Alice Walker's depiction of men in The Color Purple has been controversial. Explore the opinions of the two critics and explain your own views of the way Walker presents men in The Color Purple.

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Student: Jo Townsend

Subject/Project: English Literature Coursework

The Color Purple

==> Alice Walker's depiction of men in The Color Purple has been controversial. Explore the opinions of the two critics and explain your own views of the way Walker presents men in The Color Purple.

Throughout this essay I intend to explore a variety of different critics' opinions based on how men are portrayed in Alice Walker's novel, 'The Color Purple'. I would like to argue/debate that Alice Walker is not pinpointing black males in the novel but an entire society. There are many different ways in which a reader could find this novel controversial and therefore it is very hard to define controversy.

Alice Walker was writing 'The Color Purple' around the time of the Civil Rights Movement. This movement opened people's eyes to the inequality that black people suffered. Walker describes herself as a 'womanist' therefore it is clear that she would choose to write about the hardships that black women would face. It does seem very significant for the time Walker wrote the novel (approximately mid 1970's) as the life of black women had never been explored in the depth that Walker went to. Alice Walker spoke 'when others dare not' (Wesley : 1986). In many ways Walker's novel opens people's eyes to an unheard of topic and encourages discussion on it.

I disagree that Alice Walker's intentions in the novel were to portray all black men as abusive, uncaring people. I believe Walker had more interest in exploring the female role. How they were treated, how they thought and behaved, and their unexpressed feelings. The protagonist in the novel is Celie who accompanies us throughout the entire novel. In my opinion the novel is about Celie's life from a child and the obstacles that she must overcome to develop into the strong woman that she becomes. The novel shows us how Celie shys away and does what she is told to do by the two dominant males in her life. At first, Alphonso - her father figure as a child, and Albert whom she marries unwillingly but accepts in a stoic fashion. It is not until Celie meets Shug and begins to receive letters from her beloved sister Nettie, that she grows as a person and becomes a stronger more confident woman. We can see this by the development in her writing style. She begins to structure longer sentences that convey more feeling and passion.

"Then us notice all the birds singing they little cans off , all up and down the hedge, that itself is putting out little yellow flowers smell like Virginia creeper." Celie (p.152)

This is a huge contrast to the beginning of the novel where she keeps to short, non-descriptive sentences.
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"He took my other little baby, a boy this time" Celie (p.5)

This shows us how Celie has developed a great deal more confidence and that she finds it easier to speak her mind.

"You a lowdown dog is what's wrong, I say. It's time to leave you and enter into the creation. And your dead body is just the welcome mat I need." Celie (p.207)

As Celie's vocabulary and knowledge grows, it becomes far more apparent of how confined she was as a child and young woman. She had no control or understanding ...

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