Anu Antony
1313258
Prof.Arya Ayappan
29 August 2014
THE
POWER OF NARRATIVE AND VOICE IN THE NOVEL COLOR PURPLE.
In
this novel, Alice Walker (author of the novel) powerfully emphasizes that, the
ability to express one’s thoughts and feelings is crucial for developing a
sense of self. Initially, Celie is completely unable to resist those who abuse
her. Remembering Alphonso’s warning that she “better not never tell nobody but
god” about his abuse to her, Celie after sometime feels that the one and only
way to survive and persevere this situation was to remain silent and invisible.
Celie is essentially an object. She is an entirely passive party who has no
power to strengthen herself through any action or words. Her vivid and clear
letter to God, become her only outlet. However, because she is very much
unaccustomed to articulating her day today experience, her narrative is
initially muddled despite her best efforts at transparency.
In
Shug and sofia, Celie finds sympathetic ears and learns lessons that enables
her to find her voice. In renaming Celie a virgin, Shug shows Celie that she
can create her own narrative, a new interpretation of herself and her history
that counters the interpretations forced upon her. Gradually Celie begins to
flesh out more of her story by telling it to Shug. However, it is not until
Celie and Shug discover Nettie’s letter that Celie finally has enough knowledge
of herself to form her own powerful narrative. Celies powerful and forceful
assertion of this newfound power, her cursing for years of abuse, is the
novel’s climax.
Though
Alice Walker clearly wishes to emphasize the power of narrative and speech to
strongly assert selfhood and resist oppression, the particular novel color
purple acknowledges that such resistance can be risky. Sofia’s powerful
outburst in response to Miss Millie’s invitation to be her maid costs her
twelve long years of her life, Sofia regains her lost freedom eventually, so
she is not totally defeated, but she pays a high price for her words.
Alice
Walker portrays female friendship as a means for women to completely summon the
courage to tell stories, In turn, these stories allow women to resist
oppression and dominance of men and society. Relationships among women form a
refuge, providing reciprocal love in a world filled with male violence.
Female
ties take many forms; some are motherly and sisterly affection, some are in the
form of teacher and student, some are very intimate relationships and some
others are just friendships. Sofia claims that there ability to fight comes
from her strong relationships with her sisters.
Alice
Walker uses the novel’s epistolary form to emphasize the power of
communication. Celie writes letter to God, and nettie writes letter to celie.
Both sisters gain strength from their letter writing, but they are saved only
when they receive responses to their letters. Therefore, although writing
letters enables a self expression and confession, it require willing audience,
Nettie grows disillusioned with her missionary work because the imperialists
will not listen to her and because the olinga villagers are stubborn. Only
after Nettie returns home to Celie, an audience guaranteed to listen, does she
feel fulfilled and freed. The unspecific time and place broaden the novel’s
scope, making its theme more universal. Throughout the novel, Walker wishes to
emphasize that gender and sexuality are not as simple as we may believe. Her
novels subverts and defies the traditional ways in which we understand women to
be women and men to be men. The blurring of gender traits and roles sometimes
involves sexual ambiguity, as we see in the sexual relationship between Celie
and Shug.
Though
walker clearly wishes to emphasize the power of narrative and speech to assert
selfhood and resist oppression, the novel acknowledges that such resistance can
be risky. Sofia’s powerful outburst in response to Miss Millie’s invitation to
be her maid costs her twelve years of
her life. Sofia regains her freedom eventually, so she is not totally defeated,
but she pays a high price for her words. Walker emphasized throughout the novel
that the ability to express one’s thoughts and feelings is crucial to
developing a sense of self. Walker clearly wishes to emphasize the power of
narrative and speech to assert selfhood and strongly resist oppression.
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