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- Rural Georgia in the early 20th century; Western Africa in a small village in the early 20th century
- begins about 30 years before World War II. It covers the first half of the 20th century, as we follow Celie through thirty or forty years of her life.
- Setting: poor blacks in rural areas of the South. As a poor black woman in the rural south, Celie’s bad treatment is largely ignored. Having very little exposure to education or the outside world, Celie lives most of her life very isolated and ignorant- Links to her language.
- Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944, in the small rural town of Eaton, Georgia. Shares her parents’ experiences with the oppressive sharecropping system and the racism of the American South deeply influenced Walker’s writing and life’s work.
- Walker focuses on problems that face black women in both in the United States and Africa to this day, causes controversy over her focus on sexism in the expense of racism. Involved in the Civil Rights Movement, friend of Martin Luther King
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- ''Harpo say, I love you, Squeak. He kneel down and try to put his arms round her waist. She stand up. My name Mary Agnes, she say.''- Standing up for yourself
- ''Us sleep like sisters, me and Shug.''- Sisterhood
- ''Well, us talk and talk about God, but I’m still adrift. Trying to chase that old white man out of my head. I been so busy thinking bout him I never truly notice nothing God make. Not a blade of corn (how it do that?) not the color purple (where it come from?). ''
- ''Shug act more manly than most men'' '' Mr. ______ think all this is stuff men do. But Harpo not like this, I tell him. You not like this. What Shug got is womanly it seem like to me. Specially since she and Sofia the ones got it.'' - Gender roles meaningless
- Power narrative voice- speaking out “better not never tell nobody but God”
- Mary Agnes - "they call me yellow/like yellow be my name." As find identity apart from her skin color, Mary Agnes explores the shades of color that lie beneath her skin, in her personality--finding these colors within gives her the voice to sing
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- Henrietta and Reynolds Stanley playing together and Henrietta
saying ‘he not bothering me’. Henrietta black
girl, Stanley is a white boy- hope for the
future; racism and sexism can treat each other like equals, like the children are. Importance of relationships with men- friend of Martin Luther King, encouraging unity between both men and women, interpreted book negative view of me.
- Colours- When Kate takes Celie shopping for a new dress, the only color options are drab ones—brown, maroon, and dark blue. Later, Celie and Sofia use bright yellow fabric from Shug’s dress to make a quilt. When Celie describes her religious awakening, she marvels how she never noticed the wonders that God has made, such as “the color purple.” Upon Mr. ______’s transformation, he paints the entire interior of his house “fresh and white,” signaling his new beginning point
- Quilt motif structure-‘to cut and sew’ to help Celie with her pant business or when Sofia and Celie argue about the advice Celie has given Harpo, Sofia signals a truce by suggesting they make a quilt. Symbolic of the different stories of women, universal oppression (different fabrics). Diverse people coming together in unity, a range of positive strong relationships that surround Celie include men and women, have different gender roles, sexual orientations, and talents. Turned unimportant manual job into a profitable business=women come together they can achieve much more, the strength of women when they join together and overcome oppression they face
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- Female oppression- At the start of the novel, the young, black female is presented as about the most vulnerable person in society. Celie epitomizes this female: she is abused and denied a voice by her (supposed) father and then by her husband. Along with the racial prejudice young, black women endure, they also tend to struggle against their black, male counterparts. When Celie betrays Sofia by telling Harpo to beat her; can't sleep- emphasise need sticking together.
- Violence- male dominance over women, particularly their wives, by beating them, sexual violence against women, ****** them as a result of sexual desire or simply to make women feel inferior. Celie suffers repeated violence from her father and husband, is very submissive. Sofia and Shug stand up to it, consequences, but it end worth it after suffering abuse. They help Celie find the strength and the willpower to leave her husband and start a new life.
- Narrative voice to break out of oppression- “virgin,” Shug encouraging new interpretation of a new interpretation of herself , as novel progresses Celie values herself more. Celie uses her own powerful narrative and power curses Mr. ______ for his years of abuse, is the novel’s climax. Celie’s story dumbfounds and eventually humbles Mr. ______, causing him to reassess and change his own life.
- Expected gender roles-Sofia’s strength and sass, Shug’s sexual assertiveness, and Harpo’s insecurity- sexual ambiguity, e.g Celie and Shug- Walker showing gender and sex not simple, need to subvert and defy these expectations of how women and men are supposed to be. Celie's mental and emotional rebirth is due to Shug, who is able to kindle feelings of sexual love and self-love within Celie.
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