The Color Purple, by Alice Walker is a novel that centers around a coloured woman named Celie who lives through various forms of abuse during the course of her life. Following a circle of maturation, the novel looks at the development of her character as having grown from merely existing as a victim of submission to one who evolves emotionally, economically, sexually and spiritually in the racial, patriarchal America.
Walker constructs her novel in an epistolary
(letter-writing) format, beginning with Celie’s letter addressed to God. It
then sees an exchange of letters between herself and her sister Nettie, and ends
with a letter addressed to everyone. As a recurring element in the narrative,
it has a symbolic significance in the novel. She makes use of this format as it
gives the author the “opportunity to present the feelings and reactions without
the intrusion of the author and gives a sense of immediacy, because the letters
are usually written in the thick of the action”.
The novel can be largely divided into two – the letters that
Celie wrote to God, and those that she wrote to Nettie. There is a marked
difference between the purpose with which these letters are written, as well as
the structure, content and eventually, language that they follow.
Celie’s letters to God were primarily a form of
self-expression and/or confession, as can be seen from the very first letter –
“Dear God, I am fourteen years old… Maybe you can give me a sign letting me
know what is happening to me…” She addresses them to Him having grown up
believing that He listened to all alike, and for lack of having anyone else to
speak or write to. The letters initially appear to be like a journal that
merely records all that she sees, hears or feels at that point. Eventually,
they also include more complex themes and insights.
The letters to and from Nettie are important, firstly, as
they highlighted the existence as well as continuity of their bond. In knowing
that Nettie was alive and well and hoped to come back soon, Celie gained an
incentive to live, rather than merely survive. Thus, the act of Mr. __ hiding
the letters from her acted as a catalyst in bringing her and Shug closer, and
pushing them further from him.
Nettie’s letters covered a range of thoughts and
experiences, from talking about their shared past - their childhood, to
wondering how their reunion would be. It was she who let Celie know that her
children were alive and were living in a kind family, and often described in
detail how they looked, what they did and how quickly and willingly they
studied and learned. It was she who discovered and let Celie know that their
father was infact their step-father (“Pa is not out pa!”). This left Celie feeling
“dazed”, as well ignited in her a longing to meet him, confront him. Thus, the
letter from Nettie changed the way Celie looked at one of the most significant
phases in her life. It made her realize what had really happened to her mother,
father and step-father – incidents and people that were otherwise simply a blur
to her.
Nettie would most often write informative letters from
around the world about the knowledge she garnered regarding slavery, missionary
work, the Bible and Africa, and her experiences living among the Olinka tribe
and travelling to and from England. Thus, Nettie’s letters functioned as her
primary source of information to the world outside the country she lived in,
and the cultures that existed. Even years after their separation, her sister
sought to educate her as she did when they were students in school. In
communicating through these letters, Celie reached a point where she had
developed the skill to question even her strongest belief – her faith in God.
She finally let herself feel frustrated at never receiving any answers from
him, and began ‘hardly praying to him’.
However, from this point on, she began to end her letters
with ‘Amen’. This change in structure of the letters needs to be noted to
understand the change of heart that Celie went through – she went from placing
her blind faith in God to placing it in her sister. In that sense, these
letters now replaced those that she wrote to God, and still retained that
prayer-like quality in them. Moreover, ‘Amen’ possibly signified hope (that her
sister and children would come back), a newfound optimism (in knowing that
another person who loved her was live) that she now felt. Apart from this,
while her earlier letters ended abruptly, these new ones followed the tradition
style of signing off – ‘Your sister, Celie’.
Another important change in the structure of Celie’s letters
is seen in the use of her language. Mel Watkins, an American critic and author,
says "As the novel progresses... and as Celie grows in experience, her
observations become sharper and more informed; the letters take on authority
and the dialect, once accepted, assumes a lyrical cadence of its own."
Thus, it seems that in writing to her sister, she transitioned from the pidgin
to a more standard form of English - either modelling after Nettie or implying
clarity and a clear growth in her own thought and personality.
Considering Nettie, while she never has the opportunity to
read Celie's letters to her, the possibility of doing so still haunts her. She tells
Celie that she fantasises about her writing back and even gives Celie stamps encouraging
her to do so in a letter sent before she went to Africa.
“Please write to me, soon as you have a chance. Every day I
think about you. Every minute.”
She wanted nothing more than to know of how sister was doing
and how she was coping with her life of trauma and despair. In case of both
Nettie and Celie, they each write to the other to let them know that they were
not dead, and more importantly, to reach out to that deep connection that they
cherished. In doing so, they drew the strength and courage to face all that
came their way.
In the very last letter of the novel, Celie addresses the
letter to ‘Dear God’ and ‘Dear Everyone’, showing that she has forgiven Him, and that she
and her story have gone through a full cycle of development.
The letters, a motif in the novel, prove that communication
between the two sisters was critical to their survival, despite the large gap physically,
as well as between the sending and receiving of the letters. This is especially
seen as the letters were the only means of communication between the two, vulnerable
to interception on both sides. However,
as noted above, merely the act of writing the letters provided a confidence to
the sisters that one day, they could be united.
Celie wrote her story disregarding tradition, structure and
language – for herself, rather than to get her voice out to a society that had
a history of ignoring the voice of women, the blacks, and black women. However,
“finding a listener and finding her voice are inextricably related” as the
exchange of the letters between the characters in the novel helped her bring
out a stronger, dignified self.
Works Cited
n.d. < http://munin.uit.no/bitstream/handle/10037/3535/thesis.pdf?sequence=1>.
Clarke, Patrick M. n.d. March 2014
<http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Involved/Action/Rationale_ColorPurple.pdf>.
"Examine Walker's narrative techniques in The
Color Purple including consideration of the use of letters, language and
imagery, as well as responding to critical opinions of these techniques."
n.d. Marked By Teachers. March 2014
<http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/english/examine-walker-s-narrative-techniques-in-the-color-purple-including-consideration-of-the-use-of-letters-language-and-imagery-as-well-as-responding-to-critical-opinions-of-these-techniques.html>.
Jorgensen, Maria Berg. "Women, Letters and the
Empire." Munin (2011).
Pariseau, Renee. AML3041. Friday October 2009.
August 2014
<http://suzuki376.blogspot.in/2009/10/function-of-epistolary-format-in-color.html>.
Themes, Motifs & Symbols. n.d. August 2014
<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/purple/themes.html>.
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Orion
Publishng Group, 1988.
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