Joella Sasha Noronha

1313230

Character Analysis : Mr. ___

Mr. ___ is the husband of Celie. He wanted to marry Nettie originally as he found her beautiful, but when their father doesn't give her up, settles for Celie eventually. He makes Celie look after all his children, whose mother had died some time back. He treats Celie badly, hitting her and raping her. His mistress is Shug Avery, who is a singer. Mr. blatantly flirts with Shug when he brings her home, and it clearly evident that he loves her. If it wasn't for his disapproving father, he would have asked her hand in marriage. Celie is hit by Mr. because she is not Shug.

He essentially married Celie to take or his children and his house, to cook and clean. Celie is treated like a maid, but is offered no reimbursement for her services. Celie takes all this in her stride, eventually bringing the children and the house under her control. After sometime, escaping from their father, Nettie comes to stay with Celie in Mr.‘s house. Mr. is at first playfully reluctant, but lets her stay. His real intentions are revealed when he starts hitting on Nettie as she is on her way to school. When she spurns his advances, he throws her out of the house, leading her to leave with Corrine and Samuel in their missionary missions.

After Mr. throws Nettie out of the house, Celie comes very close to slitting his throat when she is shaving him, but decides not to after all. Harpo brings over his heavily pregnant girlfriend Sophia to get his father’s blessings for their marriage. Mr. doesn’t approve of the marriage, but nonetheless they get married. After Harpo complains to Mr. about Sophia, he advises him to hit Sophia. Mr. tells Harpo that “Wives is like children. You have to let them know who got the upper hand. And nothin’ can do it better than a good, sound beating.” He also tell him that she needs to be taken down a peg or two.

Shug decides to stay with the family for a short while, bringing joy to both Mr. and Celie. When she arrives, Mr. tell Harpo that she was “the woman that should’ve been your Mamie.”  He clearly adores Shug and makes her breakfast the first day there. Mr. starts treating Celie better around Shug.

The year Shug visits with her husband is when Celie finds out about Nettie’s letters. Mr. had kept them hidden in a trunk after threatening Celie with never taking the mail in. That day, Celie decides to leave Mr. when Celie announces her decision, Mr. insults her and tells her she is only good enough to be Shug’s maid. Celie curses Mr. before she leaves saying that until he did right by her, everything he even thought about would crumble. Mr. can’t believe that Celie is leaving him and keeps repeating that she has no talents and therefore would come back.

In 1937, Mr. is old and his farm has broken down. He is mostly drunk, doesn’t take care of his children or his house. He spends most of his time at Harpo’s and announces that he is happy to see Harpo and Sofia back together again.

Towards the end of the novel, we see Celie visiting the now dilapidated house of Mr. and forgiving him of all his sins against her. Mr. has a new found respect for Celie and even allows her to call him by his first name, Albert. He then proposes to her properly but she respectfully declines.

Mr. plays a strong role in the novel. Without him, the character of Celie would never have developed into the strong woman she is at the end of the novel. Mr. is only abusive towards his wife because of his overbearing father. His father never let him marry Shug because he thought she wasn’t a good woman. He told Mr. to hit his wife to show her her place. He chides Mr. too much when he does wrong and still treats him like a child.

Mr.’s first wife was someone he loved a lot, but she was killed by her boyfriend in a lover’s tiff. He thus wanted someone to take care of his children. He chose Nettie because she was pretty, but settled for her sister, Celie. Most of the time, Mr. is shown asserting his authority over Celie, all because he knows he can. One can assume he even hits his wife because he saw his father hitting his.

He is called just Mr. without a last name because Celie never felt close to him. She was married to him without a say and was an obedient wife till she left. She didn’t call him by his first name till he let her, in the end. This shows the authority exerted over Celie by Mr. He didn’t think it was her right to know his name or anything about him. He also controlled her world. He kept her sister’s letters from her and beat her every chance he could. The only time he softened up to her was when Shug arrived and eventually started being a better husband.

When Celie curses him and leaves, everything at the house and the farm falls apart. His children have all grown up and left and the house falls into disarray. This is when Mr. realises that what he did to Celie was wrong and seeks to amend their relationship. When she visits, he apologises and requests that they start anew, even asking for her hand in marriage from her, showing that he is truly sorry for the way he treated her in the past. To show goodwill, he lets her call him by his first name.

We see the transformation of Mr. from dictator to soft old man as the years go by. Every time Shug arrived for a visit, his demeanor towards Celie changed and in the end he was softer and nicer to her, hardly ever raising his hand.

References:

Walker, Alice.  The Color Purple. London : Phoenix Books, Pvt, Ltd, 2004. Print.