Isha Srivastava-1313229- “The Color Purple” as an Epistolary Novel

Isha Srivastava
II PSEng
1313229
American Lit. CIA 3


            “The Color Purple” as an Epistolary Novel/ Significance of Letter Writing

The Color Purple was written by Alice Walker in 1982. It became the first African American epistolary novel. It is narrated in letters written by a black woman who writes in her rural dialect rather than Standard English, and is widely acknowledged for giving a voice to a character who is silenced not only by her race and class, but also by sexual violence.

Epistolary novel is a novel usually told through the medium of letters written by one or more of the characters. It could also be an umbrella term for a variety of other narratives like diary entries, newspaper clippings etc.

The Color Purple is a novel in which the language of letters is so much like the spoken language that the reader starts believing that he/she is hearing the voice of the narrator rather than reading her writing. Alice Walker’s remarkable approach to the letter novel doubles the effect that has often been claimed to be the greatest appeal of the form: letter narrative is often read as the direct and unfiltered thoughts of a character, as a view into their minds without the interfering presence of a third person narrator, while conveying the shape of events to come with dramatic immediacy. The epistolary novel’s reliance on subjective points of view makes it the forerunner of the modern psychological novel.

The Color Purple consists of 92 letters, 22 are from Nettie to Celie, 14 from Celie to Nettie while the rest are addressed to god. Additionally there is one letter from Shug to celie which is quoted full length in one of Celie’s letters to Nettie. There are no dates/ years mentioned at any point of time in the letters. Except for Celie’s time in Memphis and Nettie’s letter from England, the location from where the letters are written and the setting of action in general is unspecified.  

The letters in the novel represent an important motif. They are not merely vessels of words, but exist as physical objects and devices of communication that help to understand the implications they make about the relationship between the writer and recipient. As the dominating voice of the novel, Celie controls both the words of the people present in her letters and also  the presentation of Nettie’s letters. 

The Color Purple is mostly written in a distinctive rural black dialect that is so close to the speech of the narrator that her letters read like spoken language. This has been deliberately done to show the protagonist’s non submission to language of the dominant oppressive class (White People). The major development that takes place is Celie finding her own voice outside the letters, but when the story ends the letters remain evidence of the growth. It is in the letters that Celie survives and finds her voice of self expression amidst the troubles and turmoil of her life.

Alice Walker has also used the novel’s epistolary form to emphasize the power of communication. Celie writes letters to God, and Nettie writes letters 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 self-expression and confession, it requires a willing audience. When Celie never responds to Nettie’s letters, Nettie feels lost because Celie is her only audience. Nettie grows disillusioned with her missionary work because the imperialists will not listen to her and because the Olinka villagers are stubborn. Only after Nettie returns home to Celie, an audience guaranteed to listen, does she feel fulfilled and freed.

The epistolary form has majorly been used as the vehicle for deep, sentimental novels, as evident in “The Color Purple”. The letters provide an intimate view into the letter writer’s life, mind and emotions. The novel depicts Celie’s liberation from mental slavery in terms of two essential turning points, highlighted by the form of the novel. The first is when she tells Shug about her (step)father’s rape of her, thus breaking the taboo that necessitated the letters to god. With an audience that can listen, Celie can finally start healing- a process helped by her discovery of the letters from Nettie.

The very core of The Color Purple is the idea to give a voice to the voiceless, and the thesis of the novel seems to be that healing comes from being heard: Celie can be saved because her voice is recorded in letters and of the antagonistic characters in the novel, it is those that are willing to listen who are also capable of reforming.   

References:

1. Jorgensen, Maria Berg. Women, letters and the empire: The role of epistolary in Alice Walker’s Color Purple, (2011),University of Tromso.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10037/3535

2.Harris Abrams, Patricia (1985), “The Gift of Loneliness: Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Language Art Journal of Michigan, Vol.1 Issue 2, Article no.8
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.1762 

3. Sparknotes, URL: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/purple/themes.html