My Thoughts

The Color Purple: Personal Reveiw

The novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, was not quite what I expected. I knew that the novel was somewhat “intense” from my peers and that it contained some homosexuality, and I assumed it was just going to be another novel with a predictable ending. With this vague assumption, I started reading the book. I was surprised to find that the book is much more complex and unpredictable then it would seem. I found the characters to be multi-dimensional and complex as they grew into almost a new persona by the end of the novel. It fascinated me to analyze the motives and thoughts of characters, in particularly Celie, because of her complex thought process and her different view on the world around her. I was puzzled and confused by her continuous references to God and religion only to find that her view of religion was something much more intricate then I could have thought.

            While the multifaceted characters continued to withhold my interest, the winding plot full of love, abuse, heartbreak, and even happiness continued to add to the uniqueness of this novel. The novel shared views from almost all ends of the spectrum when it came to having love, losing love, hurting others, being hurt by others; it was all shown. It gave a personal perspective and explained emotions of the characters in a very realistic way. It demonstrated the complexity of the many emotions that people can feel.

The Color Purple is a truly solid piece of literature. With complex characters and a detailed plot, it provided me insight into the characters’ lives, while it provoked me to think deeper about my own life. It challenged my mind, just like a great piece of literature is supposed to do.

Text Connections

The Color Purple: Text Connections

 

• “Bible say, Honor father and mother no matter what,”(44).

In The Color Purple, there are consistent text-to-text connections made within the text to the Bible. This is an ironic connection to be made since the novel The Color Purple is not particularly religious. I came to the conclusion that the author included this particular text-to-text connection to show, not necessarily how people who follow the bible have a strong belief in God, but to show how the Bible is a reference for people on how to live their life. In the novel, this is particularly important as we see the main character, Celie, struggle with her own identity constantly. She continues to call on rules that are found in Bible as rules to guide her life.

• “I’m pore, I’m black, and I may be ugly and can’t cook, a voice say to everything. But I’m here,”(207).

Another text-to-text connection that can be made after reading The Color Purple is the connection between Celie and the main character, Janie, in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Although it is not directly referenced in either novel, there are direct similarities between the two. In the beginning of both novels, they both are looking for companionship and someone who truly loves who they are. However, by the end of both novels, Celie and Janie grow more independent and comfortable with themselves. They become less dependent on other peoples’ love and are able grow as individual.  As seen in the quote, Celie has accepted who she is as a person and learns to not let other people control her life. Although, Janie discovers this through very different measures, she learns a very similar message to Celie’s. 

Syntax

The Color Purple: Syntax

• “Say I’m evil an always up to no good,”(3).
• “Left me to see after the others. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t,”(1).
• “Doze on off to sleep,”(52).
• “She got the nottiest, shortest, kinkiest hair I ever saw, and I loves every strand,”(55).
• “What with being shock, crying and blowing my nose, and trying to puzzle out words us don’t know, it took a long time to read just the first two or three letters,”(144).
• “Shug was sound asleep, but something told me I ought to drive in,”(245).
• “Sometime I meet up with Mr. _____ visiting Henrietta,”(253).

The syntax used the novel, The Color Purple, reflects Celie’s limited education and provides deeper insight into her complicated mind. In the novel, a majority of the sentences talk about someone else first, before the thoughts or feelings of Celie is mentioned. The purpose of this to further show how Celie puts everyone else’s desire before her own. More often then not, the descriptions in the novel were short, to the point and lacked linking verbs or subjects. Male’s names were often not included and left blank in most sentences. While, male pronouns, like he or him, were a rare find in any sentence. It shows the reader Celie’s overall disregard towards males. These short sentences reiterate Celie’s lack of schooling and creates a simplistic honest tone that is present through out the novel. The simplistic honest tone contrasts the deeper complexity of the novel.

The simple syntax revels a certain writing style. While I was reading the novel, I came to realize that short sentences that have two or three words in them often describe something that Celie sees as a fact or something that isn’t particularly intriguing. In contrast to longer, more descriptive sentences that have a subject that is something that Celie admires or something that Celie is more confused with. This syntax tendency creates a more thoughtful style of writing then one would initially assume. 

Diction

The Color Purple: Diction

 

• “Don’t…”(29).
• “Good enough…”(27).
• “Lay there thinking…”(12).
• “..shame…”(148).
• “…The sky gray…”(182).
• “…. Bright eyes…”(29).
• “…Dear God…”(144).

 

The bulleted list includes some the interesting diction that can be found in The Color Purple. The diction of the novel is generally low in order to portray Celie’s level of education. In addition, the common use of phrase, “don’t got that…” and “good enough…” reveal an average gloomy tone. However, the author Alice Walker switches back and forth between the uses of average gloomy diction to happy hopeful diction often. I found that the diction was distinctly happier with subject that the main character, Celie, trusts such as her sister Nettie. While there is often more negative diction in reference to people who have treated her wrong, which happen to mostly in men. Likewise the turn in diction leads to overall happier tone in reference to Nettie, which can be seen in the later happier passages of the novel, while it further outlines Celie’s distaste for the male population and Celie’s unhappiness with her life.

 

Rhetorical Strategies

The Color Purple: Rhetorical Strategies

The Author, Alice Walker, uses many rhetorical strategies through out the novel to provide insight into the complicated mind of the main character, Celie. Note: not all examples are posted, just one example of each type.

 

• Situational Irony? “He look me up and down…I go closer to the steps, but not too close cause I’m a little scared of his horse,”(11)

• In this example of irony, a man is evaluating Celie with a questionable personality who shoes interest in marrying her. While it would make more sense for Celie to be scared of the man, she is actually scared of the horse. The situational irony is used in this situation and many others in the novel to illustrate how naïve Celie is. She fails to recognize and accept the harm that another person can posses till it is too late.

• Apostrophe: “Dear God…”(First line on pages 1-127)

• Walker starts every entry with “Dear God…” for the same reason that she makes allusion’s to God consistently through the novel. It revels Celie’s desire for higher form of guidance.

• Allusion: “…I started to fight him and with God’s help…”(126).

• While Walker’s allusions to God do not reference religion, since the context of her letters are not religious, it does still have a significant role in showing the deep thoughts of Celie. I tend to see her allusion to God as emphasize her loneliness and need for guidance. Since Celie has never had a strong parent figure in her life, I see her allusion to God as a call on a parental figure, not for religious purposes but out of loneliness and the need for guidance.

• Rhetorical Questions: “But what bout me?”(49). “Why my heart hurt me so?”(73).

• The author uses rhetorical questions to reflect Celie’s personal thoughts and to show Celie’s internal conflict. Celie has a continual struggle with who she is as a person. Walker uses the rhetorical questions to empathize this continuous struggle.

 

• Simile: “I wash her body, it feel like I’m praying,”(49).

• Through out the novel, many different similes are used to describe the world as Celie sees it. While similes are used by author’s to further illustrate and describe the setting of the novel, I think, in this novel Walker used the similes to provide further insight into the mind of the main character Celie. These constant comparisons and the multiple objects that are described through their comparison to something else revel how Celie views, not only herself, but also the world around her. Celie is constantly comparing herself to others in attempt to eliminate the confusion and hurt she is feeling. It is almost like Celie is trying to find a “happy medium” if you will, and trying to figure out where she belongs in comparison to others.

• Metonymy: Miss Shug is also referred to as “Queen Honeybee” through out the novel.

• Metonymies are often used in reference to Miss Shug. The multiple names can have many purposes. To me, the multiple names are symbols of the many personalities and layers that the character Miss Shug posses.