UME
ZUBIDA
2nd
pseng
1313296
C.I.A-
3
TOPIC – RACE AND DOMESTICITY
Color Purple is a epistolary novel depicting homosexuality, mental and physical abuse (like domestic violence and rape), racial discrimination and gender inequality that an Afro-American woman faced during early 20th century which is being portrayed through a fourteen year old character named Celie who later undergoes a transformation with the help of a character Shug A Very, from being an oppressed, abused, ill treated, vulnerable to being a strong, confident, standing for once own self, understanding the moral responsibility and self-worth.
Racism can be defined as a belief that one race is superior over others. in novel color purple, Mayor disapproves with idea of his wife “Always going on over colored” (Walker pg no. 81) showing affection towards Sofia (Black woman) .when sees all her children being clean .Miss Millie (wife of the Mayor) offers her to be her maid to which Sofia disagrees as a result she is being slapped by Mayor and beaten to death by sheriff and later being a slave. This was all just a result of Sophie (a colored female) standing for herself as she wanted to live a dignified life rather than spending her life like servitude. Through this novel Walker makes reader aware of the fact that racist behavior can be shows towards others through different ways such as domesticity, culture, kinship but this racism is not only visible as white over black but it can also be viewed vice-verse.
We can also observe the idea of black woman and men themselves liking the “bright color” or lighter shade people. When Mr.______ sister Carrie when visited Celie speaks about the faults of Annie Julia (Ex-wife of Mr_____) stating that she never took care of the house , children and rather she was “too Black” here we can see woman looking down upon other woman for not only being disorganized but also being of same color in darker shade. Even Harpo, finds himself a yellow-skinned girl squeak after his wife sofia a “bright color” wife lives him. This indicates black men’s preference for a female who is not black.
The important turning point in novel occurs when the main character Celie gets hand on the letters of her younger sister Nettie, about whose welfare she desperately wanted to know. With the recovery of the letters we can also see change in the role of Celie from being a writer to reader. On looking the letter given by Shug A Very Celie states “Little fat queen of England stamps on it, plus stamps that got peanut, coconut, rubber trees and say Africa. I don’t know where England at. Don’t know where Africa at either. So I still don’t know where Nettie at” (Walker, pg no.109) .These lines clearly state that Celie was only concerned with domestic work and not being aware of basic things which happened around her, she had the understanding of things based on her own personal experience constricted in her own household chores. It can also be attributed to her being only able write but not being an educated woman. But when she specifies the physical features as she says “Little fat queen of England” while viewing the stamp it also brings to light the way Alice walker using the narrative style where it helps the reader understand the historical context through which we clearly know the stamp describes the queen Victoria delivering a view of royalty and the African land filled with rubber trees showing a place being colonized which clearly depicts differentiation in terms of race and class.
"She says an African daisy and an English daisy are both flowers, but totally different kinds"
The concept of kinship trope for the racial relations narrated specifically when independent and transformed Celie and reformed Albert have conversation about the Olinka interpretation about the Adam and Eve story that they had heard from Christian missionary, about which she was informed through the letter of Nettie “. . . white people is black peoples children” (Walker, pg no.247) The people Olinka believed they were the one who out caste Adam and Eve as they were naked . For them naked meant “White” the people of Olinka throw out their children who look little different, these children still so mad about been disregarded that they started destroying everything and killing wherever they found Black .thus they realized that they were one the who gave a beginning to the this sort of racial discrimination or the “Serpent” . The white were viewed as the sinner. This can be seen when Sofia is put in the jail for not accepting to be a maid and revolting against the Mayor, "Nothing less than sliding on your belly with your tongue on they boots can even git they attention," in this sense Sofia is the viewed as a snake and the idea is that white people blame black people – the serpent – for all their earthly problems.
However the outcome of this makes the reader emphasize on racism. Where “jail” in which Sofia is held can interpret as Metaphor for the Black people caged by racism but the other people are confined to servitude and domesticity within their own houses. Yet, whites and Black could absolutely work with each other as we can see Sofia giving car driving lessons Miss Millie. It is however Miss Millie refusal to go with Jack (Colored Men and husband of Odesse) when the car crashes brings in the racial conflict.
Celie says, that some people of Olinka believed that the only way to stop this serpent to be born again is to stop the racial conflict and establish kinship bond.". . . the only way to stop making somebody the serpent is for everybody to accept everybody else as a child of God, or one mother's children, no matter what they look like or how they act"(Walker pg no.250)
Throughout the novel there are visible instances where black and white are shown through race and domesticity. The two important examples are the African relations between Sofia and Eleanor Jane.
On the trip to Africa which Nettie describes as “Incredible” as she sees an integrated family on board ship, she meets Doris a white Missionary along with Black grandson and believes that this suites into the ideology or ethic that all are “one Mother’s Children”. Later we can see that grandson is very much outspoken and comfortable with Adam and Olive rather than his own Grandmother. Doris still agrees that the differences between white and black still exist, Even though they are the same “Daisy” family or kinship. Doris as a missionary does not seem to work for welfare of African but out of her own interest to do way with her Upper-class England. She still accepts the white to be superior. And her relationship with Akwee exists only out her self-interest and paternalism that set the pattern for the race relations.
By incorporating information on missionary in Nettie’s letters, Walker gives way for African and American domestics. The racial relations are more shamelessly shown in life of Sofia with the Mayor’s family and further her role turns into a typical Black Mammy. Whereas back home Harpo was the one who took care of children and she worked in field, But the white family expects her to act stereo-typically which is completely opposition to her reality and unfit for. Eleanor Jane (Daughter of mayor)who was once taken by Sofia at her own house now is in Sofia’s house in her kitchen, therefore diffusing the black mammy stereotype. With this, the plantation family “kinship” or race relation is reversed as whites are taking care of blacks and not vice verse anymore. Another instance we can see when Alfonso hires whites to work in his store to defeat the cycle of white hiring the Black.
On the other hand we can see that,In America many whites deny their family ties with Black in order to be superior to them. For instance "see the Hodges in you" (Walker,pg no.82)the warden in the jail denies family ties with Mary Agnes (squeak girlfriend of Harpo).Hence the hope for reaching the racial integration cannot be achieved .
Therefore it is in appropriate to say that the white characters in the novel are one who always show racism. Nettie states that “Africans are very much like white people back home, in that they think they are the center of the universe.” Later she tells about Mbeles, "harass the white man’s plantations and plan his destruction,"(Walker pg no.232). they were the subversion of the White fundamentalist group the Ku Klux Klan that terrorized Black people or any that subculture they did not believe in.
Here we can understand the crux of the novel color purple that Black is beautiful but necessarily not always right. White is beautiful too though not always right. Thus, out people’s ignorance racism and domesticity evolves. Only when people get out of their prejudiced ideas and understand each other then only we can love everyone and view as children of one Mother.
REFERENCE
Racism can be defined as a belief that one race is superior over others. in novel color purple, Mayor disapproves with idea of his wife “Always going on over colored” (Walker pg no. 81) showing affection towards Sofia (Black woman) .when sees all her children being clean .Miss Millie (wife of the Mayor) offers her to be her maid to which Sofia disagrees as a result she is being slapped by Mayor and beaten to death by sheriff and later being a slave. This was all just a result of Sophie (a colored female) standing for herself as she wanted to live a dignified life rather than spending her life like servitude. Through this novel Walker makes reader aware of the fact that racist behavior can be shows towards others through different ways such as domesticity, culture, kinship but this racism is not only visible as white over black but it can also be viewed vice-verse.
We can also observe the idea of black woman and men themselves liking the “bright color” or lighter shade people. When Mr.______ sister Carrie when visited Celie speaks about the faults of Annie Julia (Ex-wife of Mr_____) stating that she never took care of the house , children and rather she was “too Black” here we can see woman looking down upon other woman for not only being disorganized but also being of same color in darker shade. Even Harpo, finds himself a yellow-skinned girl squeak after his wife sofia a “bright color” wife lives him. This indicates black men’s preference for a female who is not black.
The important turning point in novel occurs when the main character Celie gets hand on the letters of her younger sister Nettie, about whose welfare she desperately wanted to know. With the recovery of the letters we can also see change in the role of Celie from being a writer to reader. On looking the letter given by Shug A Very Celie states “Little fat queen of England stamps on it, plus stamps that got peanut, coconut, rubber trees and say Africa. I don’t know where England at. Don’t know where Africa at either. So I still don’t know where Nettie at” (Walker, pg no.109) .These lines clearly state that Celie was only concerned with domestic work and not being aware of basic things which happened around her, she had the understanding of things based on her own personal experience constricted in her own household chores. It can also be attributed to her being only able write but not being an educated woman. But when she specifies the physical features as she says “Little fat queen of England” while viewing the stamp it also brings to light the way Alice walker using the narrative style where it helps the reader understand the historical context through which we clearly know the stamp describes the queen Victoria delivering a view of royalty and the African land filled with rubber trees showing a place being colonized which clearly depicts differentiation in terms of race and class.
"She says an African daisy and an English daisy are both flowers, but totally different kinds"
The concept of kinship trope for the racial relations narrated specifically when independent and transformed Celie and reformed Albert have conversation about the Olinka interpretation about the Adam and Eve story that they had heard from Christian missionary, about which she was informed through the letter of Nettie “. . . white people is black peoples children” (Walker, pg no.247) The people Olinka believed they were the one who out caste Adam and Eve as they were naked . For them naked meant “White” the people of Olinka throw out their children who look little different, these children still so mad about been disregarded that they started destroying everything and killing wherever they found Black .thus they realized that they were one the who gave a beginning to the this sort of racial discrimination or the “Serpent” . The white were viewed as the sinner. This can be seen when Sofia is put in the jail for not accepting to be a maid and revolting against the Mayor, "Nothing less than sliding on your belly with your tongue on they boots can even git they attention," in this sense Sofia is the viewed as a snake and the idea is that white people blame black people – the serpent – for all their earthly problems.
However the outcome of this makes the reader emphasize on racism. Where “jail” in which Sofia is held can interpret as Metaphor for the Black people caged by racism but the other people are confined to servitude and domesticity within their own houses. Yet, whites and Black could absolutely work with each other as we can see Sofia giving car driving lessons Miss Millie. It is however Miss Millie refusal to go with Jack (Colored Men and husband of Odesse) when the car crashes brings in the racial conflict.
Celie says, that some people of Olinka believed that the only way to stop this serpent to be born again is to stop the racial conflict and establish kinship bond.". . . the only way to stop making somebody the serpent is for everybody to accept everybody else as a child of God, or one mother's children, no matter what they look like or how they act"(Walker pg no.250)
Throughout the novel there are visible instances where black and white are shown through race and domesticity. The two important examples are the African relations between Sofia and Eleanor Jane.
On the trip to Africa which Nettie describes as “Incredible” as she sees an integrated family on board ship, she meets Doris a white Missionary along with Black grandson and believes that this suites into the ideology or ethic that all are “one Mother’s Children”. Later we can see that grandson is very much outspoken and comfortable with Adam and Olive rather than his own Grandmother. Doris still agrees that the differences between white and black still exist, Even though they are the same “Daisy” family or kinship. Doris as a missionary does not seem to work for welfare of African but out of her own interest to do way with her Upper-class England. She still accepts the white to be superior. And her relationship with Akwee exists only out her self-interest and paternalism that set the pattern for the race relations.
By incorporating information on missionary in Nettie’s letters, Walker gives way for African and American domestics. The racial relations are more shamelessly shown in life of Sofia with the Mayor’s family and further her role turns into a typical Black Mammy. Whereas back home Harpo was the one who took care of children and she worked in field, But the white family expects her to act stereo-typically which is completely opposition to her reality and unfit for. Eleanor Jane (Daughter of mayor)who was once taken by Sofia at her own house now is in Sofia’s house in her kitchen, therefore diffusing the black mammy stereotype. With this, the plantation family “kinship” or race relation is reversed as whites are taking care of blacks and not vice verse anymore. Another instance we can see when Alfonso hires whites to work in his store to defeat the cycle of white hiring the Black.
On the other hand we can see that,In America many whites deny their family ties with Black in order to be superior to them. For instance "see the Hodges in you" (Walker,pg no.82)the warden in the jail denies family ties with Mary Agnes (squeak girlfriend of Harpo).Hence the hope for reaching the racial integration cannot be achieved .
Therefore it is in appropriate to say that the white characters in the novel are one who always show racism. Nettie states that “Africans are very much like white people back home, in that they think they are the center of the universe.” Later she tells about Mbeles, "harass the white man’s plantations and plan his destruction,"(Walker pg no.232). they were the subversion of the White fundamentalist group the Ku Klux Klan that terrorized Black people or any that subculture they did not believe in.
Here we can understand the crux of the novel color purple that Black is beautiful but necessarily not always right. White is beautiful too though not always right. Thus, out people’s ignorance racism and domesticity evolves. Only when people get out of their prejudiced ideas and understand each other then only we can love everyone and view as children of one Mother.
REFERENCE
· Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. London: Women's
Press, 1992. Print.
·
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Harcout,1982
· Race and Domesticity in
the color purple International Journal of English Language and Literature volume 2, issue
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