The Color Purple (Movie Tie-In): A Novel

"Whatever else The Color Purple has been taken for during the years since its publication, it remains for me the theological work examining the journey from the religious back to the spiritual that I spent much of my adult life, prior to writing it, seeking to avoid." So begins the preface by Alice Walker. It is indeed a most interesting theological journey on which Ms. Walker takes her protagonist, Celie, as she begins writing to God at age 14. Set in Georgia in the 1930s, Celie is the eldest child in a poor black family, her mammy is ill, and her father begins sexually abusing her. By the 2nd letter, her mammy is dead, and she is pregnant. This is not a pretty story but it is a thoroughly intriguing one; a story about courage and strength, relationships and estrangements, family and not family. It is the story about a connection so strong it can survive torment and hatred, distance and death. It is the story of coming to grips with who God may be and how He connects with people. This whole story is told through letters. In the beginning, Celie writes about her life to God, partly to practice her writing since her father won't let her go to school any more as she is with child. She does her best to protect her younger sister, Nettie, from her father but when Mr. ______ , comes courting Nettie, her father refuses to let him have her; he insists Mr. ______ take Celie instead. She has borne 2 children, a boy and a girl, and both of them have disappeared. Mr. ______ treats Celie no better than her father did -- he beats her, plus she has all his children from his first wife to take care of, as well as the work in the fields to do. When Nettie tries to escape her father by coming to Celie, Mr.______ thinks he'll have his way with her; when he's refused, he says she'll have to leave. That's the last Celie hears from her for many years, yet they stay just as close in their hearts and minds as though they were never parted. When Celie gives up on God, she directs her letters to Nettie. Her return to the idea of God comes from a surprising source. This epistolary novel won the Pulitzer in 1983 and has been acclaimed for how it deals with many issues facing black women in the south in the 30s -- racism, sexism, and gender-blurring. But none of these issues was Ms. Walker's purpose; they were simply the setting in which her theological journey took place. While each of her characters are vividly different, each brings a rich component to the story as they envy, challenge, support, or encourage each other in the complicated extended family relationships that evolve around Celie. I'm a bit late coming to this book and haven't seen the movie yet, but it's on my to do list. I've heard great things about the movie (starring Whoopie Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey) and have seen some scenes on the Internet but it was pretty disjointed, so I'm looking forward to seeing the actual movie on DVD. The book, however, was spell-binding and, if you haven't read it yet, you should add it to your list. (The story contains some blunt language about sexuality.) Amazing!

Booked arrived fairly quickly - approx. 3 to 4 days or so. When I opened the packaged, there were very minor, minor rips and tears at the bottom of the cover because of how it was packaged/handled. Overall pretty good and was the cheapest I found for this book.

Everyone has a story to share- this is the purpose of the story The Color Purple by Alice Walker. One aspect that makes this novel interesting is the aspects shared by characters in the book and people in Alice Walker’s life. These similarities are seen by Celie’s sister Nettie, Pa and the main character Celie. The purpose of this novel is seen in the backstories of the characters in the The Color Purple. The story begins with the backstory of Celie. It tells about her physical abuse by her Pa, leading to a future dislike for men, and her unfailing love for her sister Nettie. The book then proceeds to tell the stories of Celie and her sister Nettie and show the effect their past has had on their presents. An example would be the abuse to Pa and her husband Albert leading to her hate for men and “passion” for women. Throughout the story God is show as Celie’s salvation and a safe haven for her. We learn that Celie sees God as a white man with a beard and since Celie is having some trouble with men she starts to have some problems with God as well. This is until Shug tells Celie that “God is whatever you see it as.” God is neither man nor woman, white nor black. God is everything and everything is God. The idea of God being a salvation is also shown in the life of Nettie, Celie’s sister, as she becomes a missionary in Africa. After leaving home, Nettie’s life takes a completely different turn than Celie’s. While Celie is stuck is an loop of never ending abuse, her sister Nettie lives a fruitful life while in Africa. Although Celie and Nettie grew up in the same household, their personalities differed which could have been what led to their differing lifestyles later in life. Another way the author shows how different people’s lives can be is the shift in point of view throughout the novel. The story switches between the point of views of Celie and Nettie in the form of letters. The entrance of the novel is a letter Celie writes to God. However, Celie loses her faith from all the terrible things that happen to her and she stops writing the letters. Later on, Nettie writes to Celie in order to tell Celie of the wonderful adventures she is experiencing while in Africa. The letters are first kept from Celie by her abusive husband Albert, but after Celie discovers the letters exist, she begins to read them and write responses to Nettie. In these letters, Celie tells Nettie all about her life and the people she meets. In these letters they are essentially telling each other their life’s stories. The author wrote this novel to elaborate on the fact that everyone has a different life story and that everyone’s stories are different. This is important because life stories shape who we are and how we act. Everyone is has a different story which leads to the diversity of people and their behaviors. Overall, the author did a good job in achieving her purpose and it made this novel a good read.

大学の授業で使うために購入しました。お安い値段で手に入ったのでありがたいです。

The novel, The Color Purple, is about the main character, Celie, and her sister Nettie. Some other characters are Celie and Nettie’s stepfather, Celie’s husband, and Celie’s lover, Shug. It uses detailed imagery to paint a picture of all of the characters, their physical and emotional attributes. The main theme throughout the novel is how people of certain races and genders are mistreated throughout the era of the 1940s. The main character, Celie, is abused by her stepfather, verbally and physically. It shows her struggle from being stuck in his clutches, to becoming her own person, and earning her independence. She discovers things about herself, and discovers things about other people, and what they mean to her in certain aspects of her life. My favorite character was Celie, this is because the reader can see the progress she makes over the course of the book, and I think the strength that she finds within herself is inspiring and encouraging. I relate to Celie, and all the other characters in the book that have been mistreated, or abused. This is because I empathize for them, and I have had friends that have been mistreated, and I understand how it affects a person's well being, and besides that, their self esteem. I loved the book, I loved the type of insight it gave into an aspect of life that no other author really covers. My favorite part of this book was the part where Celie begins to realize that she is worth more than what she is being given. Through the support of her lover, Shug, she gains self-confidence and realizes that she did not deserve the horrible treatment that she received throughout her entire life. She had to withstand being molested by her step-father, basically being held captive by him, and then in a sense, he “sold” her to the man he thought would need her housekeeping skills the most. She constantly had to go through only being thought of as a piece of meat, and property, almost the maid of every house she walked into. The only thing I would change about this book would be the beginning of the exchange of letters between Nettie and Celie, the first section where it is just about 20 pages of Nettie’s letters to Celie are a bit hard to grasp and get interested in enough to get through that section. Although I am happy I did, because past that, the book was amazing! I read about what was happening in the African village that nettie was in, but also got to see what was happening in Celie’s life. I would definitely recommend this book to any of my friends, it has a great insight on the lives of black women in the 1940s, and unique.