CIA- III

Major Literary Devices used In 'The Color Purple'

Aaron Nicolas George

1313253

II PSEng

The narrative of "The Color Purple" employs literary devices to effectively bring out the thoughts, feelings, and ideas throughout. These elements add to the flavor of the novel, while giving an inclusive and poignant experience to the reader. Accordingly, I am going to highlight the use of syntax, symbolism and the foil character by Alice Walker in her novel.

Syntax is the way in which series of words are structured into phrases, clauses, and sentences. it is a key part of how this story is depicted. It draws the reader into the mind of an uneducated, mistreated, black girl, thus, the reader is better able to realize why Celie is so submissive and why she gives in to her husband’s complete control over her. Syntax also aids the establishment of the setting as being sometime during the first half of the twentieth century in the rural South, in spite of the fact that the book does not give any historical facts to establish a definite time line. Looking at the way that the sentences are written, the reader can assume that Celie does not completely understand what is happening, and this brings in a distressing and compassionate tone in the novel. Poor syntax is also used effectively to demonstrate ignorance, as a result of poor education and lower standards of living.

Symbolism is the utilization of symbols to indicate thoughts and qualities by giving them symbolic connotations that are dissimilar to their literal sense. Symbolism has been used a lot in this novel. The most clear use of this literary device is evidently the color "purple". Purple has always been linked to royalty and exquisiteness in general, but in the novel, it is the major theme. The color is representative of Celie’s own beauty, which she does not realize she possesses, until Shug points it out to her. At the close of the novel, Celie shows Shug her modified home and her new room, which is painted purple. This illustrates her entire journey and how she now identifies her own beauty and looks at herself as being beautiful.

A foil is a character that demonstrates personality traits that are in contrast with the traits of a different character, with the aim to highlight the traits of the other character. What we see in prose very frequently is that a foil is a less important character who contrasts with the main character to augment the importance of the main character. The use of foil characters in "the Colour Purple" helps the reader understand the character of Celie.  Shug and Sofia act as foils, but Sofia is the primary one. Even though Sofia and Celie are both juvenile, uneducated, black women in the Southern United States, their outlooks are as different as fire and ice. Sofia is strong and self-governing, not allowing herself to be trampled over as Celie does. She is also unafraid to fight for her rights, in contrast to Celie, who is not even aware that she has rights to fight for. This difference in attitudes helps the reader comprehend both characters and their individual journeys of self-discovery in the novel.

Works Cited

Anonymous. The Colour Purple. 19 October 2008. Article. 27 August 2014.

Literary Devices. 2014. Glossary. 27 August 2014.