The Color Purple (The Color Purple Collection, #1)

by Alice Walker

It is no mystery how and at what point in time African Americans, like the characters in this novel, began believing in a God designed to guide and further the desires of another people, a God who thought of blackness as a curse.

Oppressive indoctrination with a design.

Captured in Africa, beginning in the fifteen hundreds, they were marched for months across savannah and rainforest to the coast where slave ships waited to transport them to the New World. At the notorious “slave castles” that dotted (and still dot) the coast of Africa they were forced to kneel before a statue of Jesus, have water sprinkled over their shaven heads by a priest, and have their “old” names taken from them. They were given Christian names that went with their new summarily acquired (with the help of the lash and the threat of annihilation) religion, and then, having been branded on face or body, they were prodded onto the ships, packed, as the cliché goes, like sardines in a can. We will never know how many died of grief, or disease, or starvation. Or how many made the despairing leap into the sea.

The brilliance of enslaving the spirit is that it is an invisible prison from which the inmate appears to derive some comfort. For African Americans even that small comfort had to be fought for. I can imagine some wily ancestor pointing out to his master or overseer that, if the God of the Bible had created slaves as well as everybody else, surely He would want them to know how to read about it for themselves.

Trauma bonding,. Loss of identity, disconnection,isolation and disempowerment.The "comfort" derived from this invisible prison can be a coping mechanism, allowing the abused woman to survive the trauma.

Or perhaps it is the pagan transformation of God from patriarchal male supremacist into trees, stars, wind, and everything else, that camouflaged for many readers the book’s intent: to explore the difficult path of someone who starts out in life already a spiritual captive, but who, through her own courage and the help of others, breaks free into the realization that she, like Nature itself, is a radiant expression of the heretofore perceived as quite distant Divine. If it is true that it is what we run from that chases us, then The Color Purple (this color that is always a surprise but is everywhere in nature) is the book that ran me down while I sat with my back to it in a field.

The noted passage is in the introduction by Alice Walker. Suggesting a desire to encounter the Universe on one's own terms-- not religious dogma. The pagan transformation of God from a patriarchal, male-supremacist figure to a more inclusive, nature-based spirituality. Celie begins as a "societal" captive, but through her journey, she breaks free and realizes her own nature.

White folks is a miracle of affliction,

The capacity of whites to rationalize justify and perpetuate their privilege at the expense of blacks' dignity and humanity . The whites' ability to inflict suffering while maintaining their power .

The white missionary before you would not let us have this ceremony, said Joseph. But the Olinka like it very much. We know a roofleaf is not Jesus Christ, but in its own humble way, is it not God?

Christian name

Indoctrinate by changing names!

They’re like white people at home who don’t want colored people to learn.

The levers of oppression are universal.

looks peculiar here.

Of course ! It's cultural displacement and challenges the western-centric vews as inappropriate to African culture. This is Nettie's growing awareness of the religious oppression, colonialism and imperialism.

You Christians come here, try hard to change us, get sick and go back to England, or wherever you come from.

On missionaries.

No wonder the men are often childish.

Funny!!

unbelief is a terrible thing. And so is the hurt we cause others unknowingly.

She say, Celie! Like she shock. He gave you life, good health, and a good woman that love you to death. Yeah, I say, and he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister I probably won’t ever see again. Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful and lowdown.

The book quote above is speaking of God and a disinterested Universe. Stephen Crane quote: "A man said to the universe: 'Sir, I exist!' 'However,' replied the universe, 'The fact has not created in me a sense of obligation.'".

If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you.

She say, Celie, tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God.

How come the bible just like everything else they make, all about them

God love all them feelings. That’s some of the best stuff God did. And when you know God loves ’em you enjoys ’em a lot more. You can just relax, go with everything that’s going, and praise God by liking what you like.

It's not an abomination to love the way you do. Love is love.

You have to git man off your eyeball, before you can see anything a’tall.

Madame, he said, when Aunt Theodosia finished her story and flashed her famous medal around the room, do you realize King Leopold cut the hands off workers who, in the opinion of his plantation overseers, did not fulfill their rubber quota? Rather than cherish that medal, Madame, you should regard it as a symbol of your unwitting complicity with this despot who worked to death and brutalized and eventually exterminated thousands and thousands of African peoples.

King Leopold of Belgium creating his own personal colony in central Africa, Congo.

They hardly seem to care whether missionaries exist.

The Africans never asked us to come, you know. There’s no use blaming them if we feel unwelcome.

The arrogance of missionary work.

And not being tied to what God looks like, frees us.

Resistance to absoultism and cultural, religious dogma, and societal conditioning demanded by many (indoctrination). Allows one to no longer be bound by traditional or cultural depictions of God as exclusively white or European that can perpetuate racism and be used to justify oppression, patriarchy, or other forms of social injustice. See:Christian supremacy : reckoning with the roots of antisemitism and racism by Magda Teter (2023).

It’s times like this make me know us didn’t make this world. And all the colored folks talking bout loving everybody just ain’t looked hard at what they thought they said.

Harmful ignoring the severity of the injustice .

They say nobody so crazy they think they can say who was the first man.

The novel discusses various African mythologies and origin stories. Consider the following: 1. Yoruba creation myth: Walker references the Yoruba people's creation story, which involves the god Olodumare creating the world and humans. This myth emphasizes the importance of community and the interconnectedness of all things. 2. African Eve vs. Biblical Eve: The novel highlights the differences between the biblical story of Eve and African mythologies, where the first woman is often depicted as a powerful, independent figure. 3. Mwindo epic: Walker draws on the Mwindo epic from the Congo region, which tells the story of the first humans and their relationship with the gods. This epic emphasizes the importance of balance, harmony, and respect for nature. 4. Anansi the spider: The novel references Anansi, a trickster figure from West African folklore, who is often depicted as a clever and cunning spider. Anansi represents the power of storytelling and the importance of wit and intelligence. 5. Critique of patriarchal narratives: Through these African origin stories, Walker critiques the patriarchal biases inherent in traditional biblical narratives. She emphasizes the importance of female agency, community, and cooperation.

I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ask. And that in wondering bout the big things and asking bout the big things, you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know nothing more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, he say, the more I love.