The beginning of the twentieth century in the United States cannot be characterized as an environment where the African-American community had equal rights to the ones of the white population. Not only the representatives of the minority confronted with the issues of class inequality and racist ideologies, but also dealing with the sexist beliefs in their own culture of patriarchy.
The novel The Color Purple written by Alice Walker was chosen for this paper because it depicts the condition in which women from the black community lived in the United States of America before the rise of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. The life of the novel’s protagonist Celie put forward a concept of the importance of being recognized in the society (Andersen, Christensen, Eigminaite, and Schroder 5). Thus, the recognition of an individual in the society, the respect of the individual rights and freedoms are fundamental in the determination of a person as a part of that society.
Theoretical Support
The usage of The Color Purple as a basis for studying social justice in the classroom is associated with the fact that literature can offer a presentation of a particular historical period, transcending places, and times. Despite the fact that novel is fiction, it is still a powerful resource that helps readers understand what the African-American community went through at the turn of the twentieth century.
However, for the longest time, the book has never been published because of how realistically it described the past events. For example, when Alice Walker sent her novel to the leading magazine that dealt with the Black Women issues, her request to publish an excerpt from the novel was declined. The editor stated that “Black people don’t talk like that. And I suppose in her mind they never did, and if they did, who cared?” (qtd. in Clarke 3).
However, despite the accusations, the protagonist of the novel Celie was based on the step-grandmother of Alice Walker. The step-grandmother did talk the same way Celie spoke; thus, the author wanted to transfer the reality of the African-American culture into the novel that contained descriptions of historical and social values important for studying in the course of social justice.
The importance of studying The Color Purple in the classroom is supported by theories proposed by Rosenblatt. Louise Rosenblatt proposed a view that when a student is better acquainted with his or her own history, the past injustices that the society faced, this student will be more effective in making decisions, “dominate, and if necessary, to remold the environment” (qtd. in Clarke 3). Thus, students that have read The Color Purple are more aware of the social injustices African-American people were faced with and will be able to make appropriate decisions so that the past mistakes are never repeated.
Literary Qualities
It is commonly stated that The Color Purple is a literary work that should be read by all layers of the population, regardless of their age, gender, and cultural identity. Despite the fact that there have been some censoring attempts, the novel has received more praise than any other work discussing similar topics. The book can be viewed in the light of a permanently important to the history of the United States Development. Furthermore, the principal theme of victory of love over evil, a theme that is common for many fictional works, combined with the themes of social justice and equality provides a thorough exploration of challenges faced by the African-American population.
One of the most prominent features of The Color Purple is the way in which Alice Walker chose to use language. The dialect in which the protagonist spoke added life to the story, offering readers a much more detailed exploration of the narrative: “Walker’s use of language, especially black idiom, is masterful and adds poignancy and depth to the narrative” (qtd. in Clarke 3).
Themes of Racism, Sexism, and Homophobia
Racism goes through the novel as the main historical theme. Alice Walker was conscious of her Black woman identity and was empowered to tell stories about different women that participated in the creation of their culture despite being oppressed for their gender and class. Walker wanted to find a suitable way for the oppressed to tell their stories, as seen in Sofia’s character, a woman who was marginalized by the white characters and the one who fought for herself.
As already stated, recognition of a person in the society is what makes him or her a realized member of that society. Alice Walker added an autobiographical aspect to The Color Purple (Walker was a bisexual and Celie was a lesbian); however, there is a significant contrast in the ways a white lesbian would have come out compared with the challenges a Black lesbian woman faced.
The controversy that surrounded The Color Purple had a major focus on the abuse of Celie by the male population of the African-American community. This controversy was supported by some black men, who, upon reading the novel, felt vilified. The homophobic hysteria that captured the Black community after the novel’s release accused Alice Walker of “airing the dirty laundry” when it comes to the brutality of Black men targeted at Black women. However, the common belief that Black men are in complete power over their women, that are supposed to be weak and controlled by the patriarchial regulations was presented in the novel as a reflection of reality but not as an accusation (Sears and Williams 125).
Furthermore, Black male critics believed that The Color Purple could turn girls into lesbians. Some contested that Walker was a traitor who betrayed the African-American community by sharing secrets with the publishing industry of the white majorities that were swamped by racists intentions to undermine the masculinity of Black men. The 1985 film directed by Stephen Spielberg that showed the first ever screened scene of two lesbian black women kissing had spun a new wave of homophobia, sexism, and racial hatred.
Despite all accusations, it is complicated to find an abuser in Walker’s novel that can be described as a monster. Those characters in the novel that were violent towards other people were victims of sexism, paternalism, or racism themselves. For example, the character of Harpo became violent towards Sofia only when his father had mentioned that Sofia’s resistance does not make Harpo a real man. Mr. ___ was as violent to his family as his father had been to him.
Celie convinced Harpo to be violent towards Sofia because she was jealous of her being strong and assertive. In almost all situations, the novel’s characters understood the negative consequences of their behavior. For example, Sofia told Eleanor Jane that due to the various influences from the society her young son would grow up as a racist. The only way in which women were able to overcome the cycle of violence and sexism was in them withstanding the violence and talking back to the abusive men.
Final Thoughts
The Color Purple is one of the most significant pieces for studying the African-American history, culture, and social justice overall. It exposed the struggle of Black women against sexism, racism, and homophobia. Alice Walker has made an assertion that the American society operates on the various hierarchial frameworks that are unnatural (Zare and Ataeiniya 22). These frameworks caused Black men to oppress their wives, sisters, and lovers.
Due to the courageous assertions, The Color Purple was placed in the center of controversy and accusations of ungrounded victimization of African-American women. However, the novel is also a story of the growth of the protagonist from an ignorant teenager into a fully realized and accomplished woman that was able to withstand the hostile attacks on her integrity. The theme of liberation from sexist and racist frameworks was outlined in the main character’s Celie strive to learn and improve.
Thus, The Color Purple is a story of the liberation of Black women that wanted to escape the boundaries of abuse, oppression, and life paths that were not chosen by them individually.
To conclude, the significance of The Color Purple is linked to the celebration of women’s beauty and empowerment, the ability to seel personal growth and spiritual development. The novel also explores black women’s spirit, their sexuality, and the commitment to strive towards liberation.
Works Cited
Andersen, Pernille, Ida Christensen, Juste Eigminaite, and Speggers Schroder. The Colored Identity – A Close Textual Analysis of the Color Purple. 2004. Web.
Clarke, Patrick. The Color Purple. n.d. Web.
Sears, James, and Walter Williams. Overcoming Heterosexism and Homophobia: Strategies that Work, New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1997. Print.
Zare, Somayeh and Azam Ataeiniya. “Race, Gender in The Color Purple by Alice Walker.” International Journal on English Language and Literature 2.1 (2006): 21-22. Print.