Introduction
In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, the character Celie faces racism and exploitation, as
she faces these in the process she finds her identity. This essay will therefore
explore The Color Purple and identify the issues of racism and racial identity. It will
explore these themes concerning the identity formation of the main character.
The Color Purple was written by Alice Walker in a form of an epistolary novel. Alice
Walker was born on the 9th of February, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. After graduating
from high school, she enrolled at Spelman College in Atlanta where she became
involved in the civil rights movement. In 1982, Walker became the first African American
woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel The Color Purple (Walker,
2013).
Simone de Beauvoir was an early feminist thinker and in her book the second sex, she
wrote about how women were ‘othered’ that men always saw themselves as superior
beings and women were the other (de Beauvoir, 1974). Feminism rejects the idea of
patriarchy, that men are above women, women being objectified with men being the
subjects (de Beauvoir, 1974). Patriarchy meaning rule by the father, which is male
domination, brought about a male-centered universe, which believed that a woman’s
place was in the kitchen and they were not intelligent (Barker 7 Jane, 2016).
Walker on the other hand noticed that black women and women of colour were the
other of the other. This means that they were double marginalised. Double
marginalisation is when a black woman is discriminated against because of her race
and gender. Double marginalised women were silenced and these happen during the
colonial era (Walker, 2013).
She came up with this concept because she first saw that feminism was initially a
middle-class white women’s movement and rarely ever included women of colour.
Walker saw that black women and white women faced different kinds of prejudices
(Walker, 2013). Feminists fought to be equal to men socially, economically, and
, culturally. Womanists on the other hand fought to be heard (Barker & Jane, 2016). They
fight to be heard because of the silence double marginalisation has caused. They were
not allowed to voice out their opinions or even talk about what they were feeling.
Antonio Gramsci came up with the concept of subaltern figures which he explains as the
lower subordinate groups in society that are not considered a part of the elite groups
(Barker & Jane, 2016). He also compared these subaltern figures to hegemony, which
is the dominant group that rules over the subordinate group (Barker & Jane, 2016).
The Color Purple
The Color Purple is set during the post-colonial era; The Color Purple follows the life of
a young black woman, Celie. Celie in most of her lifetime faced sexual abuse and
prejudice, she never had an identity as she did not know who she was, throughout her
life she chose to become silent and give in to the abuse. She was firstly abused by the
person she calls Pa, who she, later on, learnt that he was her stepfather.
Celie being fourteen could not understand why all of those things were happening to her
“I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is
happening to me.” (Walker, 1983:3), this line comes from the first letter that she wrote to
God, she found refuge in writing letters to God, and that’s where she was able to voice
out what she was feeling.
Celie has been disappointed by men in her life and this made her hate and disregard
them. Firstly, white men lynched her father because they were jealous of his success;
this means that she has never felt her father’s love. The effects of colonialism are seen
here, as white men wanted to be only people who were in authority, white people felt
threatened when they saw a black man succeed. Had her father survived, Celie would
not have faced such amounts of abuse in her life. Secondly, her stepfather sexually and
physically abused and gave her away to Mr_. White people during colonisation were
hegemonic and they ruled over black people whom they made their subordinate. They
abused black men and in return men projected their frustrations on black women.
In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, the character Celie faces racism and exploitation, as
she faces these in the process she finds her identity. This essay will therefore
explore The Color Purple and identify the issues of racism and racial identity. It will
explore these themes concerning the identity formation of the main character.
The Color Purple was written by Alice Walker in a form of an epistolary novel. Alice
Walker was born on the 9th of February, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. After graduating
from high school, she enrolled at Spelman College in Atlanta where she became
involved in the civil rights movement. In 1982, Walker became the first African American
woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel The Color Purple (Walker,
2013).
Simone de Beauvoir was an early feminist thinker and in her book the second sex, she
wrote about how women were ‘othered’ that men always saw themselves as superior
beings and women were the other (de Beauvoir, 1974). Feminism rejects the idea of
patriarchy, that men are above women, women being objectified with men being the
subjects (de Beauvoir, 1974). Patriarchy meaning rule by the father, which is male
domination, brought about a male-centered universe, which believed that a woman’s
place was in the kitchen and they were not intelligent (Barker 7 Jane, 2016).
Walker on the other hand noticed that black women and women of colour were the
other of the other. This means that they were double marginalised. Double
marginalisation is when a black woman is discriminated against because of her race
and gender. Double marginalised women were silenced and these happen during the
colonial era (Walker, 2013).
She came up with this concept because she first saw that feminism was initially a
middle-class white women’s movement and rarely ever included women of colour.
Walker saw that black women and white women faced different kinds of prejudices
(Walker, 2013). Feminists fought to be equal to men socially, economically, and
, culturally. Womanists on the other hand fought to be heard (Barker & Jane, 2016). They
fight to be heard because of the silence double marginalisation has caused. They were
not allowed to voice out their opinions or even talk about what they were feeling.
Antonio Gramsci came up with the concept of subaltern figures which he explains as the
lower subordinate groups in society that are not considered a part of the elite groups
(Barker & Jane, 2016). He also compared these subaltern figures to hegemony, which
is the dominant group that rules over the subordinate group (Barker & Jane, 2016).
The Color Purple
The Color Purple is set during the post-colonial era; The Color Purple follows the life of
a young black woman, Celie. Celie in most of her lifetime faced sexual abuse and
prejudice, she never had an identity as she did not know who she was, throughout her
life she chose to become silent and give in to the abuse. She was firstly abused by the
person she calls Pa, who she, later on, learnt that he was her stepfather.
Celie being fourteen could not understand why all of those things were happening to her
“I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is
happening to me.” (Walker, 1983:3), this line comes from the first letter that she wrote to
God, she found refuge in writing letters to God, and that’s where she was able to voice
out what she was feeling.
Celie has been disappointed by men in her life and this made her hate and disregard
them. Firstly, white men lynched her father because they were jealous of his success;
this means that she has never felt her father’s love. The effects of colonialism are seen
here, as white men wanted to be only people who were in authority, white people felt
threatened when they saw a black man succeed. Had her father survived, Celie would
not have faced such amounts of abuse in her life. Secondly, her stepfather sexually and
physically abused and gave her away to Mr_. White people during colonisation were
hegemonic and they ruled over black people whom they made their subordinate. They
abused black men and in return men projected their frustrations on black women.
