Blog # 3 "The Color Purple"

In writing this blog, know that I have finished the book; "The Color Purple." Celie’s final letter shows the extent to which her character has developed through the course of the novel. Celie’s first letters simply related events without really attempting to understand or interpret them. Gradually, Celie began to make astute observations of others and to articulate and analyze her own feelings. In her final letters, Celie not only analyzes her own feelings, but she has the confidence and insight to articulate the feelings and motives of others. The novel ends with an interesting thought, Celie’s comment that though her generation is growing older, the family reunion has made them feel younger than ever before. In this way, at the end of the novel, Celie acts as a voice not only for herself, but also for all the characters her age. This is a huge step forward from where she was, again making choices for herself and doing things for herself.

I would also like to say a word or two about the author, and how some of her signature styles show in this novel. In the section where Celie starts writing to Nettie instead of to God, Walker presents personal religious belief as an important aspect of a strong sense of herself. Celie has always imagined God as a distant figure who likely does not listen to her concerns. She sees God as a white man who behaves like the other men she knows and who does not listen to “poor colored women.” This image of God held by Celie—and, ironically, by Nettie, Corrine, and Samuel in their missionary work—is limiting. In thinking of God as an old, bearded white man who does not listen to her, Celie implicitly accepts white and masculine dominance and makes the assumption that her voice can never be heard. Shug’s concept of God, on the other hand, is much more personalized and empowering. Unlike Celie, it appears that Shug does not ascribe a race or gender to God. Instead, Shug believes that each individual sees God in his or her own way. Celie’s recognition that she has control over her concept of God and does not have to blindly accept the religious viewpoints that are handed to her is an important step in her quest for self-respect.

Throughout The Color Purple, Walker makes it clear that storytelling and communication are crucial to self-understanding. This is the only way that Celie was able to achieve that. She was able to achieve that by writing letters to God, and more successfully to her sister. Through these letters she realized things about herself that made her who she is, she was able to come to terms with them and eventually, value them.