The Color Purple in Crazy Challenge Connection

May 13, 2011 A. S. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I figured it was fitting to celebrate the last season of Oprah with the book her movie was based on: The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It's widely been known as a contemporary classic, and I can see why.

Written in as an epistolary novel chronicling Celie's letters to God in the wake of her separation from her younger sister Nettie. Nettie, the cuter, younger, and more educated sister, starts dating and receives a marriage proposal from Mr.______ (who's first name is later revealed to be Albert), I figured it was fitting to celebrate the last season of Oprah with the book her movie was based on: The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It's widely been known as a contemporary classic, and I can see why.

Written in as an epistolary novel chronicling Celie's letters to God in the wake of her separation from her younger sister Nettie. Nettie, the cuter, younger, and more educated sister, starts dating and receives a marriage proposal from Mr.______ (who's first name is later revealed to be Albert), but their father Alphonso says no. Alphonso rapes Celie and gets her pregnant twice; (view spoiler). Instead, he offers Celie, and after some pondering, he accepts. Celie's plight with Mr. is no better than her life at home, for Mr. beats her and verbally abuses her. Nettie eventually runs away to see Celie, but she can't stay there long because Mr. makes predatory advances towards her. Nettie flees to seek shelter with a lady named Corrine, whom Celie met once and realized that this lady has adopted the children she produced with Alphonso.

Nettie, Corrine, and Corrine's husband become close and go on a mission to Africa with Celie's biological children (though none of them realize this connection yet).

Meanwhile, Mr. becomes an unbearable tyrant, and it seems like his son Harpo is going the same way until he falls in love with Sofia. She falls pregnant and they get married despite Mr.'s protests. As with most things, Mr. is merely repeating a cycle: his own father wouldn't let him marry the love of his life, Shug Avery, a lounge singer and known harlot. The cycle of abuse and haranguing is so strong, though, that eventually Harpo starts beating Sofia in an attempt to control her after interpreting some advice from Celie in the wrong way. What shocks Celie is that Sofia fights back.

Shug Avery, Mr.'s first love, falls ill and comes to Mr.'s place to seek shelter while she recuperates. Of course this means Celie has to do all the work, and Shug doesn't hold back on what she thinks of her presumed rival. Celie on the other hand, absorbs Shug's abuse like she does every other abuse that comes to her on the regular. But once Shug's well again, the two embark on a friendship, which helps Celie recover part of what was lost when Nettie went away.

Mr. hides all of Nettie's letters to Celie in order to break her spirit and make her think that her sister doesn't care about her, and Shug helps Celie recover them. In the letters Nettie describes Africa not as the paradise they had envision, but a place that has many of the same problems that the US has. The men there oppress the women pretty harshly, which clashes with Nettie's sensibilities.

Nettie's friendship with Corrine is not like the soft, strong ones that Celie fosters with Mr.'s sister Kate, Sofia, Shug, and Harpo's new toy girl Squeak. Corrine falls ill and notices that her children favor Nettie strongly and wonders if Nettie and Samuel ever had a secret past.

There's a lot of imagery in here to pick apart: wearing of the pants, the dual meaning of the color purple, etc. But I gotta say, if you're vacillating between reading/not reading The Color Purple, I'd say read it! ...more

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