Literature Analysis #2

The Color Purple
By: Alice Walker
1. Exposition: Nettie and Celie are sisters that live in the South with their mama and pa. Celie is the chunky and unattractive sister that no one really likes, while Nettie is the extremely pretty and intelligent sister that everyone likes. The sisters pa is only their step-father, which they find out later. Celie and Nettie's mom die, which means pa aims his focus on Celie. Celie is raped by her pa multiple times, which was why her mother had resentment towards her before her death. Celie has two children, which are both from her pa. As soon as the children are born they are taken from Celie and she never sees them again. She never knew if they were killed or given away, she only knew that she would never see them again. Pa starts to get tired of Celie and wants to have sexual relations with Nettie, but Celie tries to keep him satisfied for as long as possible.
Rising Action: Mr.         is a neighbor of the family, who recently lost his wife. She was cheating on him and ran home to go be with her husband and her "boyfriend" shot her. Mr.       needed someone to take care of his children for him so he went looking for a new wife. He went to pa and asked if he could purchase Nettie from him. Pa refused to give Nettie away as he still wanted to have sexual intercourse with her. Pa offered Celie to Mr.     , who at first did not want her whatsoever. Finally, Mr.        decided to take Celie, not because he loved her or wanted her, but because he needed someone to take care of his children for him. His children were very evil and extremely mean, which is why it was hard for him to find a "wife." Celie does not want to leave her sister with pa and is afraid she will never see her again.
Conflict: While Celie is living with Mr.        , she is physically abused, forced to have sex with him, and treated very poorly by his children. She hates her life with him and always obeys everything that he says, so that she wont be beaten. Nettie escapes from pa's house and comes to stay with Celie. They enjoy their time together, but Mr.          tells Celie that Nettie must leave and find another place to stay. Celie doesn't want her sister to leave, but rather would leave with her and live a much better life. Also, Celie had gone to the market with Mr.       and saw her daughter with another women; she was absolutely sure that it had been her daughter just by her looks and personality. Celie wants to try and find her daughter again and take her back.
Climax: After many years with Mr.       and Shug, which was a friend of Mr.        who lived with them for a few years, Celie finally announces that she is going to leave Mr.       . She had tolerated his abuse for too many years and now Shug was helping her to get away from him. What triggered Celie to leave was when she found all of the letters from Nettie from over the years that Mr.      had been hiding from her. She was so upset that he had taken her sister from her that she decided to leave.
Falling Action: Celie goes to live with Shug and spends a lot of her time sewing pants. She makes pants for all of her friends and family, but then starts to make a business out of it. She is extremely happy and enjoying life, writing letters back and forth with Nettie, who was now in Africa with Celie's children. Celie gets a call from pa's new wife and finds out that he had passed away and the house was left to her and her sister. Celie decides to move away from Shug who had now become her secret lover. She goes to live in her new house after being heartbroken by Shug who decided to be with a young guy that was half her age.
Resolution: While living in her new house, Celie begins to talk to Mr.      again but in a way that they respected each other. She would sit with him and joke, talk, and sew pants all day. He was all she had since Shug had left her and Nettie had not come back from Africa. After a long time she accept Mr.      as a friend again and they hung out every day. Shug comes back and wants to be with Celie again and Nettie returns from Africa with Celie's children. They all live together between Celie and Mr.     's house.
The story fulfills the author's purpose of wanting to break through the barriers of always being held back and treated poorly. Also, to show the connection between two loved ones and how no matter how far away they are from each other, they will always be together in their hearts. The author shows these messages through the relationships between Celie and Nettie and Celie and Mr.     .
2. The theme of this story is to show people that if you keep trying and keeping working for what you want, no matter what comes across your path, you will get what you want someday. Celie is raped, cheated on, physically and mentally abused and is still an amazing, loving person that finally has her own house and own business. Another potential theme is that true and real love will always keep a connection. Nettie and Celie did not talk for over ten years and were at opposite ends of the world, but still prayed to each other and used each other as inspiration every day without knowing if the other one was still alive.
3. The tone is bitter and tragic because Celie is so angry at all of the bad things that have happened to her and her family.
"I say it cause I'm a fool, I say, I say it cause I'm jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can't." Pg 40 This shows how Celie is bitter towards Sophia because she can stand up for herself, while Celie cannot.
"My daddy lynch. My mama crazy. All my little half brothers and sisters no kin to me. My children not my sister and brother. Pa not pa." Pg 177
This quote shows all the tragic and horrible things that Celie has been through. She is almost giving up, but Shug helps her to get back to herself.
"You a lowdown dog is what's wrong, I say. It's time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need." Pg199
This shows Celie's anger towards Mr.      and all of her resentment towards him for everything that he has done to her.
4. Imagery: "First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sory of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying you better shut up and git used to it." Pg 1
This quote creates vivid pictures in my mind and shows just another struggle that Celie must face throughout her life.
Anaphora: "By time I git back from the well, the water be warm. By the time I git the tray ready the food be cold. By the time I git all the children ready for school it be dinner time." Pg 2
This use of repetition is used to show and reiterate that Celie is unattractive and not liked by many people.
Vernacular: "Don't nobody come see us. She got sicker an sicker. Finally she ast Where it is? I say God took it." Pg 2
This shows how Celie was uneducated and talked with a southern accent, which was yet another struggle she encountered, not being intelligent enough.
Metaphor: "And your dead body just be the welcome mat I need." Pg 199
This shows how bitter Celie really is even though she had never expressed it out loud before.
Point of View: "When I told Shug I'm writing to you instead of to God, she laugh." Pg 198
This shows that Celie talks in first person and is the narrator of the story.
Idiom: "Such good peoples, that's the truth. The salt of the earth. But-time to move on." Pg 199
This explains why Celie needs to leave and move on to something that doesn't remind her of all the pain she has endured.
Symbolism: "I remember one time you said your life made you feel so ashamed you couldn't even talk about it to God, you had to write it, bad as you thought your writing was. Well, now I know what you meant." And whether God will read letters or no, I know you will go on writing them; which is guidance enough for me." Pg 130
God symbolizes Celie's safe place and where she can vent about how horrible and tragic her life is, but God also symbolizes the relationship between Nettie and Celie. Through God, the sisters were able to stay united and be connected.
Personification: "It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That's how come I know trees fear man."
This shows how Celie truly fears all men because of the bad experiences she has been through.
Motif: "Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear everything. Dear God." Pg 285
Letters are the recurring motif in this story, whether the letter are between Celie and Nettie or Celie and God. The letters allow for emotion and inside thoughts, rather than just the simple events being told.
Allusion: "It's time to leave you and enter into the Creation." Pg 199
Celie refers to going into the Creation in which she is referring to heaven. She is finally being lifted by God and into a better place, her Heaven, away from her past.
Characterization:
1. Direct Characterization: "I am fourteen years old. I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me." Pg1
This quote shows how innocent and confused Celie was in the beginning about why this was all happening to her.
"I ain't never struck a living thing, I say. Oh, when I was at home I tap the little ones on the behind to make 'em behave, but not hard enough to hurt." Pg 41
This quote shows how Celie is against violence because she has experienced it so much in her own life.
Indirect Characterization: "I think bout this when Harpo ast me what he ought to do to her to make her mind. I don't mention how happy he is now. How three years pass and he still whistle and sing. I think about how every time I jump when Mr.       call me, she look surprise. And like she pity me. Beat her. I say." Pg 36
This quote shows Celie's hate and jealousy towards Sophia because she had never been beaten like Celia had. She had so much anger and resentment in her, that she made a foolish decision and gave bad advice to Harpo.
"I talk to myself a lot, standing in front the mirror. Celie, I say, happiness was just a trick in your case. Just cause you never had any before Shug, you thought it was time to have some, and that it was gon last. Even thought you had the trees with you. The whole earth. The stars. But look at you. When Shug let, happiness desert." Pg 259
This quote shows that Celie has a hard time finding happiness because all she has ever known is sadness and tragedy.
The author uses both approaches to show the opposite sides of her. The direct characterization makes Celie seem so innocent and unaware, but the indirect characterization shows her evil and resentment side. I feel like I was able to see both sides of Celie through the authors approach.
2. When Celie is describing someone close and important to her the diction and syntax change in that there is a light rather than the darkness that is often revealed throughout the story. Throughout most of the story, the diction and syntax stay the same; she is still uneducated and still has resentment because she is the ugliest and least intelligent, but when she talks about Shug and Nettie, there is a sparkle that isn't seen throughout the rest of the story. Example: "Shug Avery was a woman. The most beautiful woman I ever saw. She more pretty then my mama. She bout ten thousand times prettier then me." Pg 6
3. Celie is the protagonist of this story. She is dynamic because she goes from being taken advantage of and always obeying others, even when she didn't want to do what they said, to holding her own and doing what was right for herself. She is a round character because she is fully developed and her true person is shown, whether it be her good side or her bad side.
4. I believe that I truly met a person. Celie tells her story as if she is talking to someone extremely close to her. I feel like I am her best friend and she is sharing all of her problems and struggles with me. "First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying you better shut up and git used to it." When Celie said this, I felt like she was directly talking to me because people don't just share these stories with anything or anyone. They only share these types of experiences with people that are really close to them. So already at page one I felt like I was Celie's close friend.