The Color Purple
This week for my reading log, I read _The Color Purple_ by Alice Walker as my African-American literature book. The book tells the story of Celie and the events that happened during her life. In the book, Celie is married off to a man who is just known as Mr.____ (his name is revealed to be Albert later on in the book). Her sister Nettie goes to Africa to become a missionary, and Celie thinks that she is dead. Celie meets a woman named Shug and falls in love with her. In the mean time, Mr._____’s son Harpo marries a hot-headed woman named Sofia. The rest of the book is about what happens to these characters and in the end, all the story lines combine into one.
After reading the first half of the book, I felt incredibly sad. In the beginning, Celie gets raped by her step-father—who she thinks is her real father—and ends up getting pregnant with his baby. I thought this was tragic because that moment, in my opinion, is what led to everything else that happened to her. Since she got pregnant, she couldn’t go to school, and since she couldn’t get an education, her father married her off to Mr.____ who then abused her. On the bright side, since she married Mr.____ she was able to meet Sofia and Shug Avery, whom she falls in love with. The first time she encountered Shug Avery, I was shocked that Shug was so cruel to her, but then as I started to read further into the book, I learned that Shug was only mean to Celie in the beginning because she was jealous of her and Mr.______. When I read to the part where Celie tells Harpo to beat Sofia, I was so surprised because Celie was the last person I would have thought to tell someone to beat their wives; since Celie was being abused by Mr._____, I expected more out of her at that moment. When Celie and Shug discovered the letters from Nettie, I felt exuberant for Celie, but infuriated at Mr._____ for keeping them from her. When Shug came back, I was surprised because I thought that Shug was never going to come back. Strangely enough, I felt angry at her for coming back because she ruined the mellowness of the farm by coming back—Celie and Mr._____ had become friends and Celie was slowly letting go of Shug. Maybe if Shug hadn’t come back, then Celie would end up back with Mr._____ and they would have a platonic sort of relationship, unlike the relationship they had before in which Mr.______ was fueled by lust and Celie was being abused in the process.
This book taught me many important lessons. I think the most important one that I learned was that your life can come crashing down with one event in your life. For Celie, this event was getting pregnant with Alphonso’s baby. What would have Celie’s life been like if she hadn’t been abused by her step-father? My prediction is that Celie would have continued her education and been able to do something productive with her life like Nettie. Another lesson that the book teaches is that you cannot force someone into submission. In the book, Harpo tried to beat Sofia to try and make her obey, but his plan backfired and Sofia grew even more rebellious. If you want someone to something, the best way to accomplish this is to ask nicely and back off if the person says no. One of the lessons in the end of the book, was that if one allows someone into their mind, then they may feel better. An example of this in the book was when Shug was with Germaine, and Celie and Mr._____ bonded by both finding solace in their memories of Shug. The sad moment allowed Celie and Mr.______ to grow closer, allowing Celie to become friends with Mr._____ and slowly being able to let go of Shug. The second most important lesson that I learned from the book is that one shouldn’t cross someone off one’s list before they are presented with the facts. In the book, Celie assumed that Nettie was dead, but in reality, Nettie was in Africa, helping the Olinka people. Also, near the end of the book, Celie found out that Mr.______ had changed his abusive ways and turned into someone who was wise and insightful. Another lesson that I’ve learned from this book is that you should never get too attached to a person. This idea may seem absurd to some people, but it makes sense to me. If one grows too close to another person, and the other person leaves, then obviously one will be hurt and confused. So, to spare myself from the pain and misery that comes from commitment, I intend not to grow too attached to people. Sure, eventually I will grow attached to the person that I feel is ‘the one,‘ but in the mean time, I’ll keep my distance. “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.“ That quote from the book taught me an important lesson. Some people work so hard to achieve their goal, but once they achieve it, they don’t really sit back and enjoy what they’ve done. I think the world would probably be a better place if people would just stop and admire some things that occur in their life. Personally, the next time I walk past the color purple in a field, I’ll immediately think of The Color Purple and just admire it for a while before continuing on whatever I was doing.
The Color Purple is considered by some to be a controversial book, heck, it’s even on the American Library Association’s list of Most Frequently Challenged Books. However, if someone people just set aside their opinions just for a while and read the book, I think that we would all be a little more understand when it comes to people who are different from others. I personally would like to see George Bush read The Color Purple, but I doubt that he would take reading recommendations from a thirteen year old. A guy can wish, can’t he?