The Color Purple Essay

The Color Purple Essay

In the epistolary novel “The Color Purple”, written by Alice Walker, the main character Celie and her sister Nettie are both very different people who go through very different experiences lthat include being abused by men, having to fight to protect themselves, and to reunite with each other after being separated. What should be taken into consideration, however, is that Celie often says she is ugly, whereas Nettie is said that she is pretty and smart. This information is vital because it provides evidence and my guess on why Celie and Nettie go though different experiences.

One of the ways that Celie and Nettie are different is when it comes to religion. Celie had a hard time believing in God due to her being raped, having her children taken away from her, and being constantly abused by her husband who she doesn’t even love. Later on, she decided to not believe in God at all because of these reasons and because God never helped her. In the end of the story though, Celie believes in God completely. One of these reasons is because Shug Avery talks to Celie about God. “She say, Celie! Like she shock. He gave you life, good health, and a good woman that love you to death.”(p192) Shug teaches Celie that everyone, even her, has something to be grateful for. Celie decides to believe this and her faith and loyalty is rewarded by being able to leave Mr._____, opening a pants shop while living Shug and Squeak (Mary Agnes), and getting her children and Nettie back into her life. Her final letter is to God and about her thanking God for everything. It states, “Dear God. Dear stars, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything.” (p285) This proves that Celie finally believes in God and says that she is grateful for God giving her a better life and her children and sister back. Nettie is very different from Celie when it comes to religion. Nettie always believed in God no matter how hard life got for her, she prayed to God instead of not believing in him like Celie did. She might have gotten a better life than Celie because she believed, or she might have always had faith in God because she had a better life. It’s a chicken and the egg situation.

Another difference between Celie and Nettie is gender inequality. Refer back to the introduction paragraph that talks about Celie and Nettie possibly being treated differently and having different experiences because of their looks. This could be the key to how Celie and Nettie had different paths. If Nettie had been ugly in contrast to Celie, then he probably would have made Nettie marry Mr._______ and Celie would have stayed home with him. All Celie has ever know about husbands is that they abuse their wives and want them to do whatever they want, not what their wife wants. When Celie left Mr._____, she didn't normally like men or husbands. When Celie found out that Shug wanted to be with another man, she was extremely upset. "He's a man. I write on the paper. Yeah, she say. He is. And I know how you feel about men. But I don't feel that way." (p250) Another experience of gender inequality that Celie experienced was education and being successful. Some women got education and could even teach, but sometimes they weren’t allowed to or their parents didn’t see any necessity or good outcome or learning more, unless they were thought to become good teachers. An example of this is when Celie’s dad declines Celie’s plea to get more education. “You too dumb to keep going to school, Pa say.”(p9) Celie wanted to keep going to school, but since she might get married too Mr.______, her Pa didn’t see much use for Celie getting educated. Celie also was told that she couldn’t be successful and couldn’t amount to anything by Mr.______.
“You’ll be back, he say. Nothing up North for nobody like you. Shug got talent, he say. She can sing. She got spunk, he say. She can talk to anybody. Shug got looks, he say. She can stand up and be notice. But what you got? You ugly. You skinny. You shape funny. You too scared to open your mouth to people. All you fit to do in Memphis is be Shug’s maid.” (p205)

Nettie has experiences that are almost in complete contrast with Celie’s. She didn’t show and sexism or hateful thoughts towards men like Celie did. Throughout the book Celie hated men altogether. She had even nearly killed Mr.______ had Shug not stopped her. “Take off they pants, I say, and men look like frogs to me. No matter how you kiss ‘em, as far as I’m concern frogs is what they stay” (p 254). She never made her peace with men until she saw that Mr.______ had changed and became a better person. Then she hugs Nettie’s husband, Samuel, which is a big deal for her considering what she went through and how she felt about men. Nettie however obviously didn’t have these same feelings for many reasons, or so her letters don’t say anything about it. When she visited Samuel and Corrine, she didn’t say anything about her having hostile feelings towards him. She knew who Mr.________ really was behind all the smiles he gave her and how he treated Celie, yet Nettie didn’t express or bear any of Celie’s same feelings. She appeared to have known not to judge and automatically assume men are all the same even most of the men she encountered were a certain way. She demonstrated this by marrying Samuel and even giving Mr.______ a hug, so either Nettie got all of Celie’s letters and knew Mr.________ had changed, or she wanted to see if he had by exemplifying forgiveness despite what he did.

In the book The Color Purple, Celie and Nettie both have different experiences on things like religion, gender inequality, and how these things affect their forgiveness. The only explanation for why Celie and Nettie are treated differently by men is because Celie is not very attractive, whereas Nettie is. Alice Walker probably writes this book to show how some women went through gender inequality and also how men treated them during this time period, and how some still do. In other words, Walker’s main point is to express what women went through and how hard it was for them in certain societies when they had no help. If it wasn’t for Shug, Celie probably would have still lived with Mr. _______. And not everyone has a Shug Avery in their lives to help them.