The Color Purple
| File:Color purple.jpg Recent paperback cover for The Color Purple | |
| Author | Alice Walker |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |
Publication date | 1982 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0151191530 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
The Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. It was later adapted into a film and musical of the same name.
Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story addresses many issues related to African-American life during the early to mid 20th century in the American south, especially focusing on women's low position in black social culture. Because of the novel's sometimes explicit content, particularly in terms of violence, it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number eighteen.[1]
Plot summary
The story is told through a series of diary entries and letters. Celie is a poor, uneducated young woman who, at 14, is sexually abused and impregnated twice by a man she believes to be her father, Alphonso. After her children are taken away to "be with God," she is forced to marry a widower, with several children, who is physically abusive. At first, she is joined in her new home by her younger sister, Nettie, whom Celie's new husband had originally wanted to marry. After he attempts to seduce Nettie, she escapes, promising to write to Celie. As time passes, Celie assumes that Nettie is dead.
In her writings, Celie refers to her husband as "Mr. ___." One of his sons, Harpo, falls in love with and marries an overbearing and physically imposing woman named Sofia. Though both Harpo and "Mr. ___" attempt to treat her as an inferior, Sofia fights back, sometimes even physically, and Celie is amazed by her defiance.
"Mr. ___" has a mistress, singer Shug (short for "Sugar") Avery, and she comes to live with the family because of her poor health. Like "Mr. __", Shug at first has little respect for Celie and the life she lives. She copies her lover, abusing Celie and adding to her humiliation. Celie initially feels threatened by this effervescent, liberated version of femininity, but she eventually realizes that she is sexually attracted to Shug. When Shug discovers that "Mr. ___" beats Celie, she decides to remain in the house in order to protect her.
After a few years of constant fighting, Sofia leaves Harpo, taking their children with her. At the same time, Celie and Shug become intimate and a strong bond grows between them. When Sofia returns to town for a visit, she becomes involved in a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, who is nicknamed "Squeak" because of her high-pitched voice. One day, the mayor’s wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia to work as her maid. When Sofia declines with the words, "Hell, no," the mayor slaps Sofia. When she returns the blow, knocking the mayor down, she is arrested for hitting a white man. She is later sentenced to work for twelve years as the mayor's maid. The separation from her family and her freedom breaks her spirit.
Even after Shug marries a man called Grady, she and Celie become lovers. One night, when Shug asks Celie about Nettie, Celie says that she believes her sister to be dead, since she had promised to write but Celie had never received any letters. Shug informs Celie that she has seen "Mr. ___" hide numerous mysterious letters in a trunk and suggests that they investigate. When they do so, they find dozens of letters written by Nettie to Celie over the years. These tell of Nettie's travels to Africa with a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, and their adopted children, Olivia and Adam. When Corrine becomes ill, Samuel tells Nettie how they came to adopt their children and that his wife has suspected that Nettie was their biological mother due to their resemblance. Nettie then learns that Olivia and Adam are Celie's long-lost children, and that she is the children's aunt. She also learns that Alphonso was not her and Celie's father but rather their stepfather. Their biological father, a store-owner, had been lynched by a mob of white men because they believed he was too successful. After Corrine's acceptance of Nettie's story, she dies, and Samuel and Nettie discover that they are deeply in love; they eventually marry.
Having read the letters and learned the truth about her children as well as her biological father, Celie visits Alphonso to confirm the story, which he does. Celie finds a new sense of empowerment, and at dinner one night she releases her pent-up anger at "Mr. ___", cursing him for the years of abuse that she has had to endure. Shug, Celie, and Squeak decide to move to Tennessee, where Celie begins a lucrative business designing and sewing tailored pants. She returns to Georgia for a visit and finds that not only has "Mr. ___" reformed himself and his ways, but Alphonso has died and all of his land now belongs to her. Celie decides to move back, relocating her business.
Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel are preparing for their return to America. Adam falls in love with and marries an African girl named Tashi, who undergoes the painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. Adam also goes through the facial scarring ritual in solidarity. Nettie writes to Celie to let her know that the family is on their way.
Celie is now an independent woman. Celie and "Mr. ___" eventually reconcile, and he begins to help her with her business, sewing with her as they sit on the porch. Sofia and Harpo remarry, and Sofia also works for Celie. Nettie and Samuel return with the children, and Celie and her sister are happily reunited.
Origins of the title
The title derives from a discussion between Celie and Shug about faith. Describing what God does to please people, Shug says, "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it." After Celie asks what God does in response to this obliviousness, Shug replies that he creates something else people will see, because God just wants to be loved. The discussion leads the rekindling of Celie's faith, despite years of abuse and neglect.
Film and theatrical adaptations
The novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 1985. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Whoopi Goldberg as Celie, Danny Glover as "Mr. ___", and Oprah Winfrey as Sofia. Though nominated for 11 Academy Awards, it did not win any. This perceived snubbing many believed was due to Hollywood racism and Hollywood's lack of respect for black actors since The Color Purple was the first Hollywood dramatic film with an all black cast to be a huge critical and commerical success. Many critics considered it the best picture that year,[2] including Roger Ebert.[3] Others were upset by the film's depiction of the black male as abusive, uncaring, and disloyal. Other critics felt that Steven Spielberg was a poor choice for such a complex drama and that the film had changed or eliminated much of the book's defense of lesbianism.
On December 1, 2005, a musical adaptation of the novel opened at the Broadway Theater in New York City. The show was produced by Oprah Winfrey and garnered five 2006 Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, including Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding New Score. That same year, the show was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score Written for the Theater, and Best Leading Actress in a Musical (LaChanze). LaChanze did win the Tony Award, though the show itself won no other awards. The perception by the African American community was that racism was the reason the hit play only won one award. LaChanze's win was attributed to the variety of roles for which she had garnered positive attention, as well as for a powerful backstory.
Editions
- ISBN 0-606-00587-0 (prebound, 1985)
- ISBN 0-671-61702-8 (mass market paperback, 1985)
- ISBN 0-671-64745-8 (mass market paperback, 1987)
- ISBN 0-671-66878-1 (paperback, 1988)
- ISBN 0-15-119154-9 (hardcover, 1992, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 1-56849-628-1 (library binding, 1995, reprint)
- ISBN 0-671-01907-4 (paperback, 1998)
- ISBN 0-7641-2064-6 (paperback, 2002)
- ISBN 0-15-602835-2 (paperback, 2003)
- ISBN 0-671-72779-6
- ISBN 0-7043-3905-6
See also
Citations
Reference
- Nishikawa, Kinohi. "The Color Purple." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 491-93.