Akritee.
1313270.
3 PSEng.
Setting
of the Novel The Colour Purple
The novel The Color
purple by Alice Walker tells the story of the terrible life and sufferings of a
black woman Celie. The centre stage of the story is Georgia, a state well known
for slave trade in America set in early twentieth century roughly twenty years
prior to the second world was which altered the course of human history like
never before. It must be noted that several events mentioned in the story would
not have happened had the novel not been set in the state of South. The setting
of the story, gives its readers a very clear idea of the fact that the place,
time and social environment are not mere backdrops for the plot; but they are
pivotal as they construct the conditions in which the characters interact and
react.
In 20th
century America, sexism and racism ran out of control resulting in conflicts
that Celie, our protagonist underwent throughout the novel. The state of
affairs of the blacks in the south was poor and they were oppressed. The state
of a black woman was even worse so as it was cruel enough on destinies part to
send them as an afro American but even worse if were females cursing hem with
double oppression first due to the colour of their skin and secondly due to
their gender. One of the most prominent hardships that these Afro Americans
underwent was that of sexual abuse that happened at the hands of their
“masters” or sometimes even in the confines of their own houses by their
fathers/step fathers or brothers/step Brothers. The young enslaved women were
often forced to give in to their masters advances which often resulted in
unwanted pregnancies and a life filled of pain and suffering for them and the
child that they bore. The pathetic conditions of the afro Americans in south
were ignored to the point of brutality and negligence of the cruellest forms.
The life expectancy of
an average black person was 33 years, the majority of which was spent working
as unpaid labourers in the houses and farms of the white people who were their
self proclaimed masters. They had little
to no exposure to education or any linking to a world outside the one they were
a part of. One of the most unfortunate realities of the lives of these people
was that they were dragged into living a life of isolation, ignorance and worst
of all a life without any identity for themselves living in a legacy of pain
suffering and anonymity and leaving it behind for their future generations.
The book spans through
several years of Celie’s life. The story picks up when she is a young girl of
fourteen and is being brutally raped by the man whom she considers to be her
father. She ends up bearing two children to him both of whom are given away
before she could even see them hence not only being burdened with the weight of
a childhood pregnancy, but also being
denied of the joys of motherhood. The book shows the transition of this scared
little
girl to a strong willed
young individual creating a crisp contrast between the Celie that we encounter
at the beginning of the book to the one we encounter towards the end.
The plot has an undying
feel to it rooting in the way Celie’s character is written. The way she is
isolated and estranged from her family could only be achieved by the author’s
use of a small rural town in southern town in United States. Celie has little
to no exposure of the outside world and is only enlightened by what little is
told to her by Nettie, her sister and Shug Avery, a woman who has an affair
with her husband but later turns out to be one of her closest confidante and
strongest pillars of support. Due to the fact that this story revolves around
the timeless themes of racism, sexism, abuse, adultery etc it can never grow
old, and the reader is able to relate to it even hundred years down the road.
Works Cited:
"Setting of the
Color Purple." TheColorPurple-Read -. Web. 24 Aug. 2014.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/enslavement/text6/masterslavesexualabuse.pdf
Shmoop Editorial
Team. "The Color Purple." Shmoop.com . Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov.
2008. Web. 29 Aug. 2014.
"Slave Narratives." New Georgia
Encyclopedia. Web. 29 Aug. 2014.
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. 2004 ed. The
Color Purple: Phoeenix, 1983. Print.
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