GENDER STEREOTYPE

 

VAGISHA AGRAWAL

2-PSENG

1313252

 

 

Many characters in this story breakdown the limitations of conventional male or female sex characters. Practically none of the abusers in Walker’s narrative are conventional, simplistic monsters whom we can terminate as merely criminal. Those who propagate violence are themselves sufferers, frequently of prejudice, intolerance, or overprotectiveness.

Sofia’s strength and sass is clearly visible throughout the novel. Sofia becomes pregnant with Harpo’s baby and, notwithstanding primary opposition from Mr. ________, weds Harpo. Celie, is startled by Sofia’s rebellious denial to submit to Harpo’s struggles to control her. Harpo, gentler and calmer than his dad, feels weakened due to his incapability to catch Sofia to “mind.” A quickly envious Celie then recommends Harpo to hit Sofia. Sofia matches back, however, causing grave wounds on Harpo. After Sofia faces her, Celie, who was now feeling guilt-ridden about what she had done, says sorry and entrusts in her about all the exploitations she undergoes at Mr. ______’s hands. She also starts to reflect on Sofia’s outlook about guarding herself against maltreatment from Mr. ______. Disturbed by Harpo’s authoritarian behavior, Sofia moves out, taking her kids with her. Sofia gets back for a stopover and straightaway gets into a conflict with Harpo’s new lover, Squeak, striking the lady's teeth out. Then in township one day, the mayor’s wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia if she would like to work as her maid. Sofia rudely declines. After the mayor blows Sofia for “insubordination”, Sofia returns the slap. Sofia is consequently penalized to twelve years in prison. Sofia’s opposition makes Harpo feel like less of a man. Sofia tells Eleanor Jane that communal authority makes it almost unavoidable that her son will grow up to be a racist. Only by powerfully speaking back to the males who maltreatment them and displaying a new way of doing things will the females of this novel be able to break the ritual of sexism and violence, initiating the men who abuse them to put an end to and reconsider their ways.

 

Shug’s sexual confidence is also a key illustration of such disproportion between a character’s masculinity and the characters he exhibits. Notwithstanding being newly wedded, Shug asks Celie about her sister. Shug assists Celie retrieve letters from Nettie that Mr. ______ had kept hidden from her for years. Harpo starts a juke joint where Shug, who has entirely regained from her sickness, performs nightly. Shug chooses to stay when she gathers that Mr._____ hits Celie when she is absent. Shug and Celie’s connection develops over time. Similarly Shug’s poised sexuality and opposition to male supremacy causes her to be marked a tramp.

 

Harpo’s self-doubt about his maleness leads to spousal troubles and results in him beating Sofia. He hits Sofia only after his father denotes that Sofia’s defiance makes Harpo less of a male.   

 

Early on, the protagonist starts to describe that she doesn’t look at males- they frighten her. In its place she looks at females. Women are the single people who have always been humane to her. Her sensual individuality develops to that of a female who loves a female. In this novel, sexuality is not about loving one sex or the other, it concerns with loving individual people. In the protagonist’s case, she loves a female.

Throughout the novel, Walker wishes to emphasize that gender and sexuality are not as simple as we may believe. Her novel subverts and defies the traditional ways in which we understand women to be women and men to be men. Throughout the novel, the assertion of what the African-American femininity is compared to is the exploration of African-American male struggle with masculinity. The idea of femininity among African-American women is focused around the abilities of the husband to care for the wife and family. The normative roles by men are viewed as the source of oppressive behavior by men. Therefore, if the African-American male is not fulfilling his role, it is unlikely for the African-American women to fulfill her role of femininity because she is predicated on his abilities.