CU-MA-Eng-SEM-IV-Women’s Writing

2. Woman as writer (Gynocritics) 3. The problems of Feminist Critique 4. Program of Gynocritics 5. Feminine, Feminist and Female Stages. Women as a reader (Feminist criticism)  According to Elaine Showalter, feminism can be divided into two distinct varieties.  The first type refers to the “woman as reader.”  In this concept, women are considered as consumers of literature produced by male writers.  She calls it man-made literature.  Elaine argues that a feminine reading can change our idea of a given text.  Elaine calls this type of critical analysis feminist.  It is an investigation with a historical basis.  Her themes include images and stereotypes of women in literature, omissions and misconceptions about women in criticism.  She also examines the cracks in man-made literary history.  For example, Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, in the time of Julius Caesar was treated differently by Shakespeare and Bernard Shaw.  Bernard Shaw casts her as Caesar’s adopted daughter, while Shakespeare regards her as Caesar’s concubine.  Feminist criticism also dealt with the exploitation and manipulation of the female audience, especially in popular culture and film.  We found ads where women appear in different poses displaying part of their body to get more ads for various consumer products. Woman as a writer (Gynocritics)  The second type of feminist criticism refers to women as writers. In this concept, the woman is the producer of the textual meaning.  It explores and deepens themes, genres and structures of women’s literature.  Woman as a Writer includes the following topics: a) The psychodynamics of a female creativity b) Linguistics and the problem of the feminine language 151 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

c) The female collective literary career d) Literary history e) Studies of private writers and their works. Since there is no particular term in English for that branch, Elaine adopted the French term gynocritique and changed it to Gynocritics. Feminist criticism is essentially political and polemical. Theoretically he is affiliated with Marxist sociology and aesthetics. Gynocritics is more autonomous and experimental. The problems of feminist criticism  One of the problems with feminist criticism is that it is oriented towards men.  If we study stereotypes about women, the sexism of male critics, and the limited role that women play in the history of literature, we do not learn what women have felt and experienced.  We only have the experience of what men have heard. In some fields of expertise, learning the male theorist is essential.  This raises another problem, the problem of reluctance or resistance to questioning. The critic tends to naturalize the victimization of women by making it inevitable. Gynocritical program  Gynocritics’ program is to build a women’s framework for the analysis of women’s literature.  Another task is to develop new models based on the study of the female experience.  It does not support the idea of adopting male models and theories.  Showalter observes: “Gynocritic begins the moment we free ourselves from the absolute weaknesses of male literary theory, we stop trying to insert women between the lines of the male tradition. Elaine hopes to establish a visible world of female culture. Feminine, feminist and feminine stage  In her book “A Literature of Her Own,” Elaine Showalter writes about English women writers.  She says that we can see patterns and stages in the evolution of a female tradition. Showalter divided the period of evolution into three phases.  They are: the Feminine, Feminist and Feminine phases. The first phase, the female phase, dates back to approximately 1840-1880. 152 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 At the time, women wrote in an attempt to match the intellectual achievements of male culture.  The hallmark of this period is the male pseudonym.  This trend was introduced to England in 1840.  It became a national feature of English writers.  During this phase, the feminist content of female art is typically oblique, due to the inferiority complex that female writers experience. The feminist phase lasted about 38 years; from 1882 to 1920.  The New Women movement gained strength: women obtained the right to vote.  Writers began to use literature to dramatize evidence of incorrect femininity. The last phase or the third phase is called the feminine phase in progress since 1920.  Here we find women who reject both imitation and protest. Showalter believes both are signs of addiction.  Women show more independent attitudes.  They realize the place of female experience in the process of art and literature.  She feels that there is what she calls autonomous art that can come from women because their experiences are typical and individualistic.  Women began to focus on the forms and techniques of art and literature.  Representatives of the female phase such as Dorothy Richardson and Virginia Woolf even began to think of male and female phrases.  They have written about male journalism and female fiction.  They have redefined and sexualized external and internal experience. In general, we can conclude that her views on feminist poetics are intelligent, largely devoid of rhetorical and provocative extremes. Showalter speaks with calm and compelling authority, like one who firmly believes in the truth of what she says. She is both serious, in the sense that she sees that change must occur immediately, and patient, in the sense that she hopes that, given enough time, the wisdom and truth of her cause will prevail. 7.8 KEYWORDS • The Old Testament- The body of writings in the Bible about the cultural and spiritual development of Israel before the birth of Jesus. They were guided by a stem and punishing God, the Ten Commandments and the prophets 153 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• The wilderness - ThedesertareainwhichtheIsraeliteswandered whentheywereledbyMoses fromEgypt. • Egypt - where they had been slaves to the Egyptians, to... • The Promised Land - ofCanaanwhichGodgavethemfortheirown country. • Jeremiah- AprophetwholedIsraelandwarnedthemaboutthe birthandministryofJesusandthedevelopmentof the Church. It has a vision of a Loving, compassionate God who is there forall people not only the Israelites. 7.9 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Identify a work of your own analyse it with the gynocriticism ___________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. Identify the at least five gynocritics and ready the works writers by them. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ 3. “Towards a Feminist Poetics” is considered a landmark in the history of feminist literary criticism - Justify ___________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 7.10 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What is feminism according to Elaine Showalter? 2. What are the concerns of Elaine Showalter as feminist? 3. How does Showalter stress the need to reconstruct the past in feminist poetics? 4. What is the female phase? 5. Which among the following are the major phases of feminist criticism? Long Questions 1. In which phase of feminist literature, according to Showalter women wrote in an effort to equalize the intellectual achievements of the male culture? 2. In which phase of feminist literature, according to Showalter women rejected the accommodation postures of felinity and to use literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged woman hood? 154 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

3. In which phase of feminist literature, according to Showalter, did women reject both initiation and protest? 4. Discuss the major phases of feminist criticism. 5. Explain the manifesto of Romantic Criticism? B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. According to Elaine Showalter, feminist criticism can be divided in ------ varieties a. two b. three c. four d. five 2. Elaine Showalter is an influential _____ critic a. British b. American c. African d. French 3. ______ is the term coined by Elaine Showalter. a. Androcentricism b. Feminine c. Gynocriticism d. Womanism 4. According to Elaine Showalter first type of feminism is considered as _______. a. woman as reader b. male-writers c. woman as writer d. female literary career 5. According to Elaine Showalter first type of feminism is considered as _______, 155 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

a. woman as reader b. male-writers c. woman as writer d. female literary career Answers 1-a, 2-b, 3-c, 4-a, 5-c 7.11 REFERENCES Reference books  Flexner, Eleanor. Mary Wollstonecraft. New York: Coward, McGann & Geoghegan, 1972.  Mellor, Anne. “Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ and the Women Writers of Her Day.” The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft. Ed. Claudia L. Johnson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002  Weaker Vessel: Woman’s Lot in Seventeenth-century England. Antonia Fraser. Phoenix.2002.  Nobody’s Story: The Vanishing Acts of Women Writers in the Marketplace, 1670- 1920.CatherineGallagher. University ofCambridge Press, 1995. Textbook references  Wollstonecraft, Mary. (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. With Strictures on political and moral subjects. London. Websites  https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1553&context=etd- project  https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/a-vindication-of-the-rights-of- woman-by-mary-wollstonecraft.pdf  http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=etd  https://www.jstor.org/stable/3735238 156 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT - 8 ALICE WALKER: THE COLOR PURPLE STRUCTURE 8.0 Learning Objectives 8.1 Author’s Introduction 8.2 Introduction about the novel 8.3 Sociocultural Background 8.4 Characters 8.5 Analysis 8.6 Themes 8.7 Important Quotations 8.8 Summary 8.9 Keywords 8.10 Learning Activity 8.11 Unit End Questions 8.12 References 8.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Understand the analysis and interpretation of the novel  Elucidate the theme of the novel  Analyse the characters of the work  List the Literary Devices 8.1 AUTHOR’ S INTRODUCTION Alice Walker is a Pulitzer Prize-winning African American writer and poet, famous for writing “The Color Purple”. Born to sharecropping parents, Alice Walker grew up to be an acclaimed writer, essayist and poet. She is best known for her 1982 novel The Color Purple, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1983 and was soon adapted for the big screen by Steven Spielberg. Walker is also known for her activist work. Alice Malsenior Walker was born on February 9, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia. The youngest of the sharecroppers, she grew up in poverty, with her mother working as a maid for her daughter helping the family’s eight children. At age 8, Walker was shot in the right eye with a BB bullet while playing with two of her siblings. Whitish scar tissue has formed on her damaged eye and she has noticed this visible mark. After the accident, Ella Walker was largely withdrawn from the world around her. “For a long time I thought you were very ugly and disfigured,” she told John O’Brien in an interview published in Alice Walker: Critical 157 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Perspectives, Past and Present (1993). “This made me shy and shy, and I often reacted to insults and insults that were not intentional.” She found solace in reading and writing poetry. Living in the racially divided south, Walker displayed a brilliant mind in her segregated schools, graduating from high school as a class student. With the help of a scholarship, Walker was able to attend Spelman College in Atlanta. She later went to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. While she was Sarah Lawrence, Walker visited Africa as part of a study abroad program. She graduated in 1965, the same year she published her first short story. After college, Walker worked as a social worker, teacher, and lecturer. She became active in the civil rights movement, fighting for equality for all African Americans. Walker’s experiences informed her of her first poetry collection, Once, which was published in 1968. Better known now as a novelist, Walker displayed her talent for storytelling in her debut work, Third Life of Grange Copeland (1970). Walker continued to explore writing in all its forms. In 1973 she published the Revolutionary Petunias poetry collection and the In Love and Trouble short story collection, which included the acclaimed “Everyday Use.” The following year, he delivered his first children’s book, Langston Hughes: American Poet. Walker has also become a leading voice in the black feminist movement. Walker’s writing career took off with the publication of her third novel, The Color Purple, in 1982. Set in the early 1900s, the novel explores the African-American female experience through the life and struggles of the storyteller of her, Celie. Celie suffers terrible abuse from her father and, later, her husband. The compelling work earned Walker both the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Fiction Book Prize in 1983. In 1985, Walker’s story hit the big screen: Spielberg directed The Color Purple, starring Whoopi Goldberg as Celie, as well as Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. Like the novel, the film was a critical success, receiving 11 Oscar nominations. Walker explored her feelings about the film in her 1996 work, The Same River Twice: Honoring the Difficult. In 2005, The Color Purple became a Broadway musical. Walker incorporated the characters and their relationships from The Color Purple into two of her other novels: My Family Member’s Temple (1989) and Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992), which garnered high critical acclaim and caused some controversy. . the practice of female genital mutilation. In 1998, Walker published her first novel in six years, In the Light of My Father’s Smile. This was followed by the collection of short stories The way forward is with a broken heart (2000).Proving time and again that he is a versatile writer, Walker followed up with the novel Now is the Time to Open Your Heart (2004), the collection of essays We Are The One We Have Been Waiting For: Light in a Time of Darkness (2006) and the well-received picture book There is a flower on the tip of my nose that smells me (2006). Walker also wrote about her experiences with the group Women for Women International in Overcoming Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern Congo and Palestine / Israel in 2010. In the same year she published another collection of poems, Hard Times Require Furious Dancing. 158 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

After more than four decades as a writer, Walker shows no signs of giving up. In 2012 he published The Chicken Chronicles; In these latest memoirs, he reflects on caring for his flock of chickens. The following year he published Cushion in the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm’s Way and the poetry collection The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers. According to Walker’s website, his books have been translated into more than two dozen languages and more than 15 million copies have been sold. Through his involvement in civil rights activism, Walker met with New York-born Jewish lawyer Melvyn Leventhal. After their marriage in 1967, they became the first legally married interracial couple to live in Mississippi. The two had a daughter, Rebecca, before divorcing in 1976. Walker later dated men and women, including singer Tracy Chapman. He was also known to publicly quarrel with his daughter, who described how she was neglected by her writing mother in her memoir Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self (2000). Along with the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, Walker received the O. Henry Award and the Mahmoud Darwish literary prize for fiction. Additionally, she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2006 and received the LennonOno Peace Award in 2010. 8.2 INTRODUCTION – THE COLOR PURPLE The color purple is Alice Walker’s masterpiece, which made the author not only the first African-American author to receive a Pulitzer Prize, but also brought her worldwide fame and greater recognition for her other works. This text analysis focuses on the motifs, themes, and symbolisms used in the story. He also talks about the author offering an in-depth vision not only of her life, but also of the sociocultural background that has shaped this novel. As mentioned above, a clear focus is put on the novel’s themes, symbols, and motifs, which are widely used and therefore are also in some way responsible for the diversity of approaches to reading the novel. The textual analysis is enriched with a brief summary of the plot, the characters and their relationship, as well as a compressed paragraph that talks about the setting and an overview of some narrative techniques used in the novel. The Color Purple is an epistolary novel, a novel told in letter form, in which Alice Walker chronicles the gradual release of Celie, a poor black woman who must overcome abuse and separation from her beloved sister Nettie. Set in the south and in an unnamed African country between 1930 and 1940, the novel is a study of the ways black women use their faith, relationships, and creativity to survive racial and sexual oppression. The novel was critically acclaimed, earning Walker the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Fiction Book Prize. In his preface to the 10th anniversary edition of The Color Purple, Walker explains: “This book is the book in which I was able to express a new spiritual consciousness, a rebirth in strong feelings of Oneness that I realized I had experienced and given for. seated. when I was little; an opportunity for me and the main character, Celie, to meet What is beyond 159 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

comprehension but not love and say: I see and hear you clearly, Great Mystery, now that I hope to see you and hear you wherever you are, what is the right place. “Clearly, this novel is Walker’s and Celie’s spiritual journey, bringing the two women together as traveling companions. In fact, the entire novel focuses on their women’s travels. Although Walker wrote the novel in 1982 and Celie’s story takes place in the early 1900s (probably 1909- 1947), these women basically share a common path. The color violet is often used as an example of a “novel for women.” For Walker, feminist writing focuses on African American women in the United States of the 20th century. This novel tradition tends to deal with the oppression of African American women, not only through white domination but also by specific black and white men. In these novels we often meet women who fight through thick and thin for their survival and for the survival of their families. In their disjointed and displaced communities, these women are often mothers seeking to protect and reunite their families for the sake of future generations. Other notable authors who have written in this tradition include Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou. His female characters have been caged for too long and are finally learning to sing. These characters often focus as much on protecting the present, ensuring a healthy future, as well as dealing with the past. For example, The Color Purple has often been said to parody the tradition of slave-owning fiction. The slave narrative genre originated when slaves began to tell the stories of their experiences. About six thousand former slaves recounted their lives during the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the most famous slave narratives is The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass (1845). Both Walker’s novel and the slave narratives reveal the oppression of the speaker, revealing a gruesome treatment that had not previously been questioned. Both are also derived from African oral traditions of storytelling and singing. Africans brought to America as slaves were generally prohibited from speaking in their native languages (not unlike Celie’s speech suppression), so they often devised alternative means of communication, particularly acting and singing. His accounts were of plantation experiences and stories from his native Africa. These stories have been passed down from generation to generation and have quickly become the centerpiece of much of the African-American narrative. Through her storytelling, Celie ensures that her experiences as a black woman in America in the early 20thcentury are heard and told for generations to come. Although no specific dates are given, we can discern that the novel is set in the early 20th century, roughly between 1910 and 1940. After the abolition of slavery throughout the United States after the Civil War in 1865, African Americans still faced enormous difficulties. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were many more opportunities for success. Many received an education and many moved from the rural south to the industrial north. Those who moved brought their culture, songs and stories with them, and in the 1920s the jazz age 160 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

was born. In this environment, African-American music, poetry, and intellectual pursuits came together to form what we now know as The Harlem Renaissance. In The Color Purple we see such changes occur. Entrepreneur Harpo creates his juke joint and brings in well-known blues singer Shug. Shug’s success is symptomatic of Celie’s writing era, as she sings Bessie Smith and reflects a time anxious to have fun in her own time, to forget anxiety about the past or the future. By the end of the novel, the progression of opportunities is clear, as Celie can go out on her own. Celie works in the same house where she lived and her father worked. Thirty years earlier, her father’s life had been cut short by white rivals eager to keep him under control. In this new generation, however, Walker leaves us no real concern about Celie’s chances and we believe that Celie will continue to thrive. When Walker published the novel in 1982, one of the book’s most appreciated characteristics was the use of language. Mel Watkins of The New York Book Review commented that the novel “acquires a lyrical cadence of its own ... The Cumulative Effect is a novel that convinces by the authenticity of her popular voice.” Language was especially important to Walker. She later explained what happened after she posted her finished novel to one of the major black women’s magazines that she believed she would probably take credit for it faster than anyone else. However, the magazine rejected the novel on the grounds that “blacks don’t talk like that”. The later success of the novel reveals claims as broad as they are false, as it is Celie’s powerfully idiomatic voice that captures her specific situation and that of so many African Americans of her time. 8.3 SOCIOCULTURAL BACKGROUND Although slavery was prohibited by the Emancipation Proclamation of 1862, blacks were not yet included in everyday life. They could hardly find well-paying jobs or work. While some have had the opportunity to open small businesses of their own, mainly selling dry goods, others have had to continue or start working in the field. Working in the fields meant working as “sharecroppers, tenants, agricultural and occasional laborers (work for food).” At the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century, however, peasants had the opportunity to buy their land and the tools to start their own business. Walker ranks The Color Purple in the American South among independent but still poor farmers. “Walker’s Bequest and story provide a vehicle for understanding the modern world in which his characters live.” Walker was heavily included in the civil rights movement, which was not always easy at this time. Being black was hard enough at the time; it meant that being a woman was another challenge. Although there was a fight for equal rights, she did not necessarily include women’s rights at the beginning. So Walker can be seen as a southern black feminist or, in the author’s words, a womanist. 161 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

8.4 CHARACTERS Celie The novel is made up of entries in Celie’s diary, beginning when she is fourteen and ending when she is forty-four. As readers of Celie’s voices, we are closer to her and see her world primarily through her eyes. She begins writing after being raped by her father, who tells her that the only person she is allowed to say is God. She begins by directing her voices to God. Years later, when she receives her first letter from her sister Nettie, her voices consist of her letters to Nettie and the letters she receives from Nettie. At the end of the novel, thirty years after her first entry, Celie changed her address from “Dear God” to “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear people. Dear all. My God.” . She learned to accept the world and hers her place in it and learned about her own faith and her religious beliefs - only from her, not from the images of God that she was taught to accept. Initially a very shy and vulnerable girl, she is not only raped by her father, but also later beaten by her husband. But Celie gains confidence and success through the opportunities she seizes, and she learns to love and be loved. Nettie Nettie is Celie’s younger sister. Nettie is smart, tough, and completely loyal to Celie. As a child, she manages to escape many of the difficulties that Celie goes through; she is not raped by her father, and when her father shows excessive interest in her, Celie protects her from her. She manages to stay at the school while Celie is taken out of her when she becomes pregnant. Nettie takes full advantage of her education and works very hard, knowing that this is her chance to escape from it. He shares his great knowledge with Celie when they are together and when he sets out on his missionary journey to Africa, he writes to Celie religiously. Along with Shug, she is Celie’s best friend. Nettie is dedicated to teaching others and is grateful to have met Reverend Samuel and her family, who treat her like part of her family and take her to Africa with them. She spends most of her life caring for Samuel’s adopted children, who are actually Celie’s children, and she brings them home safely to Celie after thirty years of separation. Nettie’s letters are among the novel’s journal entries so that we have access to Nettie’s experiences and thoughts in the same way that we experience Celie. Alfonso The man Celie and Nettie call Daddy. He rapes Nettie when she is fourteen because his wife, who is ill, does not sleep with him. He instigates the writing of Celie’s letter telling Celie that he should keep quiet about raping her. He is a controlling, selfish and weak man with no conscience. He pushes the marriage between Celie and Mr. X by refusing to allow Nettie to marry him. He remarries after the death of Celie’s mother and lives with his new wife in the family home. Towards the end of the novel, Nettie discovers that Pa is not actually her father. Her real father was murdered by a white businessman who felt threatened by her father’s 162 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

business success. Alfonso married his mother after the death of his father and raised the children as his own, living on his property for years. Finally, facing Celie at the end of the novel, all he tells her is “now you know.” He dies at the end of the novel. Mr. X Mr. Albert X is often described as a very handsome man. He seems to want a conventional home with fair standards, a mother for his children, and a wife to take care of the house, but he’s never really happy with the conventional standards of others. He has a crush on Shug Avery and was for many years before we met him, but he never marries her due to public opinion (especially her father’s) about her. Concerned only for Shug (he cries once in the novel because he is upset that no one is fighting for Shug), he stubbornly adheres to the outdated views of women and male authority without taking the time to understand how this is affecting him. his family. He is a coward for choosing the life he leads and he is not happy with it, he takes it out on his family. He hides the letters Nettie sends Celie and prevents communication between them for years. When he finally delivers the letters, he begins his life anew and begins to listen to people and build relationships with people he never had time to meet. Carrie and Kate Sisters of Alberto. Although we only know the sisters briefly, they give us a good idea of the values Albert was raised with: they patronize Celie about Albert’s affair with Shug and how they thought Annie Julia was a bad housekeeper. Kate revisits the house alone and insists that she buy Celie new clothes. Kate takes Celie’s clothes out on a shopping spree, marking the first attempt at making Celie feel comfortable at Albert’s house. The introduction of this bold woman into the house marks the beginning of the shift from male dominance; She makes it very clear that Albert will have to fight to keep his role. Harpo Harpo is a sensitive guy. He is only twelve when Celie meets him for the first time, when she throws stones at him. At this stage, he is clearly protective of her mother and does not want Celie to replace her. Celie finds him crying a couple of times, once after a nightmare in which her mother dies in her arms and the other time because Sofia doesn’t do what she tells her to do. He finds happiness young and is too ignorant to know that he is happy. When he and Sofia get married and have children, he works hard, meanwhile he whistles but, not knowing what his role should be, trusts his father’s advice and learns from his father’s relationship with Celie that he should be dominant. This pattern leads to marital disaster. Harpo is not brave enough to follow what he thinks is right. However, he is a brilliant guy who realizes his entrepreneurial potential by building his own juke. Shug Avery (the queen of bees) 163 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Shug is a famous Bessie Smith jazz singer. He arrives at Mr. X’s house at least six years after Celie’s move but is introduced to us long before her in the novel. The sixth entry in Celie’s diary records Shug’s first glimpse of her in a photograph. Celie writes that she is “the most beautiful woman I have ever seen”. She is independent, determined, and the strongest and most outrageous female character in the novel. She is sexually free and cheeky, she enjoys Albert’s company, whether she is married or not. She can be mean; she points out how ugly Celie is. And she can be selfish; she runs off with Germaine at the end of the novel. But she radiates life and illuminates the world around her. When she arrives at Albert’s house, she is wearing a red woolen dress, and when she sings at Harpo’s, Celie describes her dress as “a tight red dress that resembles straps made of two pieces of yarn.” The old dress she gives Celie for her quilt is sunny yellow. Shug brings color and opportunity to the people she meets. He brings the love of Celie and Albert, generates income for Harpo, inspires others to sing and entertains all his fans. Sofia Butler Harpo meets Sofia at church when she is fifteen, but even at that age she is “strong and ruddy-looking.” She is confident and is not intimidated by men who think they have power over her. She is loyal and devoted to Harpo, but when he begins to treat her badly, she does what she thinks is best and leaves him. She has tremendous support from her sisters and it seems that she has the potential to be successful, she is practical and strong willed, but sh e has a fierce temper. After being imprisoned, she loses her fighting spirit. She has also changed since her time as Miss Millie; she resents the whites and the way she’s been treated, and she takes refuge in a shell. When she returns to Harpo at the end of the novel, we see a glimmer of hope that she can find her spirit again. Aunt Odessa One of Sofia’s sisters, like Sofia, she is strong and practical. Harpo describes her as a militant mother. She supports her sister and takes care of her children when she is in prison. She is not a central member of Celie’s family, but she is a member, nonetheless representing the depth of female support in this community. Old Mr. X Alberto’s father appears only once in the novel. His attitude towards Albert is fierce. He blames his son for his behavior with Shug Avery and tells Celie that he feels sympathy for him. Unaware of him, he reaches out to Celie and Albert, joining them in his love for Shug. Henry Broadnax (Buster) Sofia’s second boyfriend, he has a son with Sofia. He allows you to remain independent; her job, he says, is to take her where he wants and love her, and not fight Sofia’s battles for her. Maria Agnese (screeching) 164 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Harpo’s girlfriend after Sofia’s departure, Harpo is usually dominant in the relationship and has to deal with Sofia herself without Harpo’s support. This leads Sofia to lose her teeth. She seems soft and ineffective at first, but everything changes after her manager rapes her. She learns resilience, she insists that Harpo call her Mary Agnes and start singing. Mayor and Miss Millie The oldest is a bully who uses his power as a white man to physically intimidate and then abuse Sofia because he is insulted for her insolence. Along with the principal and the businessmen who kill Celie’s father, the older one helps create a very bleak image of white men in the community. Miss Millie is numb but essentially harmless. Unaware of her condescension towards Sophia’s family, she is insulted when Sophia rejects her offer and then happily accepts Sophia’s sentence as her servant in her home. Normally cut off from the black community, Miss Millie doesn’t even think about questioning the status quo, much less resisting it. Eleanor Jane The daughter of Miss Millie, who does everything possible to support Sofia and make her life easier, she wants Sofia to take care of her as she does to Sofia; after all, Sofia raised her. Unfortunately for Eleanor Jane, her efforts to persuade Sofia are in vain. However, she remains kind to her and prepares food for Sofia’s daughter Henrietta when she is ill. Eleanor Jane represents a positive step for the future, because she is more intelligent and far -sighted than her two parents. Henrietta Sofia’s youngest son, he is rebellious and spiteful and has a dangerous illness. Characteristic of her mother when she was young, Henrietta fights bravely and still continues to the end of the novel. Corrine Happily married to Samuel, the only thing she lacks in her life are children. When she adopts Adam and Olivia, she doesn’t ask for anything more, because she now has a completely happy family. Tireless and religious, Corrine succumbs to suspicion and jealousy when she sees how Nettie and Samuel get along and how much the children resemble Nettie. She dies happy that Nettie is not her mother, but she has spent many anxious years thinking that Nettie was. Samuel Reverend Samuel is dedicated to his missionary duties and works hard to bring aid to the Olinka tribe. Kind and sensitive, he brings Nettie to her house thinking that she has come looking for Adam and Olivia. Happy in his first marriage but hurt by Corrine’s accusations, he marries Nettie after years of friendship following Corrine’s death. 165 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Olivia Smart and independent, Olivia doesn’t immediately fit into Olinka’s lifestyle. She does not find love in the course of the novel, but this is presented as a good thing, because the men she lives with in Africa expect her to be submissive and that is something that she categorically rejects. Adam A passionate young man who loves Tashi but finds it difficult to accept the culture he comes from. He cannot bear to think that he will suffer the scars and the female initiation ceremony. When he realizes how much you love her, he decides to join her and fix her scars. Caterina and Tashi Catherine is a typical Olinka mother and wife when we meet her; she doesn’t want her daughter Tashi to go to school. After years with Nettie and Olivia, Catherine realizes that education is important and that she is free to change her mind once her husband dies. Tashi is torn between her Olinka culture and the more modern world that Nettie and Olivia present to her. With no official education, Tashi learns from Olivia but succumbs to tribal scar ceremonies and the female initiation ceremony. Doris Baines The white missionary that Nettie and Samuel meet on their way to England,unusually farsighted for her time, Doris contributed greatly to communities in Africa and helped people by sending them to England. 8.5 ANALYSIS Section 1 The novel begins with a dialogue spoken by Alfonso, Celie’s father: “It is better that you never tell anyone but God. He would kill your mother.” After this joke, Celie begins her letters, written to God. “I am fourteen”. old. I am (which is erased by the writer) I have always been a good girl. Celie was raped by her father while her mother was visiting the doctor in town, and Alfonso told her that she could not talk about these things with anyone but God. After having so many children and now being ill, Celie’s mother does not sleep with her. her husband, so Celie is forced to take her mother’s place. When Celie has a baby, her mother yells at her and asks who her father is. Celie can only answer that she is “from God.” Then the baby disappears and Celie tells her mother that God took him, even thou gh she knows Alfonso did. Celie becomes pregnant again when her mother dies. Alfonso also takes and sells his second child, a boy. Alfonso then seems interested in Celie’s younger sister, Nettie, but Celie promises that she will protect the Nettie from her. Alfonso remarries a young woman like Celie. Nettie meets a man at church who comes every Sunday who already has three children. Celie is beaten by 166 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Alfonso for looking at a man, but writes that she was not looking at any man, if she was going to look at someone, she writes, she would be a woman because she is not afraid of women. Celie felt sorry for her mother because she died trying to believe Alfonso, who had told her that Celie’s children were not his. Celie encourages Nettie to marry Mr. X from the church because Alfonso is still watching over her. Mr. X asks Nettie to marry him, but Alfonso won’t allow it because, he says, he already has children, because his last wife has been murdered, and because of the scandal that surrounds him and his relationship. with Shug Avery. Celie is intrigued and asks her stepmother about Shug Avery. Her stepmother produces a photograph of Shug for Celie, who believes that Shug is the most beautiful woman ever. Section 2 Nettie and Alfonso’s new wife find out what he’s doing to Celie. Nettie is terrified and comes out to vomit. Celie and her new wife cry at home while Nettie takes care of them. Mr. X asks for Nettie’s hand again, but Alfonso still refuses to let her go, saying that he can have Celie in her place. Even if she is ugly, Alfonso says, she will make a better wife. He also tells Mr. X that Celie is lying. Mr. X spends three months from March to June making a decision. He eventually agrees to marry Celie on the condition that he too can have the cow they promised him. Nettie now realizes that the only way to escape her is to work hard at school. She teaches Celie while she can, as her father pulled Celie out of school when she got pregnant. However, as soon as she gets married, Celie will have to start housework at Mr. X’s house. On her wedding day, Celie is chased by Mr. X’s eldest son, Harpo, who has twelve years. He was disturbed after his mother died in his arms. Stones to the new wife of her father and Celie bleed. Celie’s new husband has four children. Celie spends hours untangling the girls’ tousled hair, and they cry and curse her. That night, as the marriage is consummated, Celie thinks of Nettie, hoping that she is safe. She so she imagines Shug Avery, knowing that Shug also had sex with Mr. X. While driving into town on the wagon, Celie sees a girl that she knows is her little one; she knows because the baby looks like her and her father. She remembers calling the girl Olivia. She talks to the girl’s new mother at the store. Olivia’s new mother is waiting for her husband, the Reverend Mr. X, to come get them, but he doesn’t show up, so Celie offers to take them. The two women talk and Celie asks how old the girl is and what the lady and her husband call her. The boy will turn seven in December. The girl was officially named Pauline by the reverend and her wife, but because she looks a lot like Olivia, she is called Olivia. Nettie runs away from home and stays with Celie. Nettie spends her time helping Celie with housework and teaching Celie and the children. Mr. X still likes Nettle and compliments her often, but she only compliments Celie. Whatever he says about Nettie, she repeats to Celie: “Your hair. Your t-shirts. Every day is something else to do miracles at. “After she rejects him, Mr. X decides that Nettie should leave. Celie gives her some good advice: look for 167 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Reverend Mr. X’s wife, because Corrine has money. Nettie is worried about leaving Celie, but Celie assures her that as long as she can write God will be fine. Celie asks Nettie to write and Nettie promises that only death will stop her. But it seems that Nettie never writes. After leaving From Nettie’s, two of Mr. X’s sisters, Carrie and Kate, come to visit her. They says his previous wife, Annie Julia, was a bad housekeeper, but Celie is doing a great job. They say she left Annie Julia for days and left with Shug, so now she’s lucky to be with Celie. Celie seems good with kids too, as well as being a good cook. Kate visits her alone next time and chides her brother for not bringing clothes Celie. Kate takes her shopping. They discuss what color Shug Ave would wear ry, and Celie thinks purple, maybe with a little red, would be appropriate because Shug looks like a queen. Kate tells Harpo that she needs to start fetching water. As she packs up, she tells Celie that she has to fight Mr. X and his children. Section 3 Harpo asks his father why he hits Celie. Mr. X replies that it is because she is a woman and she is stubborn, prompting Harpo to ask Celie why she is stubborn. Celie has learned to disagree, so she says that she believes she was born that way. However, she writes with contempt that no one asks her why she is his wife. Harpo tells Celie that he is in love with her and that he plans to marry someone. He is seventeen and she is fifteen, she says. They never spoke, but once in church he winked at her. The next journal entry reads: “My God, Shug Avery is coming to town!” Shug is in town with her orchestra and Mr. X immediately decides to meet her. Under instruction, Celie washes and irons all of her clothes for him. There are dozens of advertisements in her car and Celie grabs one because she desperately wants to go see Shug perform. Mr. X disappears on Saturday night and leaves on Monday night. When he returns, he is tired and sad, and he cries. Meanwhile, Celie has been working hard. When she wakes up, her Celie has been working in the field for three hours. All Celie wants is to ask him about Shug. He’s about to go out and start work, Mr. X drops his hoe, sits on the porch, and tells Celie not to wait for him. He stays on the porch all day and doesn’t move. Harpo complains about the plow he has to do, but Mr. X forces him to continue. Harpo can’t resist, but he asks his father why he doesn’t work anymore. His father replies that he doesn’t need to work because Harpo is there. Harpo is still in love with the girl, but her father doesn’t think Harpo is enough for her because Harpo’s mother was murdered. Harpo has nightmares in which his mother tries to escape across a meadow away from her boyfriend, Mr. X. In the dream, she is holding Harpo by the hand. The man says: “You are mine”, but she says no, her place is with her children. She shoots him in the stomach. Harpo wakes up crying and says it wasn’t his fault that someone shot him. Although Celie wakes up to her screaming and slaps him on the back to comfort him, she admits that she doesn’t feel more for him than for a dog. Harpo talks to Celie about Sofia, the girl he loves. He wants to marry Sofía despite her father and he thinks that if he gets her pregnant, Sofía’s family will have to accept him. Celie tells him that she disagrees with her 168 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

reasoning. Harpo takes Sofia to meet her father. She is a strong looking girl and it is clear that she got pregnant. Mr. X asks whose baby it is, which is offensive to Harpo, but Sofia doesn’t seem interested. Then Mr. X tells him that Harpo is limited and that a pretty girl like her could use it all. Sofia leaves without Harpo, but tells him that when he is ready to leave, she and the baby will be waiting for him. Harpo and his father continue to sit on the porch. Harpo chases after Sofia and the baby and they get married at Sofia’s sister’s house. Harpo begins repairing the creek house for his family. Once it was a shed. Make windows, porch and back door. Harpo’s father also starts giving him a salary to work now. Section 4 Harpo, concerned that Sofia is not obedient enough, asks his father for advice. Mr. X tells him to hit her. When Harpo asks Celie for advice on the same, Celie wonders why Harpo needs to ask if the two of them seem so happy. She then thinks about her situation in comparison to her, remembering how Sofia feels sorry for her when Mr. X calls her out and makes her jump. The memory of this triggers her response to Harpo, and she tells him to hit Sofia as well. The next time Celie sees Harpo, her face is covered in bruises. She says she was the mule. When she visits Harpo and Sofia again, she hears a rumble. She sees that all the furniture is upside down and that they are fighting like two men. Celie hasn’t slept well for over a month; she bothers her conscience. She realizes that she has sinned against Sophia. Sofia finds out about her and confronts Celie for bad advice. Celie tells Sofia that Celie is a fool and that she is jealous of Sofia because she Sofia can fight. Sofia responds that she has had to fight her entire life - her father, her brothers, her cousins, her uncle’s - but she never thought she would have to fight in her house. She would rather kill Harpo than “let him hit me”. Sofía adds that girls stay together in her family. Celie’s perspective was different; she felt angry but now she is not angry anymore; after all, the Bible says to respect your husband and father. They laugh and rip the bedspread out of the ruined curtain. The news arrives that Shug Avery is ill but no one will receive her; she could die. Her preacher speaks ill of her and Celie wants her Mr. X to defend her, but he remains silent. However, when he comes home, he leaves her and five days later returns with her. The first thing Celie wants to do when she sees the car is change her dress, but she doesn’t have enough time. Harpo asks her father who Shug is and Mr. X replies that she is “the woman your mother should have been”. Shug is wearing a red woolen suit and looks very ill. When he walks past Celie, she laughs and says, “You look so ugly.” Mr. X stays with you all night. Celie concludes that Shug’s evil keeps her alive. Shug calls Mr. X by Albert’s name. When Celie asks Mr. X what’s wrong with Shug, she looks sad. With tears in her eyes, she tells Celie that no one fights for Shug. Despite the fact that they had three children together, Mr. X is demanding when it comes to bathing Shug, so Celie must. When she sees Shug’s naked body, she can’t stop looking at 169 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

him. She is out of breath and trembles as she washes him. Shug winks at her, puts a hand on her hip, and laughs. Celie brings Shug breakfast (cigarettes and coffee) and convinces Shug by example that he eat something tasty. When Celie leaves her plate in the room, Shug runs out of food. The more he eats, the better he begins to feel. One day, while Celie combs Shug’s hair, Shug begins to sing. Shug says that Celie helped get the melody out of his head. Mr. X’s father comes home and condemns his son for taking Shug in, but Mr. X tells her father that he loves her. Old Mr. X tells Celie that he has sympathy for her, because not many wives would let her whore husband into her house. At that moment, Mr. X and Celie’s eyes meet, and it’s the closest they’ve ever heard. Later, sitting on the porch between Shug Avery and Mr. X, Celie feels good. Sofia and Celie are still working on the quilt. Shug donated his yellow dress to the project and Celie works on the material. Sofia asks Celie what she feeds people, because Harpo doesn’t stop eating, even when he’s not hungry. When Harpo visits Celie, all he does is eat while Sofia works around the house in an old pair of Harpo pants. One day when Harpo is with Celie, Celie hears him cry on the steps. Her face is swollen from her fights with Sofia. Sofia does what she wants and does not obey him like Celie does with Mr. X. Celie now advises Harpo to leave Sofia alone because they love each other. She adds that Mr. X takes all kinds of things from Shug because he loves her. Harpo cries more and Celie puts him to bed. Celie visits Sofia and asks about Harpo. Sofía replies that she has stopped eating a lot but that she still has a hard time. She is thinking of taking the children with her sister. Celie thinks of her sister Nettie of her and feels a sharp pain that runs through her: she wants someone from whom she can escape her. Sofia says that making love to Harpo is no longer pleasant, but he doesn’t even seem to notice how she feels. Celie thinks about her situation and realizes that Mr. X has never liked her. But this could be because the only person she thinks of that way is Shug. Section 5 One day, Sofia’s strong sisters come looking for her. Harpo sits up, pretending he doesn’t care if she leaves him. The children ask their father if he is going too, but he answers that he is not. The baby farts and Harpo rushes to change it, even if it is not necessary, and uses the dry diaper to wipe away tears. Sofia leaves with her children and sisters. Six months later, Harpo is helping his friend Swain build a juke joint. The first week it’s up and running, they get a client, the second week three or four, and the third week, one again. Harpo plans to make Queen Honeybee Shug sing, and she agrees. They use one of Shug’s old brochures and write “Harpo’s of X plantation” on it. The first Saturday night after that, so many people show up that isn’t on it. Everyone thought Shug was dead and everyone is happy to see her perform again. Mr. X forbids Celie from going to the event, but Shug insists that she must. Mr. X and Celie love to watch her sing, but when she sings, she just looks at Mr. X and Celi e starts crying. But Shug later sings a song dedicated to Celie, the one Celie helped erase from Shug’s head. Shug calls it the Miss Celie song. 170 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Soon they decorated the place very well, Celie made candles for the tables, and every week Shug sings there, getting louder. One day he decides that it is time to go and plans to leave early next month. In an attempt to keep Shug with her, Celie tells her that Mr. X hits her when Shug is not around her. This convinces Shug to stay until she is sure that he won’t hit her anymore. Shug and Mr. X sleep together most nights. When they discuss it, Shug tells Celie that she likes to sleep with him. Celie tells him that she doesn’t get any pleasure from him and that she never received from anyone. Shug can’t believe that Celie is like this, in his mind, a virgin. Shug teaches Celie to examine herself and tells her what part of her body gives him pleasure (Shug calls it her button). Lying down at night, listening to Shug and Mr. X together, Celie cries herself to sleep, feeling the button. One night, while Shug is singing from Harpo, Sofia arrives. She has a big man on her arm. Harpo tells her that it is scandalous for her to be in a joint when she has five children. Sofia now has six children. Harpo and Sofia start dancing, but Harpo’s new yellow-skinned girl Squeak feels miserable. He confronts them and Sofia quickly backs off, because she’s not trying to get Harpo back, but Harpo insists they keep dancing. Squeak slaps Sofia and Sofia knocks her to the ground. Sofia and her boyfriend, Buster, are leaving. Celie soon discovers that Sofia is in prison. The story is that the oldest and his wife, Millie, were passing Sofia, Buster and the children when Millie stopped to play with the little ones. He thought they were very nice and clean and asked Sofia if she would like to work as her maid. Sofia replied, Hell no. The older one slapped Sophia’s face and Sofia pushed him back until the police arrived, beat her and imprisoned her. Sofia works in a prison laundry and can see her family twice a month for half an hour. When she asks how she does what they tell her, she says that she thinks of Celie and does what she has to do. Sofia has been working there for twelve years, during which she says that all she thinks about is murder. Celie, Shug, Mr. X, Squeak, Buster, Odessa, and Sofia’s other sisters wonder how Sofia will survive. Mr. X decides that something needs to be done. While the others suggest what to do, Celie fantasizes about the angels coming down and taking Sofia home. The group decides that someone should approach the director’s only black relative, Bubber Hodges, whose brother Jimmy is Squeak’s father. They tell Squeak to visit his uncle the guardian. They dress Squeak and tell him to tell the manager that he lives with Sofia’s husband and that Sofia’s husband says that Sofia is not being punished enough. The idea is that she would be punished worse if she worked for a white woman or worked at home. I mean, the idea is for her to be happy in jail. Squeak returns after being abused by the headmaster. From now on, he will make sure Harpo calls her Mary Agnes. Six months after her passing by the director, Mary Agnes begins to sing. She starts off by singing Shug songs and then makes up her songs on her own. A song is about the colors yellow and black. Section 6 171 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Sofia and Celie sit together chatting and laughing on Miss Millie’s patio. Sofia tells stories about the people she works for. The children that Sofía cares for play soccer. When the boy drops the ball, he asks Sofia to pick it up. She refuses to do so, so she prepares to kick him in the leg. But she moves her foot and he nails it on a rusty nail. When the baby, Billy, starts crying, her mother comes out to comfort her, but the baby stands up for Sofia and says that it was Billy’s fault. Sofia tells Celie stories about the whites she works for. Once Sofia gave Miss Millie driving lessons, Miss Millie decided to take Sofia home with her family. When they arrived, Miss Millie’s car broke down, so Sofia ended up spending only fifteen minutes with her children because she had to go to repair the car. It was the first time she had seen them in five years. Shug returns home for Christmas with a new man, her husband Grady. Mr. X and Celie are devastated. Shug asks Celie how things are going with Albert. Celie replies that she is still a virgin. After Mr. X and Grady drive together, Shug asks to keep warm in Celie’s bed with her. Celie tells Shug that she was raped by her father. Shug puts her arm around her and they both cry. Celie tells Shug that no one has ever loved her, but Shug replies that he loves Celie. They start kissing and touching. When the men return, Shug returns to his room. Celie receives a letter from Nettie. Nettie writes that she is not dead, and that Albert kept her letters from Celie. He also tells Celie that Olivia and her son are fine. Celie is so furious that all she can think about is killing Mr. X. Shug puts her to bed and tells the others that Celie has a fever. Shug is with Celie that night. Celie discovers that Albert has stored her letters in her trunk. Together, Shug and Celie begin to read Nettie’s letters in order. The first letter from Nettie tells Celie that she has to get away from Albert, because when her Nettie left her, she followed her and tried to rape her, but she rejected him. Because of what she did, he told her that he would never hear from Celie again and that Celie would never hear from her again. She then she went in search of Reverend Mr. X’s house. When the door to her house opened, there was a girl with Celie’s eyes peering out of her. Nettie says the woman she met in town with Olivia that day is named Corrine, her husband is named Samuel, and her son is Adam. They are very good with Nettie and very religious. Nettie writes that she is going crazy. She is also concerned that Albert is hiding her letters from Celie. Nettie has asked Samuel to check if Celie is okay, but he says she can’t, and she worries that they will completely lose touch with her because she will have to move out of town because she can’t find work in town. Corrine and Samuel move to do her missionary work, which is sad for Nettie because they have been like family to her. Section 7 Celie kept reading. Nettie writes that she went with her family to Africa. She wrote on the road almost every day, but when they robbed, she tore the letters and threw them into the water because she knew Albert would keep them hidden. The reason she is in Africa is that another missionary could not go. Ella nettie feels lonely enough, so lonely that she can’t even talk to God about it. When she doesn’t write to Celie, she feels bad like she didn’t pray 172 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Nettie went to build a school in central Africa. Sam and Corrine are happy. Their only pain is not having biological children, but now they have Olivia and Adam, Celie’s children. Nettie adds that Celie’s children are raised in love. Nettie also says that she doesn’t feel like a servant in the family. Her parents teach her and she teaches the children. Before she left, her Nettie had read many books about Africa. She for the first time she realized that the Ethiopians of the Bible were black. She also traveled around America for a bit before leaving. She drove the trains with the beds on top of her. New York was beautiful, with a whole black section called Harlem, where everyone had indoor bathrooms and gas or electric lights. She also spent two weeks studying the Olinka dialect before leaving. Her ship was three stories high and had cabins. They first came to England and then, two months later, to Africa. Nettie tells her that it was terrible that Africans sold their own ancestors, and she wonders why black people in America still love Africa. The people of Dakar, Senegal, are so black that their skin seems to be radiant. In Monrovia she visited the president, who spoke about her efforts to develop the country. On the cocoa plantations, everyone who works there sings, even when they are tired. Holland owns these fields and people make Dutch chocolate. As Celie has read up to this point, Mr. X and Grady are going home. Celie is angry at Mr. X, but Shug tells her not to think about killing him, if not for Celie or Nettie, then for her. Celia agrees. She asks Shug to make sure Albert allows Shug to sleep with Celie from now on. She does. The two women sleep like sisters. Celie is not at all excited and she feels like she must be dead, but Shug suggests that Celie is just mad. Shug suggests making Celie some pants as they would be easier to plow. From then on they sew and read Nettie’s letters every day. In the following letters, we learn more about Nettie. An African named Joseph meets Nettie, Corinne, and the family on the ship and helps them unload their belongings from the ship into a small boat. Then there is a four day hike to Olinka through Mt. When Nettie arrives, one of the first things she notices is the straw on the roof of the cabins. When they arrive, everyone is very curious. The village women ask who Adam and Olivia’s parents are and say they look like Nettie. Then the villagers tell the story of the roof. Long ago, the story goes, a chief always wanted more land to farm to trade with the whites. The chief started using the land where the roof leaves grew, but a big storm came and destroyed all the roofs and killed many people from Olinka. When the roof sheet grew back after five years, they celebrated. Nettie records his work hours in Africa. The Olinka do not believe that girls should be educated because a single woman is nothing; she becomes something when she is married because she can have children. A woman named Catherine shares this opinion. Her daughter, Tashi, can’t go to school, but she plays with Olivia. Olivia secretly teaches Tashi what she has learned. Olivia has not adapted very well to Africa. She doesn’t like boss’s wives making fun of her becoming her little sister or little wife. Corrine has changed since they arrived; she wants Nettie to call Samuel and Corrine her brother and sister and for the kids to stop calling her Mama Nettie. This, Corrine thinks, will stop the confused idea that they are Nettie’s 173 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

children when they are not. Nettie lives in a nice cabin. The only improvement she could make is a window, which she is determined to have. Tashi’s mother and father decide that they don’t want Tashi to spend so much time with Olivia because she is changing and she is becoming quiet and caring. They say that Tashi is becoming like her aunt that she had to be sold because she rejected the man chosen for her and did not bow to the boss. Nettie tells them that the world is changing and is no longer a world just for boys and men. Then we find out that Nettie has been there for five years. Road builders from another tribe approach Olinka village while building their road. When the road reaches the town of Olinka, the tribe thinks it is for them, but the road continues to build through the town, destroying crops and houses. Now, the town of Olinka is essentially owned by a rubber producer in England and the people of Olinka have to pay rent to use the water. Nettie has to breastfeed Corrine, who came down with African fever. Corrine accuses Nettie of being the biological mother of the children, with Samuel as her father. Why else would they look so much like Nettie? Corrine makes Samuel and Nettie swear on the Bible that they had never met before the day Corrine and Samuel met Nettie together. Section 8 Samuel admits that he thought the kids were Nettie’s too. When Nettie came to look for work with them, he thought that she really had come looking for the children. Samuel then tells Nettie how she got the kids. There was a wealthy black farmer who owned a property, opened a shop, and got along very well. White merchants didn’t like him bringing their customers, so the man’s shop was burned down and hanged. The widow, who was pregnant at the time and already had a young child, never recovered mentally. She remarried and had more and more children. When she had her last two children, she was too sick to have them, and these two were Olivia and Adam. The man the widow remarried was named Alfonso, which also means that Alfonso was not Celie and Nettie’s real father. After reading this news from Nettie, everything becomes very confusing for Celie. Shug tells her that he has to go back to Tennessee with her. Celie now records her first letter to Nettie. Celie wanted to confront the man they called Daddy, so she went to visit him. Celie and Shug arrive. The flowers are all in bloom, it is very green and the house is beautiful. Dad arrives but doesn’t recognize Celie. Shug tells him who she is and invites them to come in. Celie confronts him about not being her real father, and he simply says that he now knows. Celie asks where her real father is buried, and he replies that her father is buried next to his mother. They search but cannot find the graves. In a letter to Celie from Nettie, Nettie says that she told Corrine the truth about Olivia and Adam. When Corinne remembers meeting Celie at the fabric store many years ago, she begins to cry. After Corrine’s death, Olivia begins to menstruate. Corrine is buried in the Olinka way. But the ritual for the Olinka women is too bloody and painful for Nettie to allow Olivia to contemplate. Samuel gives Nettie all of Corrine’s clothes. In her letter to Nettie, 174 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Celie points out that she has stopped writing to God and tells Shug that she has stopped because God never did anything for her. Shug tells her that she is a sinner. Shug asks Celie what God is like, and Celie replies that he is white with a white beard. Shug laughs and tells him that the god with the white beard is the white bible god of whites. Shug, on the other hand, believes that God is within everyone, and only those who seek God within find him. God is also everywhere, he says he, and he loves the world. God also loves when people admire things, like the color purple in a field. Reflecting on this conversation and her effects on it, Celie says, “Now that my eyes are open, I feel silly ... as Shug says, you have to get the man out of your eyeball before you can see anything. Stop. “. After eleven and a half years, Sofia was released to go home. Her children now call Odessa “Mama” and Squeak “Little Mama.” Shug declares that he is going with Grady and takes Celie with him. Celie accuses Mr. X of stealing Nettie’s letters and tells Harpo and Mr. X all the things she has tried over the years. Squeak says that she is leaving too so she can sing. Eleanor Jane arrives. She is the girl that Sofía took care of. Sofia speaks to him. Sofía discovers that she has been called to solve her problems at home. Celie moves to Memphis with Shug. The house is big, they eat well and they lie embraced. Shug is usually on tour and Celie makes pants. Finally, she creates the perfect pair of pants for Shug. So Squeak wants a pair, and then Celie makes a pair for Odessa’s husband, Jack. When Odessa asks for a pair, Celie starts selling pants for money. Celia is happy. She has love, work, money, friends, and time. She tells Nettie about the twins who came to help her with her business. One of them, Darlene, is trying to teach him to speak properly. Celie visits Harpo’s club. When Mr. X passes by, he doesn’t even recognize her. Harpo and Sofia argue about whether Sofia is a coffin bearer at her mother’s funeral. Sofia gets her way and is one of the coffin bearers. At the funeral, no one acts unusual, which makes Celie happy. After the funeral, everyone returns to Harpo. Mr. X walks over and starts talking to Celie. He tells her that Henrietta has a blood disease that has made her very ill. Sofia tells Celie that Mr. X lived like a pig once Celie left, and Harpo helped him up. Once, Sofia found them sleeping together, with Harpo holding his father in his arms. This scene made her feel sorry for him again. Once Harpo forced him to send Nettie’s letters to Celie, Mr. X began to improve. Section 9 Nettie writes to Celie to tell her that she married Samuel in England. The Olinka were forced to leave their homes when the rubber plantation headquarters arrived. They noticed that it looked like corrugated metal sheets were to be used for the roof. They went to England to try to get relief for the Olinka from the churches and the Missionary Society. While traveling to England, they met the white missionary they had heard of years ago. He was traveling with an African boy whom he called his grandson. Wanting to get away from all the milk-fed upper-class men her parents expected her to marry, the white lady had decided to become a missionary when she was young so that she could travel the world, and to that end she 175 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

pretended to be. a saint. In Africa she built a hospital, a high school, a university and a swimming pool. Thinking that she was a man, her boss gave her two wives. She sent them to England to be educated and cared for her children as well as her grandchildren. They returned to Africa, disappointed by the failure of her appeal. The children try to find Tashi but cannot. Tashi hides, ashamed of her scars and the initiation ceremony she has undergone. When Adam finds her with her scars, she turns and walks away from her. Celie writes to Nettie that Dad is dead. The house now rightfully belongs to her and Nettie. Celie went to check out the property and its accompanying dry goods store. Celie is heartbroken because Shug is in love with someone else. This young man, Germaine, is nineteen years old and plays in her band. Shug says that the adventure will only last six months, after which he will try to rebuild their life together. Shug leaves with Germaine. Celie now claims that the only thing keeping her alive is watching Henrietta fight for her life. She sometimes runs into Mr. X while he is visiting Henrietta. She now she is different. She started collecting shells. Take Celie home one day to see one in particular. They talk about the shell and the things she loves: the birds, her life now, and her new business. Mr. X puts a letter directly into Celie’s hand. It’s a letter from the United States Department of Defense. He says the ship Nettie and her “family” were traveling on was sunk by German mines. That day, all the letters Celie wrote to her returned intact. Another letter from Nettie is coming. He remembers that it has been almost thirty years since he last heard from Celie. Nettie explains that God is different from her now. She feels the presence of God internally and no longer fixes an image of God in her mind. Tashi and her mother have joined the rebels and Adam and Olivia are heartbroken because they love Tashi. Nettie must now stop writing because she found out that Adam is missing, she must have gone after Tashi. Celie wonders if Shug ever loved her as she looks in the mirror, feeling ugly. Mr. X seems to be the only one who understands how he feels about her. Harpo and Sofia try to frame Celie with a man, but Mr. X saves her, telling the possible suitor that she is her wife; he knows that Celie is not interested in men. Celie receives a letter from Shug saying that he ended up in Arizona with Germaine. There is no mention of when she might return, which saddens Celie. Mr. X and Celie share a common grief for Shug. They hug. They also become friends. Celie tells him the things that she wrote to Nettie. Sofia is still tied to Eleanor Jane, who visits her whenever something happens. She takes her husband to see her and then her newborn her Reynolds hers. He asks Sofia about him, but Sofia says that she has her own problems “and when Reynolds grows up, he will be one of them.” Nettie’s letter to Celie explains that after two and a half months, Adam and Tashi are back. Adam and Tashi have made it up. Adam accepts his scars and also took some to show his support. Samuel marries them. The letter says they will be home in a few weeks. Shug goes to the State Department to find out about Nettie and her family. They find nothing. Celie hires Sofia as a salesperson at her store. Harpo is happy to stay and take care of Henrietta while Eleanor Jane cooks special yam food to help her with her illness. 176 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Mr. X and Celie now talk about big problems: why humans need love, why do they suffer, why are they black. Celie is happy and gets used to life without Shug. One day Shug returns. The last entry in Celie’s diary is written for God, who thanks her for bringing Nettie home with her. He imagines that Nettie has really come home and they all hug. Or is she real? There are so many details that we are convinced that Nettie is home. Celie’s generation is all old now, and while the young think that the old don’t know what’s going on, they do. 8.6 THEMES Celie’s tale This book is Celie’s story. The first line of the novel is the only direct line of speech and the only line that does not fit the frame of the letters written by Celie and Nettie. The presentation of everything is under Celie’s control, though she allows Nettie’s letters to present Nettie’s perspective. It is never clear if the first line, spoken by Alfonso, was also written by Celie before beginning her letter to God or if it represents the hand of another writer. If it is Celie’s work, she curiously never repeats this way of recording dialogue. It’s also strange that the line is italicized, which is a formal and even academic way of drawing attention to a spoken line. It is much more likely that someone else wrote the line. Perhaps it is the author, Alice Walker herself, who points out that she is present in the novel. Interestingly, another line appears after Celie’s last letter: “I thank everyone in this book for coming. A.W., author and medium.” This last line is an admission by the author that she really was there the whole time, and also the audience, the readers of the book, that is, the means by which Celie’s story is told, in a sense like author and in another sense. like the novel itself. In fact, the novel is mostly made up of the writings of Celie, who began out of the need to tell her story after she was ordered to shut up. The author also seems to thank each character for contributing to the story. two lines of framing highlight Walker’s narrative structure, but what they frame is Celie’s perceived world. God As the narrative perspective changes and develops, so does Celie’s vision of God. When Celie writes her first letter to God, we have a very limited idea of what she means by God. At first, God is an abstract, authoritative, and trustworthy figure that Celie can share with. White skin and white beard, he will be there for Celie as long as she believes in him. When Celie tells Shug that she will stop writing to God because she doesn’t listen, Shug teaches her something very significant. Shug doesn’t tell her that she imagines a black God in her place, nor does Shug simply tell Celie to keep believing anyway because God will return the way she remembers him. Rather, Shug tells Celie that she feels loved by God being herself. Shug explains that God is not found in a church but through oneself. This perspective challenges the general view of God in her society, as if God is someone who can be visited or expected to come when called, or as if God is an old white man with a grayish beard. Shug shows her 177 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

love for God by loving the things that have been given to her. She appreciates the world, from her sexual ecstasies to the purple color found in nature. For Celie, God goes from being a person to being something (not someone) within Celie, an inspiring goodness. Celie learns that she writes from her worldview and that each view should be questioned and not taken for granted. Regardless of what people may think of God, whether the Bible says it or not, Celie learns to find her own meaning in God. Through her letters written from her, we see her writing, perhaps rewriting, her world and the divinity of her that she expresses of it. However, it is not until the end of the novel that she realizes what she has been doing all along: creating her own story. One has a certain power and responsibility in creating a world or in judging a world that was created by oneself or by someone else. Creative expression When Africans were brought from their home countries to the United States, their slave owners generally denied them an education and were not allowed to speak their own language, instead being forced to speak English. This meant that the slaves had to create their own forms of communication and expression. This is where the African-American oral tradition began, with style and content often rooted in the stories and tales with which they grew up in Africa. They communicated through dance, song and gesture, transmitting their stories of pain and freedom from one generation to the next. Also, although Alfonso forces Celie to remain silent, when she writes her letters, she dedicates herself to creative expression and communication so that her story is received by all her readers. Her example of perseverance in writing to God is her way of persisting in being heard, in writing rather than orally. Even if you don’t realize it at the time, every word you write is a statement worth hearing. Similarly, Sister Nettie, who never knows if her letters will reach Celie, writes them religiously and communication is finally guaranteed. This success is an example of hope in human struggle, bringing courage and strength to readers who do not yet feel capable of fully communicating with others. Throughout the novel, various characters find their own voice and expression: Shug recovers from his illness and continues to sing, Mary Agnes begins singing and writing songs, Celie and Sofia begin making quilts, and Celie eventually runs her own quilt business. pants. Starting small, each effort is an example of courage and hard work that ultimately pays off. Hope for the next generation The novel anticipates a brighter day for the black community and for black women in particular. Of all the black families, Samuel and Corrine’s are the safest and most loving. Celie’s children find their way into that family and are protected by it. Their upbringing, with the help of Aunt Nettie, allows them to choose the kind of life they would like to live at a young age. Knowing that she does not want to be a submissive wife, Olivia (like Nettie before her) works hard to ensure that she can be independent without a man controlling her 178 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

life. Within Celie’s family, we can already see the change in her children, opening up infinite possibilities for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. White missionary Doris Baines also gives us hope. Educating her supposed wives in England ensures that another family will be nurtured and educated, empowered to challenge male domination and racial prejudice. There is also a change within white communities. Eleanor Jane loves Sofia as a mother, despite her race and affection. When she has her baby, Sofia comments that when she is older it will be a problem for her, but we are not inclined to believe her. Sophia may think that this innocent white boy will turn out like all the other white men she has dealt with, but Eleanor Jane demonstrates her hope, with her fresh outlook and fresh, future-oriented thinking, that her son and the next generation will. They will advance in many ways after the struggles of previous generations. Female solidarity At the beginning of the novel, the young black woman is presented as the most vulnerable person in society. Celie plays this woman: she is abused and denied the voice of her (alleged) father and then her husband. Along with the racial prejudice that young black women endure, they also tend to struggle against their black male counterparts. Sofia has always fought against her siblings and let’s see how Harpo has to fight to affirm his equality. Likewise, the Olinka tribe does not believe in educating their women, and although there are no reports of abuse of women by men in Nettie’s letters, female submission is not questioned and the degrading initiation ceremony goes unchallenged, Except for Nettie and her family. . . Under such conditions, if they want to change the status quo, these women must stand together against male oppression. In fact, the only time Celie is too upset to sleep is when she tricks Sofia into telling Harpo to hit her; her disloyalty to her partner is more than she can bear. However, in general, there is a strong union of support between one woman and another, and this bond arises from the need to unbalance the male view of themselves that has total authority over the women in their society. The woman who manages best to challenge this male dominance is Shug, who asserts her independence by living by her own laws. Unsurprisingly, given the circumstances, Celie and Shug are romantically involved. Shug is a powerful goddess who refuses to be taken down by men, always vigilant to keep the upper hand. Celie is a male abuse victim who has turned away from trusted men. When she comforts Harpo, who is crying on the porch, she feels nothing but for a dog. Together these bitches break free: Shug teaches Mary Agnes to sing, Albert’s sister takes Celie shopping when no one else does, Sofia’s sisters take care of their children while she is in jail, Nettie writes to her Celie and takes care of her children for thirty years. , Doris Baines sends her “wives” to England for her education, Eleanor Jane cooks nutritious meals for Henrietta and Celie cares for Shug to restore health and inspire her composition. More than all of this, Shug and Celie love each other with a very strong love 179 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

born of isolation, the desire for something better, and mutual acceptance. By the end of the novel, these women are no longer helpless; they have joined forces and are forging their own lives. Colour Shug is often described in colorful terms: she is beautified in the photograph that Celie sees for the first time and she wears seductive bright red dresses twice during the course of Celie’s records. She also gives Celie some yellow fabric for her quilt. These bright, lush colors are bursting with energy. On the contrary, the clothes that Celie can choose when she goes shopping with Kate are brown, burgundy or navy blue because Kate does not think that Mr. X wants to pay for her favorite red or purple because they look “too happy” . “When Mary Agnes begins to write her songs, they are songs about color:” They call me yellow / how yellow is my name. “While trying to find her identity beyond the color of her skin, Mary Agnes explores the nuances of colors found under your skin, in your personality: finding these colors inside gives you the voice to sing. When Shug and Celie discuss their idea of God, Shug explains that God is in everything and that God is the beauty of nature. Shug specifically indicates “the color purple” (traditionally a royal color) and wonders how that color can grow naturally. Purple looks weird in nature. It is as if the color itself is a manifestation of God. Transcendence and relationships By the end of the novel, Celie experienced love, started her own business, and learned to accept herself. She is a very different woman at 14 at first. She approaches Mr. X through his shared love for Shug and then through his listening and her relationship with each other. The lessons Mr. X and Celie learn teach them about themselves, which in turn gives them the confidence to talk to each other without any preconceived notions of the roles each fits into. Friendship becomes a vehicle for people to change and grow from their original self. Many of the relationships are disrupted throughout the novel, but then reestablished: Sofia returns to her and Harpo’s family, Shug returns from her travels with Germaine, and Nettie arrives home with Celie’s children. In these cases, people grow and change separately before getting back together. Even as each sets out on their own journey and learns their lessons, when relationships are restored, they bond with family and friendships that transcend past pain and past roles that had caused stress. 8.7IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS Harpo say, I love you, Squeak. He kneels down and try to put his arms round her waist. She stands up. My name Mary Agnes, she says. This passage is taken from Celie’s 41st letter. Squeak has just returned from a failed attempt to free Sofia from jail. The warden raped Squeak and she returns home beaten and torn. 180 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

However, Squeak is not defeated, and she does a great act of resistance when she decides to reject the denigrating nickname of her, Squeak that Harpo has given her. She insists that they call her by her name, Mary Agnes. Mary Agnes renames herself and resists the patriarchal words and symbols that Harpo imposed on her. Walker repeatedly emphasizes the importance of language and storytelling as ways of controlling situations and as first steps toward liberation. Like Shug he changes Celie’s name to a virgin, and like Celie reverses Mr. X words to say, “I’m porous, I’m black, I can be ugly, and I can’t cook ... But I’m here,” Mary Agnes renames herself to show her refusal to allow the man in her life to gain interpretive control over her. It must have been a pathetic exchange. Our chief never learned English beyond an occasional odd phrase he picked up from Joseph, who pronounces “English”“Yanglush.” In the sixty-fifth letter, Nettie shares with Celie her sentiments about the Olinka villagers. After the Olinka have this “pathetic exchange” with a white man from the English rubber company, the Olinka conclude that it is a waste of breath to argue with men who cannot or will not listen. The cultural barrier between the Olinka and the English is so vast that both parties readily give up, believing no communication is possible. Samuel later mentions that the only way he and the other Americans could remain in Africa is to join the mbeles, the natives who have fled deep into the jungle and refuse to work for the white settlers. With this discussion of the barrier separating the Olinka from the English, Walker emphasizes that, though narrative can be a powerful force, some differences cannot be overcome. Cultural complexities and gulfs of foreignness sometimes render communication futile. This provides a sobering counterexample to Celie’s success at finding her voice and using it as the key to her discovery of self-worth. Walker admits that some cultural differences are so great that there is little hope for communication. Unfortunately, she suggests no solution to this problem. 8.8 SUMMARY  The Color Purple is an epistolary novel, consisting of letters written by Celie to God and Nettie to Celie.  At the beginning of the novel, Celie is a vulnerable and abused 14-year-old black girl who addresses her letters to “Dear God.”  Thirty years later, at the end of the novel, she forged her life despite a society dominated by racially prejudiced men.  She works her way through life and questions everything she’s been taught.  Her most ambitious challenge is to remake her idea of God as an old, white-bearded man, the antithesis of her, into an all-encompassing God who lives within her.  In Celie’s first letter to God, we learn that she was raped by her father, Alfonso. 181 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Alfonso told him that he should not tell anyone what was happening except God.  Celie gets pregnant twice and is kicked out of school.  Alfonso gives the children up for adoption and they are greeted by a reverend who lives in the village.  After the death of her mother, Celie’s father married her with Mr. Albert.  Married life is also quite painful for Celie.  She must raise Albert’s children, take full control of all household chores, endure unpleasant and intimate nights with her husband, and suffer regular and unnecessary beatings from him.  Things look up for Celie for a while after her sister Nettie moves in with her.  Unfortunately, Albert (who has always preferred Nettie to Celie and asked Nettie to marry him first) refuses to allow Nettie to stay at her house unless she pays him.  When Nettie leaves her, he follows her and tries to rape her, but she runs away from her and looks for the reverend, who is raising Celie’s children.  She finds a job as a housekeeper in the family.  The Reverend, whose name is Samuel, and his wife Corrine are missionaries preparing to go to Africa.  After discovering that one of his fellow missionaries cannot go, they offer Nettie the opportunity to join them in Africa.  Nettie is happy and accepts.  When Nettie arrives in Africa, she begins to write to Celie frequently.  She is constantly worried that her letters will not reach her sister and expresses her concern, telling Celie that Albert had promised that he would never hear from her again.  As a result, Celie doesn’t receive a single letter from Nettie for years.  Albert’s eldest son Harpo falls in love with a 15-year-old girl named Sofia.  She soon becomes pregnant, and they get married.  Harpo tries to dominate Sofia like her father dominates Celie, but she is stronger and reacts.  Finally, Sofia gets tired of Harpo and leaves him to go live with her sister Odessa hers.  Albert discovers that his longtime lover, Shug Avery, is ill. 182 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 He walks away from her and takes her home, where Celie is required to take care of her.  Celie is happy to do so; she remembers the first time she saw Shug in a photograph before getting married and believes that Shug is even more handsome in the flesh.  At first, Shug is in a bad mood and mean to Celie, but he soon begins to like her.  Harpo turns his house into a music venue when Sofia leaves, but no one comes.  He decides to ask Shug, a well-known jazz singer, if he will sing at her house, she agrees. Albert doesn’t want Celie to leave the first night, but Shug insists that she go.  Shug draws a large crowd and dedicates one of his songs to Celie.  Shug plans to leave but, in an attempt to stop him from leaving, Celie tells him that Albert hits her. Shug promises not to leave until he stops.  Shug also discovers that Celie never liked sex.  Shug tries to educate Celie on how to get pleasure from sex, but it soon becomes clear that Celie has no feelings for Albert because she is attracted to women.  Later, Celie experiences her first sexual pleasure with Shug.  One day, Sofia shows up at Harpo’s house with a new boyfriend named Buster.  She sees Harpo, they start chatting and he invites her to dance.  Her new girlfriend, Squeak, is very jealous and slaps Sofia.  Sofia immediately hits Squeak and knocks out a lot of teeth.  Soon after, in town, Sofia meets the Major and his wife, Miss Millie.  Taken by the children and impressed by her cleanliness, Mrs. Millie asks Sofia to work as a babysitter.  When Sophia refuses, the mayor slaps her, and in response, Sofia knocks him out.  She is arrested and sentenced to twelve years in prison.  Squeak is sent on a mission to get Sofia out of jail and into the elder’s house to work as her servant.  Squeak goes to visit the director and is raped by him.  However, the visit is not fruitless and Sofía is transferred to the elder’s house as a servant.  After raping her, Squeak tells Harpo to call her by her real name, Mary Agnes.  Shug returns to Celie and Albert, bringing with her a new husband named Grady. 183 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Shug warns Celie that Albert is hiding letters from her, and they soon discover that Albert has been hiding Nettie’s letters all this time.  Celie is furious, but Shug keeps her calm.  Together they find all the letters and begin to read them.  Nettie’s first letters explain the beginning of her missionary journey to Africa with the Reverend and his family.  The Olinka tribe love the roof sheet that people use for their roofs; without it, her homes would be destroyed during the rainy season.  The natives view Nettie as Samuel’s second wife, which makes Corrine very jealous.  She soon prevents Nettie from meeting Samuel privately or borrowing her clothes.  After a few years, Corrine has a fever and dies, but she discovers the truth about Nettie and her foster children before her: Olivia and Adam are not really Samuel’s Nettie children.  A short time later, on a trip to England, Samuel and Nettie get married.  A rubber company builds a road through the town of Olinka and destroys the entire town.  They are forced to move to a more sterile area with little water.  The new landowners charge them for the water and the new tin roofs that the Olinkas are forced to use.  Many people leave to join, a group of indigenous people deep in the jungle who fight against the white man.  Since coming to Africa, Adam and Olivia have become very good friends with a young Olinka named Tashi.  Tashi decides that she must undergo the ritual ceremony of Olinka’s facial scars and the initiation of female circumcision to honor her culture.  But he is so embarrassed by the signs that she soon leaves to join the Mbels.  Adam pursues her and takes her home, but she refuses to marry him because she fears that she will not be accepted in America.  Initially fierce over Tashi’s decision to leave scars, Adam now also has his face marked so they look the same and so she won’t be embarrassed.  Tashi and Adam are married and the whole family makes plans to go home.  After finding the letters from her sister, Celie decides to leave the house with Shug. 184 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 She tells Albert that she is leaving.  When he tries to stop her, she stabs her hand with a fork.  Before he leaves, she curses him for the way he treated her and tells him that he will be cursed until he changes the way she is.  In response, she refuses to send him Nettie’s letters as they keep coming.  Celie goes to Memphis with Shug, where she starts making a lot of pants.  Over time, she becomes so good at designing them that she receives orders regularly.  Shug helps Celie turn her job into a business.  Soon after, Celie discovers that Alfonso, known to her as Pa, is not her real father, but only the man who married her mother after her real father (who was a successful businessman) was killed.  After Alfonso’s death, Celie receives a phone call telling her that her family home now belongs to Nettie and herself.  Celie fixes her new home while Shug runs off with her new love interest, a 19-year- old flute player named Germaine.  Celie is heartbroken, but she meets Albert from time to time when she visits Sofia’s daughter, Henrietta, and they become good friends; many things have changed since the old days.  Apparently, after Celie left, she dropped everything and nearly died of malnutrition. Harpo eventually forced him to send Nettie’s letters to Celie, and from that point on, she began to change her life.  Shug returns and decides to retire, because his piper has gone to college.  Celie is now financially calm. She has her new home and her father’s dry goods store (which she also inherited), as well as her own business.  Nettie eventually returns home to Samuel and Celie’s older children.  Celie and Nettie hug and lie on the floor hugging. Celie writes that she had never felt so young in her life. 8.9 KEYWORDS  Announcement - Flyer; advertising handout.  Cookstove -Cooker  Cuss - To curse, criticize, or insult 185 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Daidie - Diaper  Git big -Get pregnant  Hansker -Handkerchief  Hant - Ghost; something that haunts  Headrag - Cloth tied around the skull, with a knot at the base, allowing a small flap to hang down over the neck  Her friend - Euphemism for menstruation  Juke joint - A social gathering-place like a bar, for music and especially blues music, particularly in the early decades of the twentieth century, mainly frequented by African Americans in the southeastern United States  Kinfolks - Relatives  Miration - Admiration  Niggerish - Angry or aggressive  Old Maker -God  Pick his box - To scratch a record. Swain picks his box at Harpo’s as the resident DJ.  Rassle -Wrestle  Sass - Confrontational attitude (n); to argue with, provoke, or confront (v)  Spose - Supposed to  Teefs - teeth  Virgin - Someone who has not yet experienced a certain transformative event; to Shug, a virgin is someone who has never had an orgasm  Yourn - Your own 8.10 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Students will work in groups to compare the main character, Celie, with other female characters in the novel, mainly Nettie, Shug Avery, Sofia, and Squeak. They may use a modified Venn diagram to monitor the similarities and differences amongst the characters. Afterwards, groups will take turns explaining their analysis to the class. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. Students will read Robert Frost’s poem, “Design.” Teacher will ask students how Frost’s poem relates to Celie’s plight, themes within the novel, and the title of the novel. 186 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

_________________________________________________________ __________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. The Color Purple is about the cultural touchstone for black women in America - Investigate ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 8.11 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. Tell about the title The Color Purple. 2. What does Celie call her father? 3. Mention who is the father of Celie’s baby. 4. What is the disease that nasty woman’s have? 5. Mention the name of Celie’s sister. Long Questions 1. Explain the ways the community reacts to Shug’s illness say about the status of women. 2. Explain why Olinka not identify with Samuel, Corrine, and Nettie on the basis of race. 3. Describe the relationship between Mr.X and his father. 4. Explain the significance of the opening line. 5. Discuss the importance of Nettie’s life in Africa. B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. In which US state is ‘The Color Purple’ set? a. California b. Georgia c. Ohio d. Louisiana 2. What is Celie’s sister called? 187 a. Nettie CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

b. Shug c. Squeak d. Millie 3. What is Shug’s surname? a. Indigo b. James c. Avery d. Queenbee 4. Who strikes the mayor? a. Celie b. Albert c. Harpo d. Sofia 5. Shug is a famous _______? a. Dancer b. Singer c. Explorer d. TV Presenter Answers 1-b, 2-a, 3-c, 4-d, 5-b 8.12 REFERENCES Reference books  Flexner, Eleanor. Mary Wollstonecraft. New York: Coward, McGann & Geoghegan, 1972. 188 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Mellor, Anne. “Mary Wollstonecraft’s ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ and the Women Writers of Her Day.” The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft. Ed. Claudia L. Johnson. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002  Weaker Vessel: Woman’s Lot in Seventeenth-century England. Antonia Fraser. Phoenix.2002.  Nobody’s Story: The Vanishing Acts of Women Writers in the Marketplace, 1670- 1920.CatherineGallagher. University ofCambridge Press, 1995. Textbook references  Wollstonecraft, Mary. (1792). A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. With Strictures on political and moral subjects. London. Websites  https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1553&context=etd- project  https://uniteyouthdublin.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/a-vindication-of-the-rights-of- woman-by-mary-wollstonecraft.pdf  http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=etd  https://www.jstor.org/stable/3735238 189 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

UNIT – 9KAMALADAS - ANINTRODUCTIONEUNICE DE SOUZA - ADVICE TO WOMEN & BEQUEST STRUCTURE 9.0 Learning Objectives 9.1 Kamala Das - An Introduction 9.1.1 Text 9.1.2 Introduction about the poem 9.1.3 Poem Analysis 9.1.4 Structure 9.1.5 Theme 9.2 Eunice de Souza - Advice to Women 9.2.1 Author’s Biography 9.2.2 Text 9.2.3 Introduction about the poem 9.2.4 Poem Analysis 9.2.5 Structure 9.2.6 Theme 9.3 Eunice de Souza –Bequest 9.3.1 Text 9.3.2 Introduction about the poem 9.3.3 Poem Analysis 9.3.4 Structure 9.3.5 Theme 9.4 Summary 9.5 Keywords 9.6 Learning Activity 9.7 Unit End Questions 9.8 References 190 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

9.0 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Analyse the works of Kamala Das  Recognise the importance of values in women in life  Review the works of Eunice de Souza 9.1 AUTHOR’ S BIOGRAPHY – KAMALA DAS Kamala Surayya (born in Kamala; March 31, 1934 - May 31, 2009), popularly known by her old pseudonym Madhavikutty and her married name Kamala Das, was an English Indian poet and one of Kerala’s leading Malayalam authors, India. Her popularity in Kerala is mainly based on her short stories and autobiography, while her English work of hers, written under the name Kamala Das, is known for her poetry and explicit autobiography. She has also been a widely read columnist and has written on various topics, including women’s issues, childcare, politics, among others. Her open and honest treatment of female sexuality, free from any guilt, infused power into her writing and gained hope after her freedom, but it also marked her as an iconoclast in her generation. On May 31, 2009, at the age of 75, she died in a Pune hospital. Awards and other recognitions Kamala Das has received many awards for her literary contribution, including: • 1963: PEN Asian Poetry Prize • 1968: Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Story – Thanuppu • 1984: Shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature • 1985: Kendra Sahitya Academy Award (English) – Collected Poems • 1988: Kerala State Film Award for Best Story • 1997: Vayalar Award – Neermathalam Pootha Kalam • 2006: Honorary D.Litt by University of Calicut[24] • 2006: Muttathu Varkey Award[25] • 2009: Ezhuthachan Award[26] Works English Novel • 1976: Alphabet of Lust Autobiography 191 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• 1976: My Story 192 Short stories • 1977: A Doll for the Child Prostitute • 1992: Padmavati the Harlot and Other Stories Poetry • 1964: The Sirens • 1965: Summer in Calcutta • 1967: The Descendants • 1973: The Old Playhouse and Other Poems • 1977: The Stranger Time • 1979: Tonight, This Savage Rite (with Pritish Nandy) • 1984: Collected Poems • 1985: The Anamalai Poems • 1997: Only the Soul Knows How to Sing • 1999: My Mother at Sixty-six • 2001: Yaa Allah Malayalam • 1964: Pakshiyude Manam (short stories) • 1966: Naricheerukal Parakkumbol (short stories) • 1968: Thanuppu (short story) • 1982: Ente Katha (autobiography) • 1987: Balyakala Smaranakal (childhood memoirs) • 1989: Varshangalkku Mumbu (novel) • 1990: Palayan (novel) • 1991: Neypayasam (short story) • 1992: Dayarikkurippukal (novel) • 1994: Neermathalam Pootha Kalam (novel) • 1996: Kadal Mayooram (short novel) • 1996: Rohini (short novel) • 1996: Rathriyude Padavinyasam (short novel) CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

• 1996: Aattukattil (short novel) 193 • 1996: Chekkerunna Pakshikal (short stories) • 1998: Nashtapetta Neelambari (short stories) • 2005: Chandana Marangal (novel) • 2005: Madhavikkuttiyude Unmakkadhakal(short stories) • 2005: Vandikkalakal (novel) 9.1.1Poem – An Introduction - Text I don’t know politics, but I know the names Of those in power, and can repeat them like Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru. I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar, I speak three languages, write in Two, dream in one. Don’t write in English, they said, English is Not your mother-tongue. Why not leave Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, Every one of you? Why not let me speak in Any language I like? The language I speak, Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses All mine, mine alone. It is half English, half Indian, funny perhaps, but it is honest, It is as human as I am human, don’t You, see? It voices my joys, my longings, my Hopes, and it is useful to me as cawing Is to crows or roaring to the lions, it Is human speech, the speech of the mind that is Here and not there, a mind that sees and hears and Is aware. Not the deaf, blind speech Of trees in storm or of monsoon clouds or of rain or the Incoherent mutterings of the blazing Funeral CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

pyre. I was child, and later they Told me I 194 grew, for I became tall, my limbs Swelled and one or two places sprouted hair. When I asked for love, not knowing what else to ask For, he drew a youth of sixteen into the Bedroom and Closed the door, He did not beat me But my sad woman-body felt so beaten. The weight of my breasts and womb crushed me. I shrank Pitifully. Then … I wore a shirt and my Brother’s trousers, cut my hair short and ignored My womanliness. Dress in sarees, be girl Be wife, they said. Be embroiderer, be cook, Be a quarreller with servants. Fit in. Oh, Belong, cried the categorizers. Don’t sit On walls or peep in through our lace-draped windows. Be Amy, or be Kamala. Or, better Still, be Madhavikutty. It is time to Choose a name, a role. Don’t play pretending games. Don’t play at schizophrenia or be a Nympho. Don’t cry embarrassingly loud when Jilted in love … I met a man, loved him. Call Him not by any name, he is every man Who wants? a woman, just as I am every Woman who seeks love. In him . . . the hungry haste Of rivers, in me . . . the oceans’ tireless Waiting. Who are you; I ask each and every one, The answer is, it is I. Anywhere and, Everywhere, I see the one who calls himself I In this world, he is tightly packed like the CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Sword in its sheath. It is I who drink lonely Drinks at twelve, midnight, in hotels of strange towns, It is I who laugh, it is I who make love And then, feel shame, it is I who lie dying With a rattle in my throat. I am sinner, I am saint. I am the beloved and the Betrayed. I have no joys that are not yours, no Aches which are not yours. I too call myself I. 9.1.2 Introduction aboutthe Poem– An Introduction This poem first appeared in the first volume of poems by Kamala Das titled Summer in Calcutta and published in 1965. This poem is completely autobiographical and can even be labeled as a confessional poem. It is confessional in the sense that Kamala Das here familiarizes the reader with confessional poems, this shows Kamala Das frankness in dealing with sex, bodily functions and the like. At the same time, it shows the self-assertiveness of Kamala Das. In addition, we have here a poem of rebellion against conventionalism and the restrictions that society has imposed on women. Kamala Das’s feminism or her advocacy of women’s rights appears clearly here. So this poem reveals different aspects of Kamala Das as a poet. The poem is written in free verse in a conversational style that appropriately allows the free flow of the writer’s thoughts and feelings. The poem reveals to the poet his political knowledge, his linguistic acquisition, his physical growth, the sad experience of his marriage and his search for full love. What M.K. Naik says of his poem that generally applies to this poem as well: “Kamala Das’s person is not a nympho; she is simply every woman who seeks love and is loved and betrayed; expressing her feminine hunger” 9.1.3Poem Analysis – An Introduction  At the beginning of the poem “Introduction”, the poet says that she is not interested in politics but claims that she can name all the politicians who have been in power since Nehru’s time.  She states that she can repeat them with the same confidence as the days of the week or the name of the month.  Second, she asserts that politics in the country is a game of a select few who paradoxically rule a democracy.  And the same people have been in power over and over again.  She claims to be Indian, born in Malabar and is very brown in color. 195 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 She speaks three languages, two for writing and one for dreaming.  People have asked her not to write in English because she is not her mother tongue.  English was the dominant colonial language as a means of communication during the British period.  She had received a lot of criticism in her life from critics, friends and family.  She asks that since she cannot speak any language that she likes, it is her choice to choose any language.  She emphasizes that the language she speaks becomes hers, all imperfections and quirks become hers.  The language that she uses is half English and half Hindi, which sounds funny, but the thing is, she is honest and the imperfection makes him more human, portraying him close to what is called Natural. Language expresses her joys, pains and hopes.  For her it is like the croaking for the crows and the roaring for the lion, that is to say, it is an integral part of her expression.  Also, she says that her speech is the speech of humans that minds can understand and not strange and strange like the sounds of trees in storms or monsoon clouds or rain or death, since these voices do not can be understood.  She continues to tell the story of her, she was a girl and then people told her that she is now an adult as her body had started to show signs of puberty.  But she didn’t understand why her heart and her mind were still those of a child. When she asked her husband for love, not knowing what to ask for, she took the 16- year-old to her bedroom.  Here is a strong criticism of early marriage.  She says that she was not hit by him, but her female body felt like her body was being hit and hurt, so she got tired of her body.  She felt her genitals like a load crushing her.  She began to hate her feminine body of hers because it was her body that caused him so much pain.  So she tries to get over that humiliation by playing tomboy.  At the end of the poem, the poet describes her encounters with a man.  He does not take names because it is the symbolism in their relationship that she tries to convey.  So, like him, she can also attribute to herself the title of “I”. 196 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

 Like men, she too is sinful and holy, loved and betrayed.  The joys and sorrows of her are not different from those of men.  She then she frees herself to the level of “I” So “she” is also “me”. 9.1.4Structure - An Introduction The poem “An Introduction” has irregular rhyme; it does not follow any specific pattern. However, Kamala Das uses literary devices like enjambment. Ellipsis is excluding some parts of a sentence by using three dots. Kamala Das often uses ellipsis in her poetry. In “An Introduction” we see the use of ellipsis in – “Then, I wore a shirt and my/ Brother’s trousers, cut my hair short and ignored/ My womanliness.” Enjambment on the other hand is a continuation of line even after the line break. They are also called run-on lines. For instance, I don’t know politics but I know the names Of those in power, and can repeat them like Days of week, or names of months, beginning with Nehru. I am Indian, very brown, born in Malabar. I speak three languages, write in Two, dream in one. (177) 9.1.5 Theme Kamala Das is an autobiographical and confessional poet. Autobiographical and confessional elements are common and surprising features of Das’s poetry. Confessional poetry is a type of poetry in which the poet deals with the intimate mental and physical events and experiences of life. The theme of An Introduction by Kamala Das is her search for her identity in a male dominated society. An introduction by Kamala Das is based on her experiences as a woman in patriarchal society. 9.2 ADVICE TO WOMEN 9.2.1. Author’ S Biography– Eunice De Souza Eunice de Souza is an English-speaking contemporary Indian poet, literary critic and novelist. Among her notable poetry books is Women in Dutch Painting (1988). Eunice de Souza was born and raised in Pune, in a Catholic family in Goa. She studied English literature with an MA from Marquette University in Wisconsin and a PhD from the University of Mumbai. She taught English at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai and was the head of the department until her recent retirement. She participated in the well-known Ithaka literary festival organized at the university. 197 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

She has also taken care of the theater, both as an actress and as a director. Women in Dutch painting (1988) is her best known work. Ways of Belonging (1990), Fix (1979) and Selected and New Poems (1994) are other published poetic works. She is also known as a literary critic and novelist. She has edited numerous anthologies and writes a weekly column for The Mumbai Mirror. She currently lives in Mumbai. Dev & Simran: A Novel (2003) and Dangerlok (2003) are her novels. Known as an eminent teacher, she retired as head of the English department at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. She is currently recognized as one of the most popular English poets. She has also been associated with the theater as a theater director and actress. 9.2.2. Poem – Advice to Women Keep cats if you want to learn to cope with the otherness of lovers. Otherness is not always neglect – Cats return to their litter trays when they need to. Don’t cuss out of the window at their enemies. That stare of perpetual surprise in those great green eyes will teach you to die alone. 9.2.3 Introduction aboutthe Poem – Advice to Women The poem “Advice to women” is written by the poet Eunice de Souza. The poem, as its name implies, focuses on women. It focuses on the otherness of women and makes ironic comments. The poet says that women are the beauty of the world, but they are caged under the illusion of torment to flee. She says that women often find their happiness in playing the leading role of daughter, wife, mother throughout their lives, which is ineffective. Eunice de Souza’s “Advice for Women” guides women to learn the art of being stoic in relationships. De Souza’s skillful use of an extended metaphor in which she urges women to learn the art of a cat’s haughty detachment adds a certain uniqueness to the poem. 198 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

9.2.4. Poem Analysis – Advice to Women  The poem “Advice for Women” deals mainly with the situation of women in our patriarchal society and also advises women on what they should do to avoid such a situation.  Through this poem Eunice de Souza, the poet wants to make women aware of the pain they receive from others.  Comparing the indifference and proud behavior of a cat towards life and comparing the poet with the cat means that the woman’s behavior and attitude towards her lover must be like a cat.  The reaction of women must be rejected by a lover.  The poet uses very simple images taken from everyday life and also wants to highlight the need to adapt to life differently and they must also follow the attitude of a cat.  He tells women to keep cats as pets because we are all aware of cat behavior.  Cats are always well known for their proud and haughty demeanor.  Women must have patience like cats to face the alterity of the lover and to survive in this patriarchal society, women must have patience.  She says that otherness is not always negligence and could also indicate the lover’s indifferent behavior and attitude towards a loved one.  He advises women to tolerate their lover’s otherness, and the lover must also wait for her lover to return to them.  The imagery describes the act of cleaning that is fed by a cat and insists that the human being adhere to it. Women are the beauty of the world and that beauty is thrown into the illusion of the pursuit of life. Women always play the role of daughter, wife and mother throughout their lives and find pleasure in this role. Women always play an important role in a man’s life. Without a woman, a man’s life is simply impossible. For this reason, the man will return to his beloved when he needs her. These lines bring out the imaginary of the indifferent and insensitive attitude that the cat shows towards life. The poet repeatedly warns here that it is this attitude of indifference that women must absorb. Women must know how to hide pain and suffering and still have long-standing surprise in their eyes. He indicates the essential loneliness of human existence and the need to accept it as fact. Because we all know the fact that we are born alone and will die alone on this earth and between these two poles of birth and death we must fight alone to survive. Hence, the poet insists that all women must possess all the qualities so that the fear of existing alone and even dying alone does not bring them. And 199 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

when women are able to grasp this attitude of indifference, they will be happy with intuition and they will also be self-reliant. Eunice de Souza’s poem “Advice for Women” seeks to teach women how to cope with romantic breakups. De Souza encourages women to use the indifference of cats as a role model when rejected by their lovers. The poem by silencing the protagonist makes her marriage seem artificial and distant. The poet questions both the formal way in which the marriage pact is made and the importance of marriage for the protagonist, who may actually want to do something else. The other famous poems of hers include “Bequest” and “Advice for women”. Almost all of her poems reveal her strong sensory malaise with patriarchal institutions. 9.2.5. Structure This poem is written in free-verse as there is not any specific rhyme scheme or meter. The overall poem consists of twelve lines. de Souza uses end-stopped lines to make her points. Her lines sound like a series of advice to women concerning the art of coping up with the trauma of romantic detachment. She talks directly with readers from the perspective of a third-person speaker. Besides, the amalgamation of short and long lines creates an artistic effect inside the text. Poetic Devices Eunice de Souza uses the following poetic devices in order to make poetic thoughts more effective and appealing to readers. Enjambment: It occurs throughout the text. Eunice uses this device to internally connect the lines. It also creates a suspenseful transmission between the lines. For example, it is used in the first three lines. Metaphor: The poem begins with a metaphor of “cats”. It is an implicit reference to selfish lovers. There is another metaphor in “litter trays”. Here, a woman’s body is compared to a litter tray. Alliteration: It occurs in “Keep cats”, “to learn to” and “great green”. Readers can also find assonance in “Otherness of lovers”. Epigram: The overall poem is a short pithy saying and the sense stays with the readers. The use of epigrammatic ideas can be found in the lines such as “Otherness is not always neglect”. Irony: It occurs in “Cats return to their litter trays/ when they need to.” Here, the poet refers to the selfishness of lovers. 9.2.6. THEME The roles of women in a relationship - The poet makes her situation known without hesitation. She adopts a sharp tone with an independent voice and an anger hidden in her 200 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)