Fellow vacationers/juniors-to-be,
First of all, a hearty congratulations to all on successfully completing another fine year of scholastic achievement. I hope you are currently reclining in a well-cushioned chair on a beach, sipping some lemonade out of a coconut, listening to the waves break against the shoreline (while reading The Color Purple). Please post your comments that deal with pgs. 1-19 here. We'll divide the posts into sections so that the speedy readers don't give away the huge plot events. I saw the musical a couple weeks ago, and if you haven't seen it already, it is amazing- a story of transformation, of finding beauty (not the Max Factor kind), inner strength, and defining identity on one's own terms.
Alice Walker states, "Love- that's what this story is really about." The author has spoken, but that's not the final word by any means. As you read, consider: What do you think this novel is "about"? What themes, motifs, symbols do you notice?
What mentality/philosophy/way of thinking do certain characters seem to represent? What function do these characters play in the novel? (Why did Walker include them?) What is Celie's turning point in the novel? How did she get to that place? Who or what helped her along the way? What foils do you observe? How do you define love? How do Celie, Shug, Sofia, and Mr.___ define it? What makes a good marriage/partnership? How does one negotiate a balance of sorts in a relationship? How/why is this balance important? Conversely, since we can often learn as much from bad examples as good ones (what NOT to do), what makes for a bad, unhealthy relationship (friendship, love, family, pets?!, etc.)? You will see some poignant examples in the novel if you haven't already. How is racism internalized in the novel? Which characters' actions display internalized racism? Which characters disrupt the status quo? What are the results? What is Walker's message?
If you're on page 19, you may not be ready to address those questions quite yet. For this and all others, you may choose to comment on the questions provided, or include other ideas, questions, interpretations that occur to you as you read. Please write a thought-provoking, reflective paragraph (or so) per post to count toward your five required posts for this novel. Hopefully, we'll get a lively exchange of ideas going. Please take some time to respond to what others have said, and ask questions as they occur. Here are some questions geared toward this section of the novel: Analyze what happens to Celie and why. What is the possible significance of Celie's father's introductory statement, "You better not tell nobody but God..." In her first letter, why does Celie, cross out "I am" and write "I have"? What are the circumstances surrounding the death of Celie's mother? What does her conversation with Celie seem to infer? Discuss Celie and Nettie's relationship. Why is Mr.___unnamed? What is Celie's reaction to Shug Avery's picture? Notice any foreshadowing here? What did you make of the the discussion between Mr.____ and Celie's father in regard to the proposed marriage? What is revealed about each man and the (im)balance of power? What is Celie's role in this decision? (Ladies, thank goodness it's 2008...) Based on the wedding day, what predictions do you have for this marriage? What is your advice to Celie? What is the deal with Mr.____? (*Contest: challenge to the class: fill in the blank of Mr.___'s name. All entries must be school appropriate. The winner of the contest will receive bragging rights, which are always nice.) If there are any budding psychoanalysts in the crowd, feel free to have a field day with Mr.____. Analyze Celie's interaction with the child she believes to be hers. Analyze Nettie's stay with Celie. What prompted the visit? What is revealed about Mister___? What will happen to Nettie? Will Celie ever see her again?
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Edith Wharton
John Steinbeck
Mark Twain
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ralph Ellison
Alice Walker
28 comments:
when are the comments for this post due?
The five Color Purple posts are due by July 8th, and the five Invisible Man posts are due by August 20th.
oh, I knew that... I just didn't know if each individual comment for the set amount of pages was due on a certain date.
Thanks :]
First, all of the men in the book thus far aren't addressed by name. My reaction to this is that Celie's attitude toward men are that they're all the same, or it might even be a dominance issue. I say this because, think about, do the oppressed usually address their superiors by name? No, usually it's just master or something like that, and Celie is oppressed by men greatly, beginning with her father.
So far it's a hard book to analyze, it's a deep book and they're so much behind everything that's happening.
Celie has absolutely no say in the decision that she is to marry Mr.____. Despite the fact that she does not want to be his wife and actually would like her sister Nettie to marry him, so Nettie can get away from their overbearing father, Celie does not say this. Celie knows that if she refuses she will be punished severely and still have to marry Mr.____, so she goes quietly.
Celie is treated more like a maid than like a wife in Mr. ____ house. This was assumed though by the wedding day because she took care of the children while he did nothing. Even in Mr.___ house she does all the work while he sits on the porch, and gets no respect. She acts like a robot by doing everything that she is told to do, and not fighting back.
Also, what is the problem with men in this era? They run around sleeping with other woman, having children with other woman (like Mr.____ did with Shug while he was betrothed), and their wives don't even say a word about it. It seems like the men should be getting the beatings by the way they treat their wives, but instead the men beat the wives.
If you guys haven't noticed, both Celie's wife AND the reverend are unnamed. Even Celie's father is never addressed by name. This may be a long shot, but maybe the lack of names is because of Celie's fear of men. This fear was instilled by the horrible treatment of her father, and now her fear of men keeps her from speaking (or writing) their names, even when addressing God. She DOES say the names of her younger brother and Mr. _____'s son, which suggests she only fears males that are older than her. It would make sense, as she's had such a traumatizing experience with older men in her life.
I don't think that Celie's lack of opposition to her being married to Mr. ____ was so much fear. I think that she doesn't know how to fight back. Celie may be stubborn, but her fear of males keeps her from doing anything on her own. Celie wants Mr. ____ to pick Nettie, but when she sees that her father will not let Mr. ____ marry her younger sister, she realizes that she has no choice. Celie has seen her father's amount of power, and knows that he will get his way, no matter what. She does not fear punishment.
She has been punished by him throughout her life. Celie just wants to stay alive and be left alone. Even though she wants Nettie to get away from their father, she knows that if she refuses, life will just be harder for her. Why refuse to get married to a man if you're going to be forced to marry him anyway?
I kind of rambled on with that, but it made sense...right?
So far, the entire novel is written around the fact that men have dominance over women. Celie's father has complete control over Nettie, Celie, his wife, and even his new wife from Gray. Celie's father even had some control over Mr.____'s decision to marry Nettie. "She ugly. Don't even look like she kin to Nettie. But she'll make the better wife." Reffering to Celie almost like a piece of equipment, he successfully persuaded Mr.____ to marry Celie instead. For Celie, it was simply just another man who would be in control of her life. For Mr.____, Celie was a girl who would take care of his family so he wouldn't have to (which was shown on the day of their wedding).
I think that Alice Walker's writing style in The Color Purple represents her father's and her husband's sexist beliefs. They believe that women are tools for work and sex. They want their wives and daughters to be uneducated so they will mind and whatnot. She writes with fragmented sentences, shorter words, horrible spelling and grammar to show she doesn't know the correct way. (ex- "two berkulosis" pg. 45)
Also, the contrast between Sofia and Celie is a great foil. It helps the readers understand them more. Sofia fights back and stands up for herself while Celie kind of fits the men's steriotype of women and takes it. She's only trying to stay alive. That was really amazing of walker to write.
how honest are we allowed to be on this?
Very thought-provoking comments thus far. Thanks to everyone who has commented. Dustin, the blog comments should represent your thoughts and interpretations regarding the book. Not quite sure I'm answering your question. Please email me for any specific concerns/questions. The book definitely has some sensitive issues and uses harsh language to send its message. As stated earlier, alternate reading is available to those who request it. Hope that helps!
well it seems to me that celie has been traumatized by the men in her life, and thats why she calls them all mr _____, but this only seems to be their last names. she calls her dad pa, calls harpo harpo, but when mr is put before it, she cant bring herself to say the last name.
When Celie first saw the picture of Shug Avery one of the first things she said was how beautiful Shug was. Then she thought Shug was prettier than her mama and a thousand times prettier than herself, page 6. And that was before Celie even met Shug. Right off the bat we feel Celie’s insecurities about her appearance and even deeper how she may never feel as good as anybody else. Especially when her father makes her feel totally useless and maybe even ugly, by taking complete advantage of her.
Celie's insecurities give the readers a reason to understand why she doesn't fight back. Celie does not have confidence in herself and she maybe potentially scared of men because of her previous experiences.
In the beginning it says "You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy", thus Celie saying "Dear God" at the beginning of each new section of her story, which kind of makes each section like a prayer, minus an "Amen" at the end. Also, my first impression of The blanks after "Mr." was because her perception of men and how inhumane they have been to her, so it's like they aren't real people to her. She also says on page 2 that she doesnt know any other man than God.
It seems like the only existence of "love" in the novel is brotherly/sisterly love, since it's obvious that there's no love between man and woman in the novel as mates. An example is that it seems like the only person Celie loves is her sister Nettie.
To me it appears that Celie, being mentally and physically hurt by many men, has developed an inferiority complex with herself being inferior to men. Seeing how the only men she calls by name are "pa" and "harpo" all of the Mr.______'s seem to be people she either people she fears or people she doesn't trust. But upon drawing that conclusion why does she call "pa" by name? is it such fear that drives her to call him by name?
The men in Celie's life are all shown as inhumane people, except for Harpo. Celie has respect for him. But others, such as Mr. _____ have zero respect for her. On the wedding day when Mr. _____'s oldest son throws a rock at Celie, all Mr. _____ has to say is "don't do that" as if it's no big deal. So far the book just seems to show how men think they are superior to women. Thankfully, that has changed in the present age...
I think most of or all of you for that matter are on the same page as to why Celie does not name the last name of Mr._____ and other men. As she names the men that are not dominant over her, for instance Harpo but does not name men who abuse as Mr._____ does. In the case of her abusive father, I think Celie calls him pa becuase it is common to say ma and pa. Probably children did not or could not call their mother of father by any other name than ma and pa as in the case of respect. It might also be strange to say Mr._____ for her father as well. I also noticed that when Mr._____ changed, Celie called him by his first name. This clearly demonstrates that men who are abusive to her are not worthy of just a first name in her eyes.
I think the main reason why Mr___ beats and abuses Celie, and his family, is the way his father was. Mr___'s father is described as being a horrible person who mistreated his family. Mr___'s dad mistreated his family and Mr___, so Mr.___ mistreats his family and Celie. And then Celie advises Harpo to beat his wife. There is a cycle in this book. There is a violent cycle going on this book that is passed from generation to generation and needs to be stopped. When one character is abused in this book, they pass it on. That needs to be stopped.
When Celie looks at Shug Avery's picture, Celie is astonished by the beauty of Ms. Avery. The face of Ms. Avery is a beauty that Celie has never seen before. This could be foreshadowing feelings or an obsession that Celie will have towards Ms. Avery later in the novel.
Based on the wedding day, I would have to predict that Celie's and Mr._____'s marriage is not going to work out. One reason I think this is because of the way that Mr._____'s children react to the marriage. On Celie's wedding day, Mr._____'s son throws a rock and it strikes Celie in the forehead, leaving her with a bloody wound on her head. Then, Mr._____'s only reaction to this is "Don't do that!"...The rest of the wedding day Celie spends untangling her stepdaughters hair for hours, while the stepdaughters are screaming. To me, the children do not seem to fond of having Celie as a mother. Mr._____ doesn't seem very proud as having her as a wife either.
So far in the book, Celie has grown up and is now 20 and has been forced into a marriage she does not want to be part of. Nettie sees what is happening to Celie and does not agree with the situation her sister is in, as she says, "I sure hate to leave you here with these rotten children... Not to mention with Mr. ____. It's like seeing you buried." Celie and Mr. ____'s relationship this far seems to be an unhealthy one as Celie is being used as a wife to do work, take care of the children, cook, and make Mr. ____ happy.
Mr._____'s surname?
I propose Benjamin.
It comes from the Hebrew "Binyamin" meaning "son of the south"
Not a bad name for one who follows the law of the land at that time(internalized racism, domination of women)
Do I get bragging rights now?
Nettie came to Celie's house to escape her abusive father. She said she might try to get help for her younger siblings. Mr.__ made it obvious that he still preferred Nettie and when she rejected him, he told Celie that she needed to leave. Nettie agreed quietly and didn't argue with the fact that she had no where to go. Celie helped Nettie by telling her the name of the reverend and his wife. I predict that they will take Nettie in and treat her kindly.
As I start out by reading the book, Celie is just a teenage girl suffering from alot of problems. For starters her mother is sick leaving her mother very weak to do anything. I guess this is just a better oppurtunity for her pa to do things innapropriately to her.
When her mother died it left her pa to have children with Celie. And worse than that, give the children away. And not only that when Nettie finds a husband he says shes to young and to marry Celie against her wants not to.
I guess i dont understand why she just cant run away
Celie has clearly been oppressed by all of the men ever since the early stages of her life, which makes it slightly clearer why all the men in the book up to this point are unnamed. I cannot quite say at this point what it will mean for Celie's marriage, but it doesn't seem likely to work.
Celie's reaction to the photograph of Shug Avery is one of awe and amazement. Celie is struck by beauty she has never seen before. Celie then takes the photograph and stares at it for hours, and seems to obsess over the photograph of her. This is foreshadowing of the love obession that Celie has with Shug later in the book.
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