The Influence of Women Empowerment in the Transformation of Celie in the Novel, The Color Purple by Alice Walker
In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Celie's past haunts her well into her adult life. Celie's past, wrought with abuse, formed the fear and self-deprecation that envelops years of her adult life. However, her subsequent attraction to the confident and independent becomes her liberation, as the novel materializes into a story about the empowerment of woman. Growing up around a stepfather who verbally, physically, and sexually abused her, Celie cannot help but fear men. Upon first impression, all men are virtually indistinguishable in her eyes. “Most times mens look pretty much alike to me ” she thinks, in response to a woman's praise of her husband's appearance In fact, many important men in the novel are introduced with the general name “Mr._" Because of what she has experienced with the man she knows best, she views all men as frightening authority figures.
Their names do not matter, because to her, they are all the same. Expecting orders or reprimand at every second, she ”don't even look at mens.” However, she adds, “I look at women, the, cause I’m not scared of them". From women, Celie has received anger, but also love and encouragement, allowing her to identify with characters like her mother, her sister, and her teacher. On the other hand, Celie’s one»dimensional view of men is only strengthened by her marriage. Her husband’s behavior is similar to her father's: he uses her for housework, fieldwork, and for sex, all without showing her any affection at all. Jumping to attend to their every demand, Celie follows her simple philosophy: ”I don't know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive”. Not knowing how to fight against her unfair situation, Celie is beaten into submission from an early age. As a result, Celie believes that she is worthless.
She has no self-confidence, because she believes that she has nothing to be proud of. For example, her stepfather and her husband often remark that she is ugly. Before her marriage, her stepfather pulls her from school by convincing her that she is not smart enough to have an educated future. What little sense of self-confidence is gleaned from her sister Nettie, but even that is not sufficient. “I know I’m not as pretty or smart as Nettie, but she say I ain't dumb". Knowing that she “ain't dumb” is not enough to empower her; she does not think about how wrong her father or husband’s treatment of her is, and indeed, has grown to think that she deserves it. Furthermore, God, whom she writes to and confides in, is still a an elderly white man to heriand since no man, white or black, has ever cared for her, she does not find strength in spirituality. "Nobody ever love me," she tells Shug. Without love in her past, she never builds up an individual sense of dignity.
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Nevertheless, Celie is attracted to women with a tremendous amount of self— confidence. Sophia, her stepson Harpo’s wife, refuses to obey her husband and fights back whenever he attempts to beat her into submission. After she finds out that Celie has advised Harpo to beat her, she demands an explanation. Celie answers, “ I say it cause I’m a fool, I say. I say it cause you do what I can't Fight". Once her jealousy at Sophia’s ability to fend for herself is revealed to Sophia, Celie also notices her own longing to be the kind of woman that Sophia is. Another major example of her attraction to confident women is her worship of Shug Avery. Assertive, sensual, and sometimes mean and manipulative, Shug has men at her feet. Celie is awed by the power that she has, saying ”An now when I dream, I dream of Shug Avery. She be dress to kill, whirling and laughing”.
Gaining the love of Sophia and Shug was, to her, gaining the approval of forces more powerful than men. Their love, combined with her sister's, finally empowers her to abandon her submission to the men in her life, and allows her to see that she is more talented and beautiful than the men ever led her to believe. In Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Celie's abusive stepfather not only causes her distinctive fear of men, but also her feelings of worthlessness. However, the strong and independent women she encounters eventually help her overcome her oppression. The perspective that she had formulated in her early years is shattered in the novel, and in the end, she finally realizes that the strength that she longs for can be found in herself.
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The Influence of Women Empowerment in the Transformation of Celie in the Novel, The Color Purple by Alice Walker. (2023, Apr 25). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/the-influence-of-women-empowerment-in-the-transformation-of-celie-in-the-novel-the-color-purple-by-alice-walker/
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