An Analysis of Five Quotes - Meghna

An Analysis of Five Quotes

Meghna

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From Alice Walkers book, ‘The Color Purple’ I have chosen quotes that I believe bring out the essence of the story and I have analyzed them to see what they meant and what the tell us about the characters in the book.

“He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don't never git used to it. And now I feels sick every time I be the one to cook."

In this book, this is said while Celie gets raped by her father. He forces himself on her and insists that she get used to the feeling and the suffering or else he would continue to choke her. 

The abuse was not only sexual but also psychological and emotional. It later does contribute to her low self esteem and her sense of helplessness and powerlessness.

It is possible that due to the number of times she was raped by those around her she grew uncaring and physically and emotionally unresponsive towards it. As the only sexual encounter she liked was the one she willingly had with  Shug, we can assume that she valued emotional relationships far more than any sexual one. 

“He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens. That’s the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them. Maybe cause my mama cuss me you think I kept mad at her. But I ain’t. I felt sorry for mama. Trying to believe his story kilt her.”

Celies first sexual encounter was being raped by her father. As a result she hated any form of physical or romantic encounter with a man because they lead to some form of abuse. Thus, she very strongly believed that all men were liars and were not to be trusted. She therefore placed her faith in women and took more interest in them – emotionally and physically – as she was not intimidated by them. It was also one of the reasons of her being believed to be lesbian. 

“Well how you spect to make her mind? Wives is like children. You have to let 'em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating."

Harpo is made to believe that the only way to control his wife (although she had not done anything wrong) was to beat her up. He compares all women to children, indicating that women are immature, dependent and need to be disciplined by men who ‘have the upper hand’ as they are superior.

This line indicates that not all men are born violent; they are taught to be so by those around them. Beating women is right as it is done only to train them on how their husbands want them to be.  

“I don't say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don't fight, I stay where I'm told. But I'm alive.”

This quote also shows the plight of women. Celie allows the men in her life to abuse her both sexually and physically. She never fights back and she never tries to get away from it, she just takes it as it comes. On the other hand, her sister, Nettie, will not allow any man to abuse her. Nettie knows that she should have respect and she will do whatever she has to, to be sure she has it.

Celies sister , Nettie, believed that she deserved respect and refused to be physically abused. She fought continuously to protect herself and that resulted in her having to continuously run away.

Celie, on the other hand, was very submissive and was therefore a victim of both sexual and physical abuse. However, as she accepted everything happening to her, she could stay in one place itself. She believed that by not fighting she remained alive while resistance lead to death.

This quote does raise the point of the difference between living and existing. Celie had no free will. She lived a life of a machine, constantly being told what to do. She was merely existing. Nettie, on the other hand, had taken control of her own life. All the consequences she had to face may not have been pleasurable, but she had the choice to do so, and was therefore the one who was living.     

“I think us here to wonder, myself. To wonder. To ast. And that in wondering bout the big things and asting bout the big things you learn about the little ones, almost by accident. But you never know noting more about the big things than you start out with. The more I wonder, he say, the more I love."

This quote can be seen as one of redemption. Mr. ___ ponders over why people suffer, why some are born black, why people are discriminated against, why love is important. The more he ponders over these questions he realises that he has no answer to them. However, all the pondering makes him appretiate the smaller things in life and thus, changes his outlook, making him a nicer person.

References

Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Color Purple Violence Quotes Page 2." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.

"The Color Purple Quotes." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2014

Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Color Purple Women and Femininity Quotes Page 1." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.

Alice Walker's The Color Purple." : Blog 6. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2014

Mary. "Quotes from the Book." N.p., 28 Jan. 2014. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.