The Color Purple

Introduction

The color purple by Alice Walker was published in 1982, and since then has faced almost a celebrity status in the literary world, along with its fair share of controversies. The story follows the life of Celie, a black woman who writes letters to God as a sort of one way communication as she struggles through life. She is from the South, hence familial values are of a lot of significance to her as she lists down her story playing the roles of daughter, sister, mother and wife. Throughout her life, Celie comes across a lot of important figures in her life, most of which are women. As the author herself is an African American with quite a colorful history herself, it is reflected in her story of Celie as well. In this paper I will be examining The Color Purple, as well as its significance to our lives and the way in which Alice Walker describes the roles of an African American woman.

Discussion

Alice Walker was born in 1944, to a poor household and a poorer environment. She was the youngest of eight children, to parents who were sharecroppers. Her writing has always been influenced by the violent terms of racism she faced growing up in Georgia, and there has always been a reflection of her own life while she was growing up, in her books. Her personal appearance was maimed in a childhood accident, which left her blinded in one eye. However, that did not stop her from leading a most extraordinary life as she graduated from high school as a valedictorian as well as the prom queen in 1961. Not only this, she was presented with a scholarship to Speilman College, which she gladly utilized and became a primary member for the defense of civil rights in African American citizens in the United States. She was famously invited to Martin Luther King's home in 1962, after he had witnessed her enthusiasm for civil rights activism in a Youth World Peace conference in Helsinki. She witnessed many cultures throughout Europe as she traveled, and was a participant in the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” after having been deeply influenced by Martin Luther King's “I have a dream” speech. She went on to become one of the first few black people who were accepted into the elite list of colleges, as she arrived at Sarah Lawrence College in New York on a scholarship. She later enjoyed several mentoring sessions from inspiring writers and poets, which cemented her love for literature as she published poetry in “Once” in 1968. She went through life's ups and downs just like everyone else, and ended up pregnant at the peak of her senior year. This led to severe depression in the author and she famously described this portion of her life as very dark, even admitting that she considered suicide more than once and slept with a razor under her pillow. These turbulent times were reflected in her poetry, and ...