The Color Purple by Alice Walker summary and analysis

 

The Color Purple (1982) was in fact a daring attempt as she strikingly explored some controversial themes. She represented the dark and evil nature of black males. The novel was made into a film in 1985 by Steven Spielberg. She was widely criticized for the negative representation of black American male characters. On the contrary she well expressed the undying and enduring spirit of black women. The novel structured in the epistolary format and she employed the colloquial language of regional America.

 

The conditions of American blacks were in general catastrophic and black women were in particular agonizing. They are considered as the wretched of the earth as Frantz Fanon puts it. Hence, the experiences of black women in America were extremely deplorable, they were in fact doubly marginalised. Walker asserts that black women suffer from discrimination by the white community, and from a second repression from black males. Thus, deep rooted stinking racial segregation, predicaments of women and apartheid are the focus points of the novel.

 

Summary

"You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy."

The Color Purple begins with a silent scream of a young black lady Celie, she was incapable of producing a single moan of protest in her life. Her early innocent life brought about several nightmarish sequences and eventually became a victim. 

The entire story is told through letters. The only sentences outside the letters are the first two sentences that itself  convey the plight of her existence, she is suppressed and silenced forover.

The central character in the novel is the  fourteen year old Celie, who writes letters to God. Her father has raped her, and she has two children, a girl and a boy, whom "Pa" took away from her. Celie's mother has died and Pa is looking too much at her little sister, Nettie.

Mr-- wants to marry Nettie but Pa rejects him because of the Mr--'s scandals with Shug Avery, a blues singer. Celie manages to get a picture of Shug and falls in love with her and keeps her picture out of love and admiration.

Later on, Mr—again expresses his interest to marry Nettie but instead Pa suggest to marry Celie.  Eventually, Mr-- agrees to take Celie instead of Nettie. Once she is in his care, Mr-- beats Celie all the time. Meanwhile, Nettie runs away from Pa and comes to Mr--'s house to meet Celie, but when she rejects him, he throws her out. Celie advises Nettie to leave the house.

One day, Shug Avery comes to town, but Mr-- does not take Celie to see her. Harpo, Mr--'s son, gets married to Sofia, a strong brave woman, and when he complains that Sofia does not obey him, Celie advises Harpo to beat her. As celie was jealous of Sofia as she freely defends her husband. Celie says : "You do what I can't. Fight,".

 

Shug gets ill and Mr-- brings her to his home. To Celie's surprise, she calls Mr--by his first name, Albert. Celie's love and intensive care make Shug better; Shug starts composing a new song.

Sofia finally leaves Harpo. Shug invites Celie to her new performance. Shug sings "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" and then her new piece, called "Celie's Song."

Before leaving, Shug says she will make sure Mr-- never beats Celie again. She also teaches Celie to love herself. By the time Sofia returns with a new man and six children instead of five, Harpo has a little girlfriend he calls Squeak. Sofia and Squeak hit each other and finally Sofia leaves.

 

The mayor's wife sees Sofia in town with the kids and asks Sofia to be her maid. Sofia answers: "Hell no" and hits the mayor when he protests. She is arrested, beaten and left in prison. Meanwhile, Squeak takes care of Sofia's children. When she finds out one of Sofia's wardens is her uncle, Squeak tries to save Sofia. She convinces the warden that working for the mayor's wife would be a better punishment for Sofia. The warden forces Squeak to have sexual intercourse with him. When Squeak goes back home, furious and humiliated, she orders Harpo to call her Mary Agnes, her real name. Sofia starts working for the mayor's wife, but she is treated as a slave.

 

On Celie’s next visit, Shug is married. She and Celie have missed each other for some months,  and  after one night, when the men are away, Celie meets Shug and tells the story of Pa and the children. Shug kisses her, and they make love.

 

One day, Shug asks Celie about Nettie, and together they realize Mr-- has been hiding Nettie's letters. They finally recover them from Mr--'s trunk.

Unlike Celie's letters to God, Nettie's letters are written in standard English. The day Nettie left, Mr-- followed her and tried to rape her. She fought, and he had to give up. She tries to meet and stay with several people, the acquaintances of celie and wandered several places for a shelter without any trouble.

Celie reads Nettie's letters and wants to kill Mr--  for having hidden the letters of her beloved Nettie. And she goes on reading the letters.

Nettie lives with Corrine, When she got ill shortly afterwards, she told Nettie she thought Adam and Olivia were Nettie's and Samuel's kids. Though Nettie swore it was not so, Corrine was not convinced. Nettie and Samuel talked about it, and Samuel told her that Celie's and Nettie's real father was not the man they called "Pa"'; their mother had been married before to a man who was lynched by white people. In this way, Celie is freed from the nightmare of believing that her own father raped her. Samuel adopted the children Adam and Olivia from him in fact the biological children of Celie, that’s why they look similar to Nettie as well. This puts an end to Corrine’s suspicion.

 

For the first time, Celie writes a letter to Nettie. She has visited her old house with Shug and seen her Pa. Meanwhile, she goes on reading Nettie's letters.

Nettie and Samuel tried to convince Corrine of the real story of the children. She believed them finally and Corrine smiled to them then died soon afterwards.

'I don't write to God no more, I write to you (Nettie)," says Celie in her next letter.

Shug and Celie decide to leave Mr-- together with Mary Agnes (Squeak), who wants to be a singer. Celie curses Mr--. The two women go to Shug's house in Memphis. Then, Shug travels around singing, and Celie starts Folkspants, Unlimited, a family clothing business.

When Celie goes back home to see Sofia and Harpo, she finds Mr-- has changed. He cooks and cleans. Now they can talk. Harpo tells Celie his father could not sleep until he sent Celie the last letters he had kept.

The letters say Nettie and Samuel got married and travelled to England. Celie's stepfather dies and she inherits the house. She cleans it of its horror with a ceremony and sells her pants there. Shug goes back to Memphis. Celie is very sad and lonely, and she then hears that the ship Nettie had taken to go home was sunk by the Germans. But Nettie's letters keep arriving.

Sofia starts working in Celie's store. She is with Harpo again. Mr--, who is now called Albert, asks Celie to marry him, but Celie prefers friendship. Shug comes back to them. Celie's last letter in the book is to God, but this time it is Shug's God. Celie is happy because Nettie finally return’s home with Samuel and the grown children of Celie. They fall into each other’s bosom and remains hugging for a long time. Celie writes that she has never felt so young before in her life.