Title: Homosexuality in Color Purple
Name: Avani Jain
Register
number: 1313274
Course: 3PSEng
Department: Humanities
University: Christ University
Introduction
The Color Purple, written by Alice Walker in 1982, is the
epistolary novel. Story of Celie, a poor, rural, uneducated black woman who
writes letters to God and her sister. She does this as a way to express the
horror, loneliness and self-hate she experiences in her daily life. Married at
14 to a cruel old man who abuses, rapes and beats her, with two illegitimate
children supposedly fathered by her own father which later in the story turns
out is not his real father. The protagonist finds escape and comfort through
the relationship she builds with God, and later with her sister, through her
letters and her relationship with Shug. In life, Celie knows little of love.
Her only friend, Nettie, her sister, was taken away from her and Celie presumes
she is dead as they promised to write letters to each other but she never got
any from Nettie. Later, she falls in love with her husband’s, longtime
girlfriend, Shug Avery. The relationship between Celie and Shug blossoms into a
deeply intimate and sexual relationship that spans the course of decades. In
this love Celie embarks on a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. She
learns not only that she is worthy of love but also how to love herself, love
others and offer forgiveness. She realizes her mistake and her ignorance
towards her own life. Through her capacity to love even those who have hurt and
abused her, they too are able to find redemption and grasp their own ability
for change.
Element of Homosexuality
The novel in
its early years has gone through lot of criticisms. Many of which have been
because of the independent use of concepts like incest, lesbian relationships, Violence.
But over time the book was declared one of the best works of Alice Walker.
The element
of homosexuality is very little in the novel. Yet a transforming phase in
protagonist’s life. When Celie discovers her attraction towards Shug, she
accepts it and follows her intuition. The intimate relationship between Shug
and Celie makes Celie familiar with the selfless love. She realizes that she
deserves better than Albert.
Trivialization
of the lesbian relationships
In an
interview Walker states, “There may be some people who are uncomfortable with
the idea of women being lovers. But I feel they should outgrow that. Being able
to love is more important than who you love. If you love yourself as a woman,
what’s to prevent you from loving another woman? I think many women feel a
sense of liberation about that part of the story” (Rosenfeld, 1982). She
continues by reiterating that Celie and Shug’s relationship is not accidental,
“The people are conscious of the choices available, and they make good ones.
They look at everything and they choose each other.” (Rosenfeld, 1982)
While
addressing the relationship as a central tenant of the novel, Donna Haisty
Winchell explains the relationship as this: “Shug offers Celie the image of a
god human enough to share Celie’s need for love and compassionate enough to
rejoice with her people when they find it, even in its most blatantly sexual
forms…” She continues by explaining that the sexual relationship is secondary
about gender rather than erotic love. She further explains this by going deep
in the philosophy of love.
“Celie and
Shug, of course, cross traditional gender boundaries as soon as they enter into
their lesbian relationship. There is something of the masculine in Shug, in
spite of all her flamboyant, feminine charm. She is, for one thing, totally
inept at sewing. Shug’s mother is raising Shug’s three children. Even Celie
acknowledges that Shug is manly in her talk at times. On one occasion, Shug
greets Sofia with, ‘Girl, you look like a good time, you do’” (Winchell, 1985,
p.96). This qualifies one of the most common stereotypes of homosexual relationships.
It needn’t be applicable in all cases but can be seen in many. It’s the quality
of one man to be manly. Although it’s not
necessary in all the relationships.
Conclusion
This
argument is extended further through an explanation of the demasculinization of
Harpo and Albert at the end of the novel, “the extent to which men become
likeable is directly proportional, then, not to their age, but rather to the extent
to which they take on feminine characteristics”. Although a thoughtful
analysis, it diminishes the power of love as a driving force of the novel.
Further, the critique’s ultimate impact toward the greater body of scholarship
is reduced due to its lack of a queer consciousness
References
1. New York Times-
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/04/specials/walker-color.html
3. The Color Purple Movie Review (1985)
| Roger Ebert
4. The quotations- http://sitemaker.umich.edu/lesbianhistories/browse_the_essays&mode=single&recordID=0000c0a8de12000007d4e50500000133a10cfa0150c39fb8&nextMode=list
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