Apratim Ray
II PSEng
1313203
CIA 3 American Literature
Child Abuse in
The Color Purple
Alice Walker has
received unanimous praise as a lavishly gifted writer because of her books and
collection of poems along with two collections of short stories. Alice Walker’s
novels and poems generally deal with a basic theme of sexual abuse and violence
against women, specially black women at a very young age which is brought out by
her as harsh reality which led to her being considered a censored writer. Many
of her works have been banned because of its content which brings out the
sexual harassment against women in the society. She speaks and writes the truth
blatantly which has led her into many controversies regarding the content of
her novels. Schools are worried about children being exposed to sexual content
at a very early age and have hence banned or censored her works. In an article
titled ‘ Alice Walker: Writing What’s Right’, Walker tells us how she feels
that some of the complainers of her novel were probably people who had at some
point of time sexually and physically abused children or had gone through the trauma of being sexually
abused themselves and thus couldn’t bear to think about all of it again as
adults.
The novel ‘Color Purple’ based along the
same lines brings into sharper focus many of the diverse themes that she dealt
with in her previous works which is mainly about how women and children are abused sexually and
physically is foremost the story of Celie, a young black girl who is pretty
much uneducated and poor and her
struggle of escaping the brutality of men she comes across. Raped by her step
father when she was a child, Celie was mentally and physically tortured almost
every day of her life making her regret the fact that she was born a girl in a
black family. Unsatisfied by his wife, Celie’s stepfather continuously raped
her to satisfy his sexual desires and physically tortured her to act according
to his needs only. She was a slave in her own house and constantly wanted to
escape from such an entrapment but was left helpless in every situation. She
was worried when her stepfather turned his eyes to her sister and she knew he
was going to do the same to her sister as he did to her and Celie wanted to
make sure that Nettie, her sister, didn't go through what she did. However, she couldn't do much because soon she was forced into marrying a widower and
ruthless man named Albert with four children. Her condition however didn't change a bit as she was beaten up and sexually assaulted by Albert according to
his whims and fancies and he never really loved her but just used her as a tool
for sexual satisfaction. His reason for misbehaving and hitting Celie was that
she was his wife and he had every right to do so. Instances of child abuse are
visible here as well as we see the ruthless Albert hitting his children with
complete disregard and how he tortures them to carry out his errands. So Walker
doesn’t only focus on the main character but also showcases as to how child
abuse was a prominent feature of those times, especially in the black family.
Not
only an instance from the story, but the title itself is suggestive of the
physical abuse present and mentioned in the novel. ‘The Color Purple’ is
representative of the physical abuse Celie had to go through as a child and
adolescent. An article talks about how Celie’s face is compared to that of an
eggplant because of the physical abuse she has gone through which had led to
her face being swollen and purple. The article mentions as to how Purple is
also the color of her private parts which is symbolic of all the sexual abuse
she has gone through as a child as well. Thus the very title of the novel is
based on all sorts of abuse and torture that Celie went through as a child till
adulthood, so we can obviously see as to how child abuse is a very prominent
theme and an integral component of the story.
Saying all
that, The Color Purple is not just all about abuse and torture. As the story
goes on there is always an element of hope and faith in the novel which tells
us that it’s not only dark and shady. The novel ends in a positive note as
well. Therefore along with all the abuse and negativity going on, the novel
does have a positive and optimistic side to it as well.
References:
http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/alice-walker-writing-whats-right/
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