Explore the theme of the creation of women's identities in The Color Purple and The Yellow Wallpaper. Include a detailed examination of how the form of each fiction contributes to the impact of the narratives.
Natalia Atkinson
PI: W7234978
A210: TMA05
05/07/2004
Explore the theme of the creation of women's identities in The Color Purple and The Yellow Wallpaper. Include a detailed examination of how the form of each fiction contributes to the impact of the narratives.
In both The Color Purple and The Yellow Wallpaper we see a progression of a woman's physical
and mental state influenced by the social circle they inhabit. Both narrators find themselves
recreated through their writings - they explore situations and intricate emotions. Celie and Jane
use their writings as a cathartic expression of feeling, Celie through her letters to God and Nettie,
Jane through the journal format of the short story.
The Color Purple is an epistolary style novel in which Celie directs most of her letters to God, and
later to her sister Nettie. The opening letter reveals more than is actually written through the style
Celie adopts. We hear that Celie has been brutally raped by the man she thinks is her father as
she says 'he push his thing inside my pussy' (p 3). The crude, coarse language reveals that this
is the regular language used by Celie, adopting the oral tones in her written word.
It is clear from the first letter that this is a naïve and innocent narrator of partial education. The
sentences are constructed as single units of meaning with no conjunctions which suggests she is
childlike, also the South American dialect is evident as she says of Alphonso, 'He never had a
kine word to say to me' (p 3). Her misspellings and direct imitation of dialect enforce this
unworldly perception we have of her. The fact she starts her letters with 'Dear God' seals the trust
we hold with the narrator - addressing her letters to God would suggest that she is telling the
truth and relating events as they actually happened. Celie finds a comfort in her letters to God - a
purging of the violence she is subject to.
Natalia Atkinson
PI: W7234978
A210: TMA05
05/07/2004
We understand Celie's deep love and affection for other women, as she tries to divert Alfonso's
attention from Nettie and her sick stepmother; 'He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me
anyway.' (p. 9) This sense of 'sistership' and caring for other women and seeing their strength is
the main part of Celie's recreation. It also emphasises her aversion to the men in her life. Celie
does not name men in her life suggests her distrust of them and the fact she sees them all as one
single unit against her. She prefers to refer to them as 'He', 'Pa', 'Mr----' 'old Mr ----' and the
'prizefighter'.
Following Harpo's trouble with Sophia, Celie advises Harpo to 'beat her [...] to make her mind'.
(p. 35). Celie is then taunted with insomnia and she admits that that it ...
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the main part of Celie's recreation. It also emphasises her aversion to the men in her life. Celie
does not name men in her life suggests her distrust of them and the fact she sees them all as one
single unit against her. She prefers to refer to them as 'He', 'Pa', 'Mr----' 'old Mr ----' and the
'prizefighter'.
Following Harpo's trouble with Sophia, Celie advises Harpo to 'beat her [...] to make her mind'.
(p. 35). Celie is then taunted with insomnia and she admits that that it was partly to do with the
fact Sophia appears to pity her. Celie is recognising at this point that relationships between men
and women are not always bound by physical violence and that women have a right and a will to
fight as much as men, as Sophia says, 'All my life I had to fight. A girl ain't safe in a family of men.
But I never thought I'd have to fight in my own house.' (p. 38)
Through Celie's relationship with Shug Avery she learns how women can be independent and
sensuous. They develop an intimate physical and emotional bond, which helps Celie discover
herself sexually as a woman. Through Shug's intervention we learn of Mr-----'s dishonesty in
concealing Nettie's letters. We see Celie instantly wants to kill him for this concealment. 'I think I
feel better if I kill him' (p. 122) Celie's ultimate honesty and her strong sense of betrayal and
passion are evident here, we see a stronger fighting spirit emerge. In confining Nettie's letters, he
has ultimately enforced a more detested type of confinement on her.
Natalia Atkinson
PI: W7234978
A210: TMA05
05/07/2004
Through the narrator changing in Nettie's letters it allows the reader a broader angle of vision and
we see directly what eventually spurs Celie to leave Albert. We also contrast Nettie's educational
development with that of Celie, as Nettie's sentences are correctly grammatically formed; 'I think
Albert told the truth, and that he is not giving you my letters.' (p. 109) The fact that Olivia and
Adam are alive and both with Nettie, gives her a new sense of hope and something more to gain
as Nettie says, 'Yes, their children, sent by 'God' are your children, Celie.' (p. 112)
Celie's religious faith also takes a turn from the guidance of Shug, she decided the 'old white
man' she once thought was God is now an imaginary figure and the God she now sees is in her
natural habitat. As Shug says; 'God love admiration. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the
color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.' (p.167) Through learning to appreciate her
surroundings Celie has allowed her mind to grow sufficiently to recreate herself as a courageous
independent woman. Shug's 'free and easy' colloquial dialect appeals to the reader, as it does to
Celie, as it carries the essence of truth.
Celie subverts the victim in herself, which was instilled at an early age, to become a woman of
her own means. She sets up her own appropriately named business 'Folkspants Unlimited'. This
is a complete reversal for Celie - not only is she wearing the trousers she is now making them. It
is significant that she plans to make pants for Sophia, 'one leg be purple, one leg be red.' (p. 184)
Celie retains her earthy dialect throughout the novel and although Darlene tries to teach her
Standard English pronunciation Celie appears to be disinterested. 'Look like to me only a fool
would want you to talk in a way that feel peculiar to your mind.' (p. 184) She has evolved and
Natalia Atkinson
PI: W7234978
A210: TMA05
05/07/2004
created herself as a woman and now needs no more adjustments to be truly content with herself.
The Yellow Wallpaper also follows the emancipation of Jane, the first person narrator, but it is a
psychological descent as opposed to Celie's uplifting liberation. Written in the late nineteenth
century The Yellow Wallpaper describes perfectly the problem women faced with the attraction
and creativity of the public sphere, compared with the male-dominated domestic, private sphere
they were expected to be confined within. The narrator is suffering from a nervous disorder her
husband, wrongly, prescribes rest and suppression of her creativity.
'John is a physician, and perhaps (I would not say it to a living soul [...]) perhaps
that is one reason I do not get well faster' ( p. 348)
The form of the novella quickly emphasises her current state of mind. The sentences are short
and her attentions appear to be diverted quickly from one to another with no prolonged thought -
as though this had been forbidden. Her journal style makes her a trustworthy narrator as she calls
it 'dead paper' suggesting this document is actually for no one but herself - lest her husband find
out she has been writing. 'There comes John and I must put this away - he hates to have me
write a word'. (p. 349)
We follow the descent of the narrator's mental state with other characters symbolically
representing what she can never be. Mary and Jennie symbolise the perfect mother and wives as
were expected in the late 1800's. Following John's advice the role that she would be expected to
assume has been usurped. Symbolically without her role in the house she is diminished to almost
nothing - a non-entity without a purpose in life. This is concurrent with her faltering health.
She is further diminished through John's references to her. He frequently refers to her a 'little girl',
Natalia Atkinson
PI: W7234978
A210: TMA05
05/07/2004
'goose' and 'darling'. As readers we see the danger of being 'nameless' and without identity.
Though he feels he is right and evidently does care about her, he infantiles her with his
behaviour. Her creativity has been vastly suppressed and she is advised to not entertain her
'fancies'. However from the readers point of view, her 'fancies' are actually her imagination and
creativity which are not to be indulged, though the narrator feels they would help her, and so they
become internalised and her attention diverts towards the yellow wallpaper.
The narrator discusses the décor of the room right from the beginning of the novella - it obviously
preoccupies her mind to a great extent. We already have misgivings about the 'bars on the
windows' and the 'rings and things in the walls'. (p. 349) She also refers to the garden as 'hedges
and walls and gates that lock.' (p.348) These incarceration devices immediately alert the reader
to think that they represent the narrators frame of being and that her incarceration - not only by
John, but also by society's expectations are the cause of her 'nervous condition'.
As the narrator's condition worsens, the structure becomes choppier and hazier - 'I cry at nothing
and cry most of the time.' (p. 352) - the wallpaper becomes the focus of the mind. At night, she
sees a woman behind the paper and this metaphorically becomes her inner self, wrapped in her
paper of depression and imprisonment. The fact she refers to night as a time for her
subconscious to ignite is interesting - as though the sunshine, yellow and daylight are all
associated with male supremacy and restricting rules. The wallpaper, like a story, becomes a text
and a subtext - the same as her personality. There is the legible appearance but underneath is
an unhappy woman vying for a life she is denied. The woman she sees creeping around outside
is her subliminal self.
Natalia Atkinson
PI: W7234978
A210: TMA05
05/07/2004
In her sinking psychosis she desperately tries to free herself by tearing down the wallpaper to let
out the woman behind. 'I pulled and she shook [...] before morning we had peeled off yards of
that paper'. (p. 357) When John arrives we finally hear the narrators name as she says 'I got out
at last [...] in spite of you and Jane.' (p.359) She sees her former self as part of her confinement
and her submission to rule. By following her route to madness she has unlocked the door to her
creativity and rebellion to detainment.
The Yellow Wallpaper leaves the reader feeling decidedly uneasy compared with The Color
Purple that elevates the reader's soul. Both choose very intimate forms and although we know
Jane has fallen into her own madness, we still feel sympathy. The reason being that the form of
the novella is a compact form and points symbolically to everything that keeps her chained and
we trust that she is truthful. Both Gilman and Walker pioneered for feminist issues and female
emancipation and both wanted to write something that could potentially shock the reading
audience into action. I do not believe that there is any doubt in that they did achieve this.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alice Walker (2000), The Color Purple,
The Women's Press, London
The Open University (2002), Approaching Prose,
The Open University, Milton Keynes
Lizbeth Goodman ed. (1996), Literature and Gender,
The Open University, Bath
The Open University, Behind a Mask, A210 TV3
The Open University, A210 AC2121, Women and Poetry
Jeremy Hawthorn ed (1997), Studying The Novel, An
Introduction. Third Edition, Arnold, London
