Essay on The Colour Purple

The first 200 words of this essay...

In what ways does Celie's character develop in 'The Colour Purple' and what are the influences on her that cause her to change?

This essay will describe how the character of Celie changes throughout the book The Colour Purple. It will also discuss how the letters she writes tell you how she feels; furthermore it will show how her language, punctuation and vocabulary gets better throughout the book and how this reflects her growth as a person.

In the beginning of the book, her second letter reflects exactly how she speaks. She uses incomplete sentences which are very short and she does not spell her words correctly. Celie's vocabulary is very basic; she sticks to simple words and phrases. Adjectives are not really used in her first letter as she has nothing to talk about. She only describes what she does; she uses all verbs, like the phrase which only tells the audience what is happening to her, such as;

'by time I git' or 'she scream at me'

Celie can not express the true meaning of her words so she repeats her words to express her 'slave life', which is considered a domestic routine. She