Nelson's AP Lit and Comp 2014-2015 discussion
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The Color Purple
The Color Purple
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Prompt #3
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A symbol I think I would choose would be the letters Celie wrote to God.I think it helps symbolize the theme of not giving up.Even though Mr. would not let Celie read the letters she would get back from Nettie she gave up but then decided to write letters to God someone that I guess you can say gives at least some hope to everyone even at their most vulnerable.
An important symbol would be pants. When Shug first introduced pants to Celie it was to make Celie's life easier. The change from dresses to pants, represents the change in Celie herself. As she was a woman who didn't have the courage to stand up for herself to, a woman who plants her foot on the ground and speaks her mind. It also represents Celie's change from being depressed and lifeless to finally a happy woman. The symbol pants illustrates change and courage. Pants emphasizes the universal truth of changing and courage to standup to others.
An important symbol to me in "The Color Purple" would be sewing. The reason why I chose sewing is because it represents Celie's freedom. It's similar to her stress reliever. When Celie sews, she becomes more relieved & satisfied. Celie even says "I work in a piece every chance I get. It a nice pattern call Sister's Choice." (58). This shows that Celie is very passionate about her sewing & she loves it.
The color purple is one of the symbol that I would consider the most important because it can symbolize hope and courage. Alice Walker shows in her novel that color women do not have rights and freedom, so the color purple shows the women's hope for a better life and their courage to stand up for themselves. For example, when Celie refuses to follow Mr.'s order and move on onto her own path, living her own life, and doing what she love without anyone telling her what to do.
A symbol that I thought was important was the pants. The pants helped us understand hope by having Celie feel like she can change. That she can change into someone that can be confident about herself and stand up for herself. And that she doesn't really have to follow the gender roles. She can just be herself and not just a regular wife that obeys to their husband all the time. And so, it gives her hope for a change in society, her life, and her beliefs.
A symbol that I thought was important was the symbol of the color purple. To me purple is the color of pain and misery. When you get a bruise its usually purple for sometime and it hurts. When a soldier is wounded in war they are given a purple heart. Celie experienced a lot of pain throughout the book (from getting hit, raped, beat, losing her sister, not being able to read or respond to her sisters letters.... etc)So I think the color purple connects to the possible theme of pain.
A symbol that I thought was the most important was the letters to God. The letters to God represents the hope still in Celie. God was the only man that Celie felt comfortable to talk to. She knew in the beginning of the story that if believing in God there would be hope for her and Nettie. "I see him looking at my little sister. She scared. But I say I'll take care of you. With God help" (3). God was also the only person that Celie can share her feelings with when she couldn't write to her sister Nettie.
One big theme I noticed was gender roles. How women and men should act versus how they shouldn't. In The Color Purple it is said that women should follow the men. Except female characters like Sofia and Shug doesn't. They started to symbolize women power. They didn't do anything the men asked of them. They did whatever they wanted freely. These two women helped me understand how gender roles aren't a fixed thing. That women too, held power in their roles, whether they were a housewife or singer.
The symbol that came to me was the letters to God. It really emphasized hope, and that hope was still in Celie. Celine only opened up to God she never opened up to anybody else. In times of trouble, or when she was scared, when she had nobody, she relied on her hope and that was God. I felt like it gave her hope and it also gave her confidence that whatever she was going through she was going to overcome it because she had God on her side with her.
A symbol in The Color Purple are Celie's letters to god. God is her way of freedom. She talks to him as if he is her only friend who would listen to her. The letters to god helps her overcome anything. She relied on God for comfort, hope, and courage.
A symbol that was important to me will be Celie letter to God. She is communicating with the God. God is her listener and is there to help her. She prays and write to God, knowing that he doesn't do what she wishes from him. It's a symbol of having feelings of joy or connection to another person. But it's not so much in a person or thing as a means toward happiness. Later on, Celie addressed to "Dear God. Dear stars, dear tress, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God." It shows not only does Celie see God in nature, but everything, including her HUMAN beings.
An important symbol in the book, The Color Purple, would be pants. When Celie made her first pair of pants, it was made to hope it would prevent Celie from killing Mr.___. By making pants, not only did it help keep the good in Celie, it help bring out the strong women from inside of her. She learned how to stick up for herself and fought for her rights as a human being. Through making pants, she was able to start her life over. The pants became a symbol of hope and change as good things started to happen to her. She gained confidence, owned a house, started a business and she even rebuilt and created a new and healthy relationship with Mr.___.Celie's main purpose of her pants were that they are made for anyone, both men and women. Mr.___ says, "Men and women are not suppose to wear the same thing, men spose to wear the pants" (271). This proves that her pants also relates to the overall theme of the way women, especially black women, were treated in the twentieth century. This also help illustate the idea of change as women were begining to wear pants, even if they are expected to wear dresses.
A symbol that I think is important is the Letters to God that Celie wrote in this story because Celie talks to God as a counselor/listener. And she also writes to God for a sense of stability. Celie says, "If I was buried, I wouldn't have to work. But I just say, Never mine, never mine, long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along." (17). It relates to the theme of hope because it gives Celie the reassurance that someone is listening, that God is an audience for what she’s going through in life and the problems she has. She talks to him as an escape, a comforter when she was in need, when she was struggling with what she was going on with in life because she had no one else to tell what she was going through. Rather than keeping it all in and be hurt, she writes letters to God for that little hope she has which relates to the theme of hope.
A symbol that I choose is the letters that Nettie writes to Celie. To me they represented the hope that Nettie still had for Celie as well as how much Celie had sacrificed for her. Because Celie had had married Mr. ___, Nettie was given the chance to travel all the way to Africa as well as meeting her husband. In these letters Nettie is so enthusiastic to Celie, showing that she really cares for Celie, and hopes that Celie actually gets the letters. This really helped me understand one of the major themes, family. Through these letters I was able to see the bond of sisterhood that Celie and Nettie had, how much they cared for eachother even after all that time. It's a message, that even though the distance, as long as there is hope, love never dies.
A symbol that I think is important in “The Color Purple” is sewing and the quilt. Sewing in “The Color Purple” symbolizes women power. The reason why I believe that sewing symbolizes women power is because, even though Celie knew that society views sewing as an unimportant skill done only by women, she still takes on that challenge and she transforms it into an empowering and rewarding form of economic independence for her, with the help of Shug. As for the quilt, Celie gave Harpo some advice and told him, “Beat her” (36), and later on after Harpo does what Celie told him to do, Sofia finds out and argues with Celie about the advice Celie has given Harpo. Sofia then communicates with Celie, and starts to forgive her, and so she signals a truce with Celie as a sign of their newly acquired friendship by suggesting they make a quilt out of the old pieces of curtain that was scattered around from the fights and arguments that occurred between Sofia and Harpo. The quilt was created of various patterns sewn together, which symbolizes diversity becoming as one. It also represents peace within women and a fresh start, because sewing is stereotypically what women do, and they both overcame what happened and forgave each other, which shows unity, and a change in Celie as well. Celie also enjoys sewing, so she makes use of it in order to relax, control her anger, and balance her emotions. These two symbols really helped me understand one of the major themes of this novel, which I believe is women power, because at the end of the novel, Alphonso passed away in his sleep, and Albert becomes a new and better person, leaving the 4 women: Celie, Nettie, Shug and Sofia to be happy at last because they were capable of changing, fighting, and standing up for themselves, overpowering the men that has mistreated them for their whole lives.
One symbol from the book was writing to her sister Nettie. Later on when she finds the letters that was being kept away from her. She somewhat finds hope again, and starts writing about her life to her sister. Answering to his sister, and letting her sister know how her life has been. It showed that that she had hope that her sister was somewhere alive and well.
A symbol I think is important in this book would be God. She writes to God, if not to Nettie. She felt like God was the only one who would listen, feel, and understand her life. Shug taught her about loving and knowing how to embrace the things in life, because that's how God made them. In my opinion, after hearing what Shug has to say about the real beauty in life, Celie should forgive herself for being ugly, because that's how God made her. If she doesn't notice herself then she would have opposed God. Shug says that God loves you for everything you do. Once someone feels the love of God, they will do the best they can to please God by doing what they like.
The letters that Celie wrote to Nettie supported the theme of love. The theme of love is better understood by the letters because it showed how much Celie and Nettie cared for each other. They took time in their lives to tell each other how they were doing. Although the Nettie's letters were hidden from Celie, she fought against Mr.____'s rules and anger to obtain them. Their letters to each other tell of their love for one another by their stories. Celie expressed her love towards Nettie by telling her she's okay, and where she's living is not such a bad place after all. Nettle expressed her love to Celie by telling her of Celie's children, and that she'll soon come home. Nettie also used the letters to tell Celie of the danger that Mr.____ would cause her, telling Celie to get away. The letters shown a strong passion of love by caring and encouragement between them even though they were apart.
I believe the letters to God was a large symbol of hope and courage to Celie, in "The Color Purple". Celice really had no one else to turn to when she was alone and felt discouraged. God was her hiding place. For example when Mr. kept hiding the letters that Nettie from her. Also She could be herself with God and didn't have to hide her thoughts like she did with other people. Even though celie was lonely and was looked down upon many people she never gave up because she believed God was on her side, on page 17, "long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along."
In the color purple, the symbol of sewing help me better understand how much Celie had grown. Sewing became a big deal to Celie "I am happy. I got love, I got work, I got money, friends and time"(215). She had found a hobby, something she did because it made her happy. Sewing did lead to Celie making a ton of pants which she loved. She started making more and selling them. Celie found a way to do what she loved and make something out of herself. Celie achieved what most of us are looking forward in life.
Pants in the novel represent the rejection of gender roles and how men and women should act. Celie initially distrusts men and when Shug urges her to sew pants she is skeptical. Throughout the novel, many characters don't conform to the then society's ideals of gender roles. Men beating their wives, wives tending to their children 24/7. Making pants was another way of breaking a stereotype since at the time, women often wore skirts or dresses."Anybody can wear them, I said.
Men and women not suppose to wear the same thing, he said. Men spose to wear the pants." (Pg. 276)
Most important symbol I thought made the most impact in this book were pants. Pants contribute to the theme, gender roles. How pants are for men and skirts are for women. With Celie changing the idea and making it big she plays the most important part in the theme gender roles. She starts making more and more pants, and next thing you know the pants are famous. It doesn't matter , man or woman, anyone can wear pants , and anyone can make them.
Pants symbolizes freedom. Celie became a non conformist and was freed of gender stereotypes when she made and wore pants because it was believed that pants were made only for men to wear. When Celie breaks away from Albert and society's social norms, pants gave hope. In hope of equal justice and this contributes to the theme hope.
The letters to God really gives the feeling of hope, even if it is just blind hope. Having someone to write letters to really comforted Celie and let her stay strong even in hard moments. She also thought that if she was in a very dire situation then God could just take her life to escape. She said: "God blow out a big breath of fire and suddenly Sophia free" (91), so Celie would have no problem of applying this to herself.
The color purple is a very important symbol because in Celies world there is only Black and White all around her. The color of people, the strict rules, and right or wrong. But with the color purple, it gives reasons to be different and also brings in a new world for Celie to think about. Celie was introduced to so many things when she left behind black and white, her perspective widened and she saw the new in a world worth living with the ones Celie loves.
The pants in the Color Purple represent Celie becoming her own person. The pants made me understand the major theme because it wasn't constant, the pants developed over time just as each character developed overtime.
One symbol I choose would be God because throughout the novel, Celie writes letters to God or receives letters from Nettie. Celie goes through a lot and feels like God is the only one that can hear her and understand her. God represents trust, hope, and love because Celie has no one to turn to, but God, when she is in a difficult situation. Shug Avery and Celie also had a deep conversation about God and she tells her that God loves her for who she is and everything that she loves, God loves.
The letters to God symbolized hope and helped me better understand the hope Celie had about her life. Throughout the whole book, Celie wrote letters to God, but when she felt as if God wasn't listening or that nothing was changing, she stopped writing letters to God because she gave up hope in God, that things would get better. She started writing letters to Nettie instead. During the time that she wrote letters to Nettie, many negative things were happening that effected the characters - such as Shug loving a young boy/running off with him, the telegram that Celie received telling her that Nettie, Samuel and her children died on a sunken ship, Tashi running away. The very last letter is addressed to God, but the way Alice Walker wrote it, ("Dear God. Dear stars, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God.") the diction symbolizes the hope that is restored that things are going to get better, and that better has arrived.
one of the symbol that helped me understand this book more is sewing, because it is known as a gender role almost everywhere. although some men do sewing as business now, women are best known for them ages ago. in this book the women sew the cloths and the men do the farming to show gender different or role. for example in (p:33), paragraph three, it talked about when Harpo asked celie to make him curtains.
The symbol that helped me understand this book better was God, because Celie views God as a listener. For what I see, I see that she writes letters to God because she feels like he is the only one who will listen to her and help her. Later when she has a different view of God, she wrote her last letter saying, "Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God.” This shows that she became an independent women and she has powered up; having more confident in speaking up for herself.
Sewing was the most important symbol to help me understand self-discovery and to find happiness. Sewing brought Celie closer to herself and is truly something that makes her happy. The fact that about Celie "I am happy, I got love, I got work."(215) is a prime example how she has grown into herself and to find something so important to her and to self-discovery. It took her time to find her hobby and it taught her a lot about gender-roles and changed her inner thoughts about her entire life. It really made her change from the conformist; to a strong woman who gave her own voice.
The biggest symbol to mean would be pants it shows her having more strength because during that time it was mainly thought that pants were only for men and not women. Also after Celie got away from Mr. she started wearing pants show her actually gaining pride and independence.
Chose one symbol and explain what it symbolizes and how that symbol helped you to better understand one of the major themes. For example: how does the symbolism of the pants help you better understand the theme of hope? (you don't have to do that one, it is just a suggestion).