The portrayal of women in The Color Purple has been controversial. Explore the opinions of the two critics and explain your own views of the way Walker presents women in the color purple.

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The portrayal of women in The Color Purple has been controversial.  Explore the opinions of the two critics and explain your own views of the way Walker presents women in the color purple.  

The novel ‘The Color Purple’ has conveyed much controversy over the way women are presented.  Some have argued that it is of the ‘struggle of redemption and revenge’ while others see the marriage of the novel as going beyond plot and character to protest against oppression.  Women in the novel are victims of violence as men are the dominant ones over women in the southern American states.  This leads to women bonding together by supporting, talking and protecting one another.  

        Mel Watkins sees “The Color Purple” as “the friction between the black men and women” we can see from the start of the novel that men are the dominant in the relationship and society with women.  Celie says that Pa “beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church.” Women are presented as weaker and they have to totally obey the men, the men assert their power and gain total control.  However in the Southern states of America black male were also dominated by a superior race, the whites.  The male would feel the need to exert some kind of power on the weaker as they have no power in society, so black male tend to dominate women or children as they are weaker.  Watkins goes on to explain that one of the themes of the novels is “the role of male domination in the frustration of black women’s struggle for independence.” Yet we see the independence of women in characters such as Shug and Sofia, but this independence pays a price.  

        Celie’s independence is frustrated by Pa, in the beginning Pa takes away Celie’s children, Nettie and her education her frustration is shown as she says “I don’t have nothing”.  We see in one of the letters how Nettie educating Celie “Us both be hitting Nettie’s schoolbooks pretty hard” they believe that in order to gain independence and freedom they need to be educated.  But again we see Pa taking this away from Celie, first by forcing her to marry Mr therefore separating her from Nettie.  Secondarily when Pa took Celie “out of school when she got “big” Pa takes away Celie’s chance of a future.  When Celie finds out that “pa is not” their “pa” Celie feels resurrection and rebirth because she finally confronts her past that Pa had also taken away from her.  

Another character who we see frustrated by the struggle for independence by male domination is Sofia, Harpo’s wife. The critic Mel Watkins describes Sofia as a character “whose rebellious spirit leads her not only to desert her overbearing husband but also to challenge the social order of the racist community in which she lives”.  This is true as we see the presentation of women as victims of violence and we see Sofia as a victim of the abuse of men and the whites.  We see Celie telling Harpo to “beat” Sofia like Mr does to Celie.  The lack of bonding with Celie in the beginning causes friction between the two women.  This establishes how women communicating and bonding help them protect each other.  Sofia’s independence is frustrated when she is beaten for answering “Hell no” to Miss Millie, the white Mayors wife and refusing to work for her.  She is so injured that “she can’t talk” she is put “to work in a prison laundry” she hates it there and “dream of murder sleep or wake” this frightens her friends to take action.  The women in the novel laugh together and survive through humour, when Sofia has to work for Miss Millie after the ordeal she and Celie joke “This the first giggle I heard in three years.” The women triumph over violence as in Sofia and squeak’s lowest point they grow and develop as “6 months after Mary Agnes went to get Sofia out of prison, she begin to sing.”  We see how Sofia’s attempt to be equal to men and whites fails because, in the society independence is not accepted for women.

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Therefore Sofia learns from Celie and adopts her passive approach to surviving this male and white dominated society. “Miss Celie, I act like I’m you” Sofia has learnt that you don’t have to be passive all the time in order to survive this show how women share their experiences and learn from each other.   Dinitia Smith sees the women’s lives as “so extraordinary in their tragedy, their culture, their humour and their courage that we are immediately gripped by them” this is true in Sofia’s character as she also survives with the support of her friends and through ...

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