It is a task to review ‘The Color Purple’ for me without having the bias of it being my favourite book in the world. Written by Alice Walker, winner of the Pulitizer Prize and National Book Award in the United States of America, this novel has captivated every female and even the male reader. The most common mistake that the people make is to consider it a feminist novel, but the truth is that it has so many sub plots that it opens up issues like colonialism, lack of education, family problems, sexuality and economic freedom along the base of feminism.
An epistolary form is used in the narrative of ‘The Color Purple’ to give the readers a firsthand experience of a woman under repression by prominent male figures, first being raped by her father and later by her husband. Celie rises despite all odds with the help of other female characters, Shug Avery, Nettie, Sophia and Mary Agnes signifying the strength of female bonding. The novel is mostly situated in Georgia and some parts of it, (in Nettie’s letters) in Africa, enlarging the setting in which the atrocities against Blacks especially black women takes place.
As I said in the beginning, the novel isn’t just a feminist one. It mixes the political with personal, talking of the ignorance of Africans in their own native country towards slavery of their own people in America, and the plundering of their wealth at the hands of the English Empire. This highlights colonialism at a state level whereas the patriarchy that Celie faces in Georgia is ‘colonialism at home’. Lack of awareness is again an important issue since we see that Celie is not allowed to go to school or outside the four domestic walls of her home. She is ignorant about the rest of the world and her writing clearly depicts that, since her earlier letters show her stating facts without any emotions or understanding whatsoever. Sexuality is a key subject in ‘The Color Purple’, since we observe that Celie has sexual relations with Shug, Shug with Celie and Celie’s husband Albert as well as with other men. Celie’s sexual awakening takes place at the hands of Shug. Therefore we are constantly unable to name the relationships that the characters share. Consequently, Walker’s ideology of shunning the stereotypical ideas of sexuality becomes clear to us readers. We are not told whether Celie is bisexual or homosexual and her sexual awakening too, is shown as a part of her emotional rise – “Us sleep like sisters, me and Shug.” Celie’s eventual economic independence and the togetherness of the entire family at the end highlight the need of one’s own money and the of importance of an integrated family. Though female bondings bring her out of the forces of patriarchy, it is the collective family in the end that becomes the reason of her complete happiness.
The idea of storytelling consistently goes on through the novel. It is important for each character to have the ability to tell his/her story. From Celie’s letters to God, to Nettie’s letter to Celie, to Sophia’s ability to tell Eleanor Jane that she was more than just a Mammy and Mary Agnes’s decision to speak up to be called by her actual name instead of Squeak; story telling becomes the first step for the characters to stand out of their cocoons and gain a sense of identity.
Amongst all these metaphors and social issues, ‘The Color Purple’ I would say is a novel for anyone and everyone to read. It’s simple in words, direct in meaning, with vital social and political background. It blurs the boundaries between males and females, fixed notions of sexuality and liberates every character out of their societal barriers. Walker gives her readers a fresh perspective on the similarity between tyranny at home and totalitarianism at the social and political level.
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