blackest people I have ever seen,
Celie. They are black like the people we are talking about when we say, "So and so is
blacker than black, he's blueblack." They are so black, Celie, they shine, Which is
something else folks down home like to say about real black folks. Bat Celie, try to
imagine a city full of these shining, blueblack people wearing brilliant blue robes with
designs like fancy quilt patterns. Tall, thin, with long necks and straight backs. Can
you picture it at all. Celie? Because I felt like I was seeing black for the first time.

Although they are all black, they are different. For one thing, Nettie expresses her
adoration and pride towards the black skin, delivering the racial confidence to Celie.
Blackness is beauty and health but not ugliness and shame. For another, these words

31
indicate that Nettie exclude herself outside the native Africans. The black in Africa
seems to be something new and fancy to Nettie who herself is a black, She is always
emphasizing the blackness of people there as if she has never seen it before. When
Nettie arrives at the Olinka village, the native villagers are also curious about her. It is
not only a matter of the darkness of skin color, but also a matter of difference of
culture and identity. Even if they all originate from Africa and have similar looks, it is
the different culture embodied in them that makes them who they are. They
distinguish from each other in ways of dressing, talking, behaving and thinking etc.,
which reveal their identities. Surely Celie knows she is not a total African and does
not belong there. Therefore, although by now Celie has found her African racial root
which is the basic part in her identity, she is till asking who she is.

Alice Walker is an African-American writer. Most of her novel deals with the
experience of every black people's life. The Black people are universally considered
as a slave in their own society and this paper describes Alice Walker's The Color
Purple which typically portrays the oppressed black women's social identity. It
carefully explores the women's position in America and especially points out the
protagonist of the novel, Celie's identity, and oppression. It is written in epistolary
form. At the beginning of the novel, Celie writes a letter to God. It is like a diary
format. In this technique explores Celie's inner thoughts, feelings, etc. Walker writes
the whole novel in her point of view because it is an autobiographical one.The Color
Purple, Celie represent an uneducated Black woman. So she takes care of her sister.
She is violated by her step-father. Her devoted mother has typically died. Therefore,
she takes care of her sister. But her father typically called Pa, always misused her. It is
naturally not a new one because every Black woman typically has to encounter these
social problems. They are not living lavishly and independently. They are suppressed,
buy the male, and dominate society. They undoubtedly lost their cultural identity in
very clearly. They are never expressing their pleasant feelings. Most of them
considered the Black women are traditionally allowed slave; they do not express their
familiar feeling. Periodically they want to express their identity, suddenly punished by
her husband, father, and brother. After that she forced to marry another clever
man,Mr. He represents a cruel man. He is, moreover, a married person and widower.
Celie doesn't like to marry but unfortunately, her father punches her, so automatically
she married a man. First, she is restricted to study and restricted to marry whomever
she likes.

In the effective beginning of the novel Celie writes a letter to God, she does not enjoy
any influential friends, charming sister, father, etc.. She has one and only younger
sister Nitte, but she does not realize her feelings. So she carefully plants to write a
letter to God. Most of the time, Celie get a lot of fear to produce because she enjoys a
one and only freedom to write. In America, the Black people are considered as an
object, when the feminist movement began, after that, they are treated as people, not a
slave. In America, the Black people are considered as an object, when the feminist
movement began, after that, they are considered as people, not a slave. This is
typically a significant impact of Celie's social life. Mr. Alfonso said, "she is big and
ugly" but the reality is she is black. Most of the Black women feel that "White women

32
liberation did not challenge this sexist- racist practice, they continued it."Shug Avery
represent a successful one of the most significant character, first of all, she, Celie. But
later some typical days, she cherishes her because Celie treats carefully Shug as a
precocious child. This habit is charming her. She lasts her identity in every time, but
this scene gives the growth and power of her identity. Shug retains an extraordinary
role to instantly regain Celie's social identity and economic freedom. She constantly
supports her. Celie represents a Black girl. Therefore, she does not experience the
vision of society after independence. First, she hesitates all the thing, but after only
she realizes her freedom.Sofia equally receives a significant part of her life. She
represents a daughter-in- law of Celie's alive husband's legitimate son. She marries
Hope, but Hope does not provide any fundamental freedom to Sofia, so, she runs
away from him. This historical character equally gives a social awareness of Celie to
typically recover her unique identity in the American society because no one can
scarcely be controlled by Sofia, may be any of them commanded her she acts like a
wealthy man. Mostly, she wears a pant like a man and doing man's work. These two
memorable characters are transmitted the social awareness of Celie's social identity.
Nettie equally maintains a significant role because Celie's brilliant writings are not
cleared, Nettie helps to give the economic rebirth of her modern education. Before
these incidents she does not have any identity, She is like a slave, cook, cleaner, etc.
but after that, she has to face all the problem with the help of her friends and sister.
And the final scene explores her identity very positively. In the first she lost her
identity. so she realizes her mistake and then overcomes the racism and sexism in her
life. And then she runs a garment and builds a good image in the society. This
academic paper points out the Black women especially Celie's social life, cultural
identity and social development in the democratic society. And my specific point of
optimistic view, The Color Purple typically gives the economic rebirth of Celie's
identity and personal problems. Celie has in common struggled against the color,
specific gender, communal violence, identity, economic freedom in throughout the
successful novel; she represents an extraordinary example of African-American
women because she searches for her personal identity.

After many upheavals, the women and Blacks were able to wield the position of
centre which enables them to form and get their own identity i.e. dignified, self-
assertive, respected organisms and to establish women community and black
aesthetics, keeping aside the norms, values, and ideas of patriarchal society and white
people. Women began to get respite in the society and relief from the shackles of
patriarchal ideologies which stood as the huddles in their way of getting true identity,
and serving as the choking wreath hanging around their necks. But women did wield
the power by their realization of self and potentiality, not by the men's vest of power
to the hands of women. After serving many years under the Whites, at last, Sofia
traced back her true identity i.e. a dignified, self-assertive and respected woman. She
obliterated her past identity that had demolished feisty and spunky nature by
forgetting her sufferings and traumatic situations. In major's house, Sofia became
surrogate care-taker and the instrument of supporter of major's daughter Eleanor Jane
who was totally confiding in her. With the advancement of the novel, Celie was also
transformed to a new woman a woman of resistance and a woman who could retaliate

33
and protest. She took a new form of identity ie. a challenging, protesting and self-
assertive woman from the docile and submissive one. These new traits of Celie's
behaviour were in her personality for a long time shielding by fear, but these traits
came out in her external personality after getting the true source of ignition. Her new
identity came after being ignited by the vigorous personality and unprejudiced
thinking of Shug Avery, and robust personality of Sofia which enables her to fence
herself off from the choking atmosphere of Mr's house and builds up a community of
women with Shug Avery, Sofia and Nettie. In this way, "Celie manages to create both
meaning and community in her own small way. She surrounds herself with a variety
of figures who teach her what it means to be strong: her husband's mistress, the
beautiful blues singer Shug Avery, Sofia, the all-but indomitable wife of her stepson
Harpo; and eventually even long-lost Nettie, whose experiences. as a missionary in
Africa indicate both the promise of and limitations of Western religion and
civilization."

Celie regains her dignity and reverence after wielding the power that she gains
leaving the house of Mr In her new house, Celie started an entrepreneurship that made
her socially and economically self-assertive. Shug Avery inculeated in Celie's
personality a fire of protest and retaliation and instigated her not to succumb to the
bulling of men, retaliated in equal measure. She paved her path according to the ideals
and direction of these feisty women, who implanted in her mind a feeling of bravery,
audacity, vigour, and gallantry. She, at last, left Mr and took departure from Mr's
house to Shug's where she was totally a changed woman, confident in her dress as
well as in demeanour. She got respect, dignity and position in that house where she
met with Adam, Olivia, Nettie, Samuel, Harpo, Sofia, Shug and so on that led her to
feel young in her old age. She said:

(Walker 266)

Therefore, it is observed that Celie got her family, her identity after wielding the
power that came from her bravery and protesting nature. So, as she got the power, she
also got identity, contrary to her previous situation where she had lost her identity by
failing to wield the power. The same thing was happened with Sofia also. "Black
women are at the center of The Color Purple, but because it is a novel of
transcendence, Walker gives us all hope by showing not only that women were not put
here to be oppressed, but that men can actually change”. Mr had transformed into a
new character from tyrant to human being after losing his power and that was a great
transformation in his part. His personality was totally metamorphosed from a fierce
and excoriated man to a meek, mild, loving and caring man. When Celie and Shug left
Mr., he was close to death, shut himself up in his house, and was haunted by a life of
meanness. After that, contrary to his previous nature, he did all the house chores,
worked in the field, cooked, did the dishes and attended Mass which made Celie taken
aback by this avatar of Mr as a caring and social man. So, being failed to wield the

34
power Mr transformed from tyrant to human being and started finding beauty in Celie,
so he proposed for remarriage, but his proposal was refuted.

"Black women have at times been brutally and matter-of-factly oppressed by Black
men, that they have suffered from sexism as well as from racism, and that Black
women's love for each other has formed the bottom line of our survive". As the novel
is centred on the Black Women, the lives and freedom of Black women are of crucial
importance and concern. All the women who had been viciously exploited and
tortured found relief from such torturous negotiating in conversation among women
that later led to form women community. Celie got solace and real support only from
other women. Both Nettie and Mr's own sister instigated Celie to fight, but Mr.
banished these two allies from his property. In the beginning of the novel, Celie
advised Harpo to beat his stout and strong-willed wife, Sofia as she was devoid of the
freedom, enjoyed by Sofia. But, later Celie felt tormented in her interior heart when
Harpo executed her advice and found solace only after apologizing to Sofia, thereby
opening the way for their friendship. Being an independent, beautiful, and magical
woman, Shug also cared deeply about women. "The bonding they share, of identity
and sexuality, is but one expression of the ideal of sisterhood as it gives shape to the
novel. At its best The Color Purple explores the different ways women might love one
another regardless of whether they are sisters, lovers, friends, or even enemies." So,
Walker's depiction of women loving each other consolidated the bond between
women, especially between Celie and Shug that ended in lesbianism. Thus, the novel
projects, on one hand, the men and Whites as the weavers of identities of the weaker
sections as they occupied the position of hub of the society securing the upper hand
position and unfathomable power. They were the people who woven the fabric of
identities of various people subsuming God. Here the structure of the society or order
of hierarchy remains intact as like the traditional society, the privileged group-men
and Whites people exerts power on the underprivileged group women and Blacks. On
the other hand, the novel also highlights the reversing turn of the wheel of destiny
which ensured the transferring of power from one folk to another resulted in
revamping of identities of various characters. The power, exerted from the agency of
race and gender gets deconstructed with the progress of the novel that gave the
emergence of new behaviours and identities. The identities of Celie, Sofia, Mr and
God venture in the process of transformation depending upon the altering of power.
Power here acts as a weaver of identity or acts as a metaphor for identity as identity
alters with the alteration of power. So, in search of voice and identity the power gets
deconstructed and supplementation of order of hierarchy takes place. At the beginning
of the novel, Celie is trapped in a world of si- lence and submission, her voice stifled
by a patriarchal society that relegates her to a position of powerlessness. Celie's
letters, addressed to God, serve as a cathartic outlet for her sup- pressed emotions and
provide the initial glimpse into her inner world. Through these intimate confessions,
Celie begins to ex- press her thoughts, fears, and desires, signaling the first stir- rings
of her quest for self-dis- covery and self-expression.

The introduction of Shug Avery into Celie's life becomes a piv- otal catalyst for her
transforma- tion. Shug, a vibrant and inde- pendent woman, embodies the qualities

35
that Celie aspires to possess-freedom, self-assur- ance, and the ability to voice her
own desires. Shug's influence becomes a transformative force for Celie, empowering
her to question societal norms and challenge the oppressive struc- tures that have
confined her for so long.As Celie's relationship with Shug deepens, her voice grows
stronger. Inspired by Shug's ex- ample, Celie learns to love her- self and discovers her
own worth. Shug's affirmation of Celie's beauty and value is a rev- elation, igniting a
newfound sense of self-esteem and self- acceptance within her. Through her bond
with Shug, Celie begins to cultivate a belief in her own voice, realizing that her
thoughts and experiences hold signifi- cance and deserve to be heard. Celie's
emergence as a writer is a powerful manifestation of her finding her voice. As she
gains confidence, her letters to God evolve into letters to her sister Nettie, who had
been forcibly separated from her. Through these correspondences, Celie not only
communicates with Nettie but also asserts her pres- ence and asserts her right to ex-
ist. Writing becomes a tool for Celie to claim her narrative and share her experiences,
her to confront her painful past and envision a brighter future.The act of writing
allows Celie to reconcile with her traumatic ex- periences, heal emotional wounds,
and gain a sense of agency. Through her letters, she confronts her abusers, including
her stepfather and husband, giv- ing voice to the pain and injus- tice inflicted upon
her. Celie takes control of her own narrative and refuses to be silenced any longer.

Celie's journey towards self-ac- tualization is also marked by her increasing ability to
speak up and assert herself in her rela- tionships. She learns to express her desires,
defend her bound- aries, and demand respect. Through her interactions with Mister,
her husband, Celie gradu- ally sheds her submissive de- meanor and finds the courage
to confront him, challenging his op- pressive behavior and asserting her own
autonomy.Furthermore, Celie's voice is am- plified and validated through the support
and solidarity of other women in her life. The relation- ships she forms with strong fe-
male characters like Sofia and Nettie provide a nurturing envi- ronment where her
voice can flourish. These connections fos- ter a sense of community, allow- ing Celie
to realize that she is not alone in her struggles and that her experiences resonate with
others. The collective strength of these women rein- forces Celie's newfound sense of
empowerment and encour- ages her to continue speaking her truth.

Celie's transformation in Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" from a silenced and
oppressed indi- vidual to a woman who finds her voice is a profound exploration of
resilience and self-discovery. Through her letters, her relation- ships, and her growing
self-es- teem, Celie reclaims her identity and asserts her right to be heard. Walker's
portrayal of Celie's journey serves as an in- spiring testament to the trans- formative
power of self-expres- sion and the triumph of the human spirit over adversity. Celie's
story resonates with readers, re- minding us of the importance of finding our own
voices and standing up against oppression and injustice.Walker suggests that her
purpose has been not only to create and control literary images of women, and black
women in particular; but to give voice and representation to these same women who
have been silenced and confined in life and literature.Through her skillful work,
Walker aims to explore an ideal way for African American women to fight against
racial and sexual oppression and to find their whole identity, so that they can live

36
better.The White people treat the African women as slaves and would not wait for
their approval or explanation. The Blacks have to abide to what the American society
tells them. Women are discriminated in their own society and in the adapted
environment also.Sofia was a White American who was imprisoned by doing service,
who felt that the American women have got no rights for themselves.Male domination
with racial violence prevailed with a diabolic power which had crushed even the
strong-willed Sofia. Sofia undergoes a series of incidents when she rejects working as
a maid to the Mayor's wife. The devastating experiences of slavery and violence by
Whites are portrayed by the author. Sofia is exposed to in the jail and her anguish and
pain of being treated violently by the Whites would move the heart of any reader.
There is the discrimination of race to such an extent that Sofia is not allowed to sit in
the front seat along with the Mayor's wife while teaching her to drive. Neeru Tandon
observes, "the jail that Sofia is held is a metaphor for all black people caged by
racism. For others, though they do not serve in a literal prison and instead and
confined to servitude and domesticity within their homes" (Ray 62) Sofia's husband
continually attempts to dominate her but Sofia never submits silently to the
dominance.

Mr. Pa or Harpo represent the patriarchal fathers who are shaped by white racism in
order to gain access to manhood through a violent patriarchy. Women's progress
initially has been opposed by men as women's power and success would be a question
to manhood. Due to this, there has been barriers to women's achievements and
progress.Shug has not only been a supportive friend but also like a mother figure
guiding women in their lives. The novel portrays all the female characters having a
bond together and helping one another. Squeak decides to sing and Sofia promises to
take care of her daughter. This bonding improves their life and helps them bring out
their repressed talents and desires. These women "defend themselves with words, they
discover their potential sound themselves out through articulation".

Initially Celie's talents and desires had been silenced by father and later by her
husband. Shug courageous and determined personality allows Celie to learn to express
herself. Celie learns to sew pants which become popular with her family and her
friends. She becomes financially independent. The patriarchal dominance which
silenced Celie has been shrugged off. Shug says,"you making your living, Celle...
Girl, you on your own way". Thus The Color Purple portrays women's tolerance
against racism, sexism and gender discrimination. Women are not inferior but are
shown as such by the patriarchal society. This marginality "allows us to view [the]
repression of the feminine in terms of positionality rather than essences" (Johnson,
2002, р. 170);Nettie says that Africa once had all the richness but it was robbed off by
the English. The civilization has fallen down in course of time. Nettie's letters to Celie
reveals the depth of the novel. Celie has learnt through these letters that there is a
world beyond her limitation. This helps Celie to come out of rural environment and
gain an awareness of African life, a land where blackness takes with it multiple

37
images and villagers have been exploited and women have been submitting silently to
male oppression.Thus with the help of Shug and Nettie's memories Celle slowly
energized herself and transform into an independent woman. There is double
victimization in the novel. Celie undergoes this phenomenon for being a Non-white
and for being a woman. She is put to suffer since childhood. After being molested by
her step father twice, she becomes mother to two children and later sent away with
Mr. Albert. She has been treated very badly by Mr. Albert who makes her life
miserable using her only for his physical appetite. He also tries to exploit Nettie,
Celie's sister but could not. He takes revenge on this issue separating Nettie from
Celie. He continues tormenting Celie by hiding the letters written by Nettie. The
novel brings forth racial discrimination existing in the U.S. There was no hope for
Celie excepting to fight against this oppression. With the help of Nettie she began to
read and write. Nettie did not want anyone to break their relationship. They decide to
communicate through letters.

(Walker pg-
110). Writing, to Ceile turned to be an instrument to stay alive. It has become as
important as breathing. She writes about her painful life in her letters which are
addressed to God. The letters are the only source for her to come out of her trauma.
These acts of Celie looks like "shouting her rights in silence". "Long as I can spell
Go-d I got somebody along". It looks like an outburst of her feelings and her "self".
The men in her life slowly prevented her speaking and writing down her feelings.

With the help of Nettie, Celie gains basic knowledge. The novel portrays the
relationships between women as multi-dimensional. Celie has a great love for her
sister, Nettie. We find a similar relation with Sofia. Nettie and Sofia are independent
women, unlike Celie. Nettie has had formal education from Ms. Beasley, her teacher
who is an independent woman and is the one who teaches Nettie to lead an
independent life. Nettie teaches Celie what she had learnt from her teacher. We can
find a great contrast between Nettie and Celie. On the other hand, Celie is made
submissive both by her step father and husband. Albert, Celie's husband tries to
disconnect her from Nettie, the only solace in the world. Sofia is bold and
independent woman. She has a strong determination not to be a slave to man. Celie is
always looks at Sofia surprisingly and admiringly who has a good physique and
appears as a strong lady.Sofia is of the belief that women would survive only by
possessing strong faith on themselves and great determination added with ability to
fight when needed.

(Walker pg-
38).

In one instance, she goes to prison on beating a White man. But Celie always admires
her high spirits. Shug is Celie's first friend and lover too. It looks to be an unnatural
relationship for the readers but this is what makes Celie's life meaningful. We can find
motherly love between them. Albert loves Shug and brings her home. Celie takes care
of her when she falls sick and this is how an intimacy between them develops. Shug

38
sings a song and names it as "Miss Celie's Song" to show her love and gratitude to
Celie. Daniel Ross talks of importance of regaining of control of one's own body for
asserting one's self thus: The entry of Shug in the life of Celie has brought in many
changes. Celie always believed that she is ugly and dependent woman. Celie
compares Shug to her mother and says that Shug is more beautiful comparatively
Celie and Shug involve in a lesbian relationship. They have a different physical
experience in their life. Celle has had weird experience earlier as she was molested by
her step father many times and has given birth to two children. She never had pleasure
out of it even after marriage. With Shug, Celie could get immense happiness which in
fact has been similar to Shug. Celie feels true love for the first time. Ross observes
that "Celie's orgasm suggests a rebirth or perhaps an initial birth into a world of love,
a reenactment of the primal pleasure of the child at the mother's breast".

Celie breaks from the male domination. She becomes aware of her sexuality and her
body once she begins to be in the lesbian relationship with Shug Soon the letters from
Nettie are unearthed. She finds immense happiness reading them and thus reunites
with her sister. She comes out of the clutches of her husband. She soon comes to
know that her father was not her biological father and that her children are not killed
by him. She is relieved to see her children with Nettie and is happy to reunite with her
children and sister. She moves back to her home and begins to live independently as a
pants maker. To her astonishment and relief, Albert, Celie's husband is reformed by
her absence. She accepts him and establishes a friendly relationship with him. Her
views about society have completely changed. She finally realized her 'self.

If the African part in Celie's identity is the existing objective fact born with her, then
the African identity need to be gained by her subjectively. Identity is objective but at
the same time also subjective and constructional; one is branded with the feature of
his born racial community, but his cultural identity is underlined in the relations with
other groups of people. Celie is black, so she used to think she is doomed to be ugly,
poor and inferior. In her mind, she never had the concept of being an American. She
just dragged out an ignoble existence under oppressions. But Nettie, Sofia and Shug
all tell her to fight for her own rights live as an American. For centuries, the racial
discrimination has been the major problem African Americans are faced with. Racial
discrimination embeds the subconsciousness that we are non- Americans in America
into African Americans' mind.In order to obtain her identity as an American culturally
and psychologically, Celie has to rise against the racial oppression. In this novel, the
fiercest racial conflict happens in the fight between Sofia and the mayor's wife. The
mayor and his wife take their privilege over blacks as natural because of white
superiority. Blacks are meant to be workers or their servants. The mayor's wife says
"would you like to work for me, be my maid?" "Sofia say, Hell no". "Hell no" is not
the words expected by whites to hear from blacks to insult them. As a result, Sofia
was put into prison even if she had tried her best to fight back. Celie hears about all
these happenings. She learns from Sofia that she needs to rise up to fight for dignity
against the arrogant whites. Then Shug helps Celie to break the fetter of whites.
Oppressed in the society for a long time, like most African Americans, Celie is
brimming with fear for the white as if white men are al 1 God. Shug tells Celie:

39
Ain't no way to read the bible and not think God white." "God is inside you and inside
everybody else. You come into the world with God." "I believe God is everything, say
Shug. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that, and
be happy to feel that, you've found it."Celie gradually becomes free from white men's
fetter. From Shug, Celie knows that everyone is born free to chase his or her
happiness and she should enjoy her rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
which the American constitution has endowed to every American despite their skin
colors. Once Celie acquires the self- consciousness that she is as equal and as free as
anyone else to choose her life, she owns the American spirit. She dares to fight for
herself and she gradually recognizes herself as an American. Her struggle for equality
and for integration into the mainstream society reversely contributes to defend
American spirit. The problem of racialism, however, has not been settled today in
America. It is a long process of reconciliation and understanding. No one side can
crush down the other. The result of Sofia's violent fight is:When I see Sofia, I don't
know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs. They tear her nose
loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She swole from head to foot. Her tongue
the size of my arm, it sticks out tween her teef like a piece of rubber. She can't talk.
And she just about the color of an eggplant.But the black cannot be easily beaten
down by torture. "I dream of murder, she says, I dream of murder sleep or wake" .
Revenge violently on each other just causes destruction to both sides. The white and
the black are both the children living in one land. They cannot "throw out they own
children, just cause they was a little different" . "The only way to stop making
somebody the serpent is for everybody to accept everybody else as a child of God, or
one mother's children, no matter what they look like or how they act". No matter what
happens, the two races have to live together in one country finally. It is just like Sofia
finally makes a peace with the daughter of the mayor's wife, Miss Eleanor Jane.

Facing up to Female Identity

Celie used to fear to admit her female identity due to the ill-treatment by the men. At
the beginning of the novel, Celie writes letter to God for help. She is scared because
she is raped and beaten by her own father who later is proved to be her stepfather.
"When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and get used to
it" . Celie is ill treated by man but still cannot call for help. Even she cannot choose
her love and marriage. Her marriage to Mr. set up by Pa turns out to be another
nightmare. "I spend my wedding day running from the oldest boy." Mr. marries her
just to get her to cook, clean and take care of his children. Like in Pa's house, Celie
has to do everything told by the man, Mr., or she gets beaten. "Harpo ast his daddy
why he beat me. Mr. say, Cause she my wife." "He beat me like he beat the children.
Cept he don't never hardly beat them".

Celie is so afraid of men that she just bears all the pain silently. "It all I can do not to
cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Ceie you a tree. That's how come I know
trees fear man" . Abused by men all the time, Celie hates all the men and is ashamed
of her female identity. She thinks all the disasters are caused by the natural weakness

40
of female, so he never dares to look in the mirror to face her femaleness.Until Shug
appears in Celie's life, Celie begins to appreciate the beauty of females. When Celie
first sees the photo of Shug, she says:
Shug Avery was a woman. The most beautiful woman I ever saw. She more pretty
then my mama. She bout ten thousand times more prettier then me. I see her there in
furs. Her face rouge. Her hair like somethin tail. She grinning with her foot up on
somebody motorcar. Her eyes serious tho. Sad some.Shug is a female idol for Celie.
Celie never knows a female could be like this. When Shug integrates into Celie's life,
she also becomes Celie's teacher to teach her to find female identity. Zhang Dongfang
comments:

Shug's attention to Celie are really significant to Celie's realization of her self-
identity...Celie loves Shug not only because Shug is the woman she always dreams to
be, but also for the reason that Shug is the only two people in the world who loves her
and cares about her. It is her love for Shug that enables Celie to bury her sad double
narrative of paternal origins and construct a new identity within a feminine domain.
From being ashamed of her female identity to being touched by the other female,
Celie has one more step to go. "She say, What, too shame even to go off and look at
yourself? And you look so cute too, she say, laughing" . With Shug's encouragement,
Celie finally goes in front of the mirror and looks at herself directly. She faces up to
her female identity for the first time and the confidence to her femaleness lays the
foundation for her future independence.

Womanism: is a term that was coined by Alice Walker (1983) in her book "In Search
of Our Mother's Gardens" to depict the dreadful life of the black female in their
communities. Alice Walker explains the womanist as a woman who dignifies and
respect women's culture and their ability of exchanging and showing emotions. Sree
explained it as: "the individual identity of black woman and how her identity and
bonding with other women affects the health of her community at large. Alice Walker
describes this affinity among women as womanism. For her, womanist is one who is
committed to the survival and integrity of the entire black race." A womanist aims
developing the status of women and to take care of the men and the society. On the
other hand, the Color Purple concentrates on the female bonding which contributes on
women's liberation and how to change the way of men's thinking. As a result, these is
a kind of a change is taken place in the speech of Albert and Harpo who now "reassess
and reevaluate their lives and develop a better relationship with their women" . Albert
during his conversation with Celie after she has returned back tells her, "I'm satisfied,
this is the first time I ever lived on Earth as a natural man. It feels like a new
experience" She isan uneducated and apoor black American girl who is able to
enhance her situation. She is a symbol of hope that fixes deeply in the readers mind
for her strength, faith and courage. From exploring her process, it seems that female
bonding is one of the main elements that women need in order to emancipate. This
symbolizes a new beginning for Celie. She has survived despite all the brutality and

41
violence she had experienced and is ready to start from the beginning and to clean
forget what she had had as an unnerving experience. She has developed from being an
insecure and inferior girl into a strong and well-balanced woman.

Celie, has developed from being an insecure and inferior girl into a strong and well-
balanced woman. She has learned to tear down the restraining identity imposed upon
her because of the fact that she is a woman. Color Purple reveals an optimistic point
of view toward a future in which feminism could be recognized and celebrated.
Walker believes that every woman, regardless of her age, race, and social position can
become a feminist with the help of other, mannish women. As an African American
writer who deals with an epistolary novel, she imbeds the voice of an ill-fated African
American woman in an established literary form and allows an uneducated black
Southern woman to speak for herself. As an African American woman, Walker is also
able to convert a sense of social slavery and alienation into an ultimate victory.At the
end of the novel Celie stands up for herself. It shows that she's not going to take
Albert's treatment anymore and is moving on. She is finally ready to enter into a
relationship with the rest of the world and start her own life. As another proving quote
from the book states "that's it. Pack up your stuff. You are coming back to Tennessee
with me." This quotation was shortly followed on a sentence stating that she needed to
sleep which signifies the re-birth of Celie. She has left her old ways full of pain and
sorrow and walked forward into a world unknown to her. The idea of her re-birth is
also one of the most important points in the book, Celie comes to grip that she is an
adult and has the right to do whatever she wants, and this time it happens to be leave
her old life and go and live with her loved ones in Tennessee. In conclusion, this is
very important because it symbolizes her growth as a human being and shows us how
her respect has increased.

Walker emphasizes throughout the novel that the ability to express one's thoughts and
feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self. According to Carla Kaplan, Celie "in
some way hinges on her ability to narrate her life story and to find an audience fit to
hear and understand it. She argues that Celie does not exactly need to find a voice but
rather learn how to use it:Walker, in fact, does not really represent Celie as "finding" a
voice. Even in her most oppressed state she is able to express herself by writing. It is
the process of developing that voice, orienting it toward her different audiences, that
is really at stake. Above all, Celie needs to learn to use her voice to resist oppression.
She must be convinced that resistance and contestation are not incompatible with
fulfillment and satisfaction. Making this convincing, [...], proves a very difficult task.
In the course of this paper I would like to show how Celie gradually overcomes her
situation as an oppressed and finds and uses the voice that brings her freedom and
happiness.Initially, Celie is completely unable to resist those who abuse her. As a
young girl, she is constantly subjected to abuse and told that she is ugly. Celie does
little to fight back against her stepfather, Alphonso. Later in life, when her husband,
Mr., abuses her, she reacts in a similarly passive manner. Remembering Alphonso's
warning that she "better not never tell nobody but God" (Walker 11) about his abuse
of her, Celie feels that the only way to persevere is to remain silent and satisfaction.

42
Making this convincing, [...], proves a very difficult task.In the course of this paper I
would like to show how Celie gradually overcomes her situation as an oppressed and
finds and uses the voice that brings her freedom and happiness.

Initially, Celie is completely unable to resist those who abuse her. As a young girl, she
is constantly subjected to abuse and told that she is ugly. Celie does little to fight back
against her stepfather, Alphonso. Later in life, when her husband, Mr., abuses her, she
reacts in a similarly passive manner. Remembering Alphonso's warning that she
"better not never tell nobody but God" about his abuse of her, Celie feels that the only
way to persevere is to remain silentThroughout The Color Purple, Walker portrays
female friendships as a means for women to summon the courage to tell stories. In
turn, these stories allow women to resist oppression and dominance. Relationships
among women form a refuge, providing reciprocal love in a world filled with male
violence. Female ties take many forms: some are motherly or sisterly, some are in the
form of mentor and pupil, some are sexual, and some are simply friendships. Sofia
claims that her ability to fight comes from her strong relationships with her sisters.
Nettie's relationship with Celie anchors her through years of living in the unfamiliar
culture of Africa.Women writers whether post colonial or not, have always been
marginalized and excluded from literary canon. In a male dominated value system,
their work has been undervalued. Alice Walker, best known as the author of The Color
Purple vividly depicts sexism, racism, oppression and poverty rampart in life. Her
Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple deals with the struggle, both in
America and in Africa, of women to gain recognition as individuals who have a self
and identity of their own, there by defying the exploitative and oppressive chains of a
society dominated and constructed by male. All the women characters in the novel
exhibits the determination of overcoming all kinds of oppression leveled upon them in
order to live a meaningful life. Alice walker portrays Celie’s experience of oppression
in a male dominated society, her sexual abuse by her father and husband and how she
successfully comes up from submission and oppression to a self realization and
thereby attaining total freedom. The Color Purple articulates the struggles of black
women in America. In her novels Alice Walker has projected her women as victims of
violence, she projects a successful change from a victim to a successful women.
Celie’s words “I’am pore, I’am black, I may be ugly and can’t cook…But I’m here.”is
suggestive of the above words. The major concern of walker is black women. In an
interview with John O’Brien: “I am preoccupied with spiritual survival, the survival
of whole of my people. But beyond that, I am committed to exploring the oppressions,
the insanities, the loyalties and the triumphs of black women.” Black women are
ruthlessly exploited and considered as mere objects intended only for male sexual
gratification. Celie’s world was one of fear, despair, insecurity and
loneliness,unspoken and unspeakable suffering, colorless dark and with no ray of
hope or sunshine. From the very first chapter onwards Walker portrays a world of
oppression and abuse of black girls and women. Walker tells story in the form of
letters. Celie’s attitude about herself and about god is clearly visible through the
letters which she writes to God to help her to survive the spiritual emotional and
physical abuse she suffers at the hands of her step father. The experiences of the black
female protagonist, Celie are presented through her letters to God. Through her letters
to God Celie the fourteen year old girl narrates her first experience of sexism, her
father sexually abusing her. Male dominance is always considered as a norm in such a

43
society where Celie is abused. She is made to suffer by the man who she had for long
believed to be her father. Her father’s words, “She ain’t fresh tho, but I spect you
know that.She spoiled. Twice…” , shocks the readers. The horrifying account of the
sexual abuse portrayed on the first page of the novel shows an androcentric culture
which sees women as mere objects for sexual gratification. Her stepfather denies her
the right for education, rapes her repeatedly and shatters her confidence.

She is considered as ugly, dump and good for nothing. To save Nettie from an
unpleasant relation she even becomes the wife of Mr. Albert. She wants to protect her
sister from her father’s clutches and wants her to study and escape from the world of
abuse and oppression. The female characters in the novel represent the collective
consciousness of black women, the fear, pain and misery, their experiences, fortitude
and hopes. Women in general are conditioned to a timid diffidence in their behavior
and being black intensifies it. As a close parallel to the victimized black women the
land too is cultivated to the extreme in order to take maximum resources out of it. The
felling of trees, like ancient giant mahogany trees and the destruction of the forest
reveal how the land, “was forced to lie flat ….and bare as the palm of his hand”. (The
Color Purple 153). Man values nature or land only so far he can benefit out of it. So
is the case with woman. Celie is defenseless and threatened and not in a position to
share her feelings and trauma to another one other than God. Her novels deal with the
life of African Americans with a special emphasis on the black women’s life. The
black women’s life is a journey from powerlessness to the state of empowerment and
self realization and self recognition. Though Celie is considered as ugly and dull
outwardly, she has an inner strength which allows her to protect her sister from evils
that she has experienced.vShe finds no other way out rather than recording her
experiences as letters addressed to God. “but I don’t know how to fight. All I know
how to do is stay alive”.Walker stresses the entrapment of black women, the interior
colonization. Though ill-treated by her step father and husband she always wished to
be cared and loved.Her words, “I know what he doing to me he done to Shug Avery
and may be she like it. I put my arm around him”.She is beaten, cursed, beaten and
humiliated simply because she is a women.She silently suffers ever, Patriarchal
society marginalizes womenything for he sake of being alive. Celie lives in a
cocoon,surrendering to the male supremacy.Still she wants to analyse the reason for
her suffering. Her first leter records this attempt.”May be you(God) can give me a
sign letting me know what is happening to me”(1)Her husband says “Cause she my
wife. Plus she stubborn. Walker emphasizes the predicament of the black women
through the portrayal of Celie.Even when her children were taken from her, she had to
remain silent. “She ast me bout the first one Whose it is? I say God’s… Finally she ast
Where it is? I say God took it” .Celie’s husband, a widower with four children
considers her as a whore and as a slave. Her husband is presented as Mr – in Celie’s
letters. Her continued exploitation increases her inner strength .Celie’s relationship
with Sofia, Harpo’s wife brings about a huge change in her. Sofia is a constant
reminder to Celie of the strength that she lacked. Sofia is able to escape gender
discrimination by leaving her husband and her protest against sexual and racial
exploitation is clearly portrayed in the novel. Sofia acts as a Catalyst in Celie’s
understanding of herself. Celie’s relationship with Shug Avery, a confident,
glamourous, bold and beautiful women and the lover of her husband enhances her
awareness of self, which enriched her and enabled her to have better faith in herself,

44
and a courage to face the atrocities and to express her feelings. A bond develops
between them. Celie’s lesbian relationship with her helped them to be comfortable
with their body and feel loved. Women gaining strength through women is clearly
depicted in The Color Purple. Shug and Sofia are considered as the strongest women
who are ready to fight for their rights. Even Albert says,”You know Shug wil fight…
Just like Sofia. She bound to live her life and be herself no matter what” . Nettie has a
strong desire within her to raise herself to a higher level so “All day she read, she
study, she practice her handwriting and try to git us to think” .She goes to Africa with
the team of a black missionary. She suffers racial and gender discrimination. But still
works for the betterment of her people and dedicates herself fully to the work. Women
in The Color Purple are oppressed, degraded to the level of mere objects by men. But
still they with the help of other women are able to overcome the oppression leveled
upon them.The metaphor of collective effort and sisterhood is clearly portrayed. Celie
draws strength from it and helps other women to gain inner strength. With the help of
other women she starts stitching clothes and thus learns to manage her own life. The
symbolism of color is very well used in the novel. Albert always insists Celie to wear
brown or navy blue colored dresses which suggest oppression and never allowed her
to wear red or purple, those colors which stands for happiness. Later on Celie
reasserts her own individuality and likes and decorates her room with purple. Shug
and Celie believe that God has been made in the shape of white man who asserts his
supremacy over the so called oppressed black people. Celie’s initial letters were
addressed like “You should not better tell anyone but God” , which shows her
dependence upon on an external strength as she failed to believe her hidden strength
and capacities. She regains her identity and later addresses her letters to her sister
Nettie, feeling that God to whom she has been writing is a man who “acts just like all
the other men I know. Trifling, forgetful and lowdown”..Her spiritual journey is
completed when she addresses, “Dear God, Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear
peoples. Dear everything. Dear God”. Oppression has been an issue that has affected
human life for a very long time. A society based on cooperation and balance rather
than dominance and hierarchy is necessary for survival on this planet and seeks to
end all forms of oppression. Walker suggests the metaphor of sisterhood and
collective effort and says that the efforts made by man to subjugate women can be
stopped by the united efforts of women themselves. Celie gradually discovers the
power and joy of her own spirit, freeing her from her past, reuniting her with those
she loves by voicing against patriarchal order and thereby attains an autonomous
state.

45
The "COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker is a powerful and thought-provoking novel
that explores themes of race, gender and identity in the content of the African
American experience. set in rural georgia in the early 20th century, the story follows
the life of Celie a young black Woman who faces numerous hardships struggles to
find her voice and assert her independence. Through Celie's journey Walker delves
into the complexities of racism, sexism and the power dynamics within relationships.
Walker has presented living characters to show the dominant partiarchal system and to
erase the deviations. in the society simultaneously. It is important to note that male
community have to acclaim them and give equal rights for women. Education is
primary concept here. It is through education, worldly Knowledge gaining their social
status and identifying their “Self “ thereby gaining independence that women can
fight against violence and show their potential lying hidden. All these system are
manmade. Even Bible traces out the differences that women are the secondary source
and weaker sex than the male counterpart. These differences between men and women
should be exterminated. Differences on the basis of class, race and sexist oppression
are to be completely wiped off society thus establishing harmonious relationship
among all. identification of one's self brings an awareness of an ideal path.This is
aptly Shown in the novel.Having the "COLOUR PURPLE as the title it is clear the
author focuses on creating the social status of the black women. It calls women to
build a dignily emperor. Purple represents dignity and independence of the black
woman. Celie would not wear the color purple until she attained self identity. The
females were shown as a strong foundation if they built each other up. Education is
also a key thing in the story. It is the only way that celie understands the letters written
to her by netlie. God is also well represented as the cause of every good thing on
earth. The colar purple represents the good thing created by God for both genders to
enjoy. The entire novel is a symbol of the human quest for happiness and love.

In the process of search for identity, Celie has to overturn the racial and sexual
oppression to gain her position as here an equal American. Besides seeking the
cultural belongs, she starts a career and makes a living by her own. Cultural identity is
the key to get equal position and equal rights in a country, equal position and equal
rights are the basis to start a Career. A career is the source of independent and decent
life. Therefore, it African American their whale cultural identity. Actually not only for
the African american women, but all are the same. No one should be thrown out or be
ill-treated because he is different. Although people have different skin colors and
speak different languages, they are all human being living in one garden. The novel
typically gives the economic rebirth of celie's identity and personal problems. celie
has in common struggled against the color, specific gender, communal violence,
identity and economic freedom in throughout the novel. Walker represents an
extraordinary example of African- American women because she searches for her
personal identity. Alice Walker illustrates the Harassment a black woman has to go
through, but she also demonstrates how a woman can struggle for self- confidence and
respectful treatment. The COLOR PURPLE is a stroy about female strength,
resistance and fight all fueled by love.

46
Celie, writes emotional letters to "God" about her life. Moreover, this technique helps
the protagonist to speak for herself and to reconstruct her personality and her sense of
self. Celie's letters, gives Celie the advantage of expressing herself and pouring down
her ideas, which paves the way for her independence. The novel's narrative technique
is associated with the thematic image of survival. regaining one's self-status and
rebirth. Alice Walker is a creative writer who embodies in her works the stereotype of
blacks sufferings in the western societies in the character of Celie who rebels against
discrimination and social restrictions. In this respect, it is considered a reflection of
the self-discovery and re-creation of Walker's personality.The main purpose of Alice
Walker is to give voice and representation to women who have been silenced for ages
and suffered from sexism as well as from racism. Her novels deal with the life of
African Americans with a special emphasis on the black women's life. The black
women's life is a journey from powerlessness to the state of empowerment and self
realization and self recognition. In the novel The Color Purple, Walker emphasizes the
predicament of the black women through the portrayal of the protagonist and narrator
Celie.The Color Purple is written in an epistolary form. The choice made by Alice
Walker to write the novel in letters creates it to portray realism and authenticity.
Reading letters help readers to create a relationship with the author. While reading,
readers can enjoy the pleasure and pain of the writer.The main aim of the letter form
in a novel is to create some sort of everyday-life feeling.Celie writes series of letters
throughout the novel. These letters reflect her internal conflict, silent agony and the
impact of oppression on her spirit. They also reveal her growing internal strength and
her final victory in achieving her identity. The novel revolves around sexual violence
and rape.

Thus The Color Purple does not only exhort black women but all other oppressed
women in the world to live an independent life both physically and economically. In
order to be free from patriarchal domination and establish harmonious relationships
with men, women should learn how to be independent through their own efforts and
keep on fighting against the prejudice and the patriarchal domination of men, so
Evans stated that "...Walker is able to have her major character Celie to express the
impact of oppression on her spirit as well as her growing internal strength and final
victory". This statement shows that after the long tome of fighting Celie is able to
achieve liberation which is considered as an exemplary and echoing voice for all
women.The novel presents a good example in terms of Feminist criticism? we see the
male domination over the women in every pard of life, bed over time, women want to
Melease themselves from the abuses of man and be independent. Powerfully, Alice
Walker uses the symbolism as thechnic to show the sorial issues of black women in
American andto oriety to provide us with the real image of the black community to
discuss their social issues and try to solve their sprichartsues and The Color purple
presents the females are forced to live under the dominance of a man, either father or
husband. A courageous woman can create a better life for is of herself. Celie is ome
good excample. to build a new life for herself and to declare her identity as we
identity as working and self-confident self. woman. fact, the istory of celie vis
engraved in the mind and touch their of readers The novel is verly louching novel
which unravels the rigidness. of solity where women taken are always Secondary
things. Alice Walker shows how little black women have overcome the oppression
and sexual abuse. Her female icharacters have learnt from the painful experiences of

47
Clavery im and become they stand on their own and leads their own life happily.

shortly this novel described the power of woman against to get their gender preedom
by struggles asped. inequality asp Automatically, this. this case the opinion that
woman arl and finally she get her her struggle against removed equal goal from that
are the reedom and the equal between freedom man and as the feminist's goal.The
Color Purple thoroughly focuses on a life of Celie, an African American woman who
is struggling to develop her sense of selfhood. As a black woman growing up in the
Deep South during the 1940s, Celie has gone through many difficulties before she
could establish herself as an independent woman. All through the story, Celie is
presented at very bottom of the social hierarchy. At the same time with being
discriminated against by whites, she is also treated badly from all black men in her
life her stepfather and her husband. From the beginning, she is beaten and raped by
the man she believes to be her father. She has two children with him but they are
quickly taken away from her. After her second pregnancy, she is forced to marry Mr.,
an old widower with four unruly children. Her life as a wife, unfortunately, shows
little difference from her childhood. She is valued only as sex slave and a caretaker
for Mr.'s family. She still has to endure the same kind of cruelty and maltreatment as
the one that her stepfather had done to her before. It is obvious that Celie cannot enjoy
the basic human rights of self-determination, freedom from violence, and ownership
of her own body no matter where she is. The Color Purple by Alice Walker is
considered one of the best literary works that gives a clear picture about the sufferings
of African-American women from patriarchy, sexism and racism. According to Carole
J. Sheffield, "the right of men to control female body is a cornerstone of patriarchy.
Violence and the threat of violence against females represent the need of patriarchy to
deny the woman's body of her own property" (P.400). In this novel, she not only
shows the humiliating environment of women but also exhibits her firmness to change
their social rank and position by developing in them a strong sense of their right and
their position in society. The novel not only portrays the pathetic condition of black
women but even goes beyond that purpose. In reality, the intended goal from writing
the novel is to give a voice for the black women and to provide them with the right
path in order to emancipate themselves.

In The Color Purple we have characters like Celie, who feel like these oppressed
women regarding their sexuality, their empowerment, and, also, they live the different
levels of oppression in their own flesh. I have talked mainly about Celie, the woman
who with Shug's help, she gets to appreciate her body and her sexuality. Now she does
not see it as something bad, she feels it as a gift of life. Moreover, with the example of
women like Sophia, she realizes that women and men can have a different relationship
from the one she is used to, and women do not always have to be submissive. These
women, along with Celie's sister, Nettie, help Celie to arm herself with courage and to
break with the chains that have her tied to that life of suffering. In this
way,theyrepresent the support that existed between black women, of which I have
talked previously, and the one that should exist among all of them in general. Reading
The Color Purple is a way of knowing the suffering that many women went through,

48
simply because their skin was of another color and because of the fact of being
women.

"The Color Purple" presents a good example of loss of identity and roots. We see the
male domination over the women in every part of life. In the course of time, women
want aware themselves about their own identity and abuses of man.Women become
independent in the society. They succeed in their aims and we see the traces of female
domination in the name of Celie, the protagonist.If a Women is courageous and have
the belief to make a better life for herself, then it can be possible for her to start an
independent and beautiful life.Celie's freedom comes from two main sources. The
first is the solidarity of the female community around, which provides her with
support and strong role models to follow. The second is her letters' writing, which
provides a venue for her self- expression and helps her to purge herself of all the
abuses that she has faced. Celie's freedom goes through physical, then spiritual, and
finally economical phases, specifically when she establishes her own business. Alice
Walker believes that the harsh conditions from which Afro-American women suffer in
their communities are due to, in part if not fully, the patriarchal system, classism and
racism, that is why she suggests 'womanism' as the ideal.

49