In an essay of not more than 1500 words explain how this statement informs your reading of The Colour Purple, and one other prose fiction text form Literature and Gender.

TMA 05 For Walker the use of language is to do with an expression of self in opposition to gender oppression, of presenting self in opposition to a language which is not your own. In an essay of not more than 1500 words explain how this statement informs your reading of The Colour Purple, and one other prose fiction text form Literature and Gender. As well as The Colour Purple (TCP), I have chosen to write about The Yellow Wallpaper (TYW). In TCP, written in first person narrative, Walker uses the epistolary style of writing, giving authority to the voice of Celie and enabling the reader to accept her as having real presence and experience. In her opening letter to God, it is obvious she has no self-confidence, crossing herself out with a line through 'I am' (p.3 TCP). Because her mother is so ill, Celie becomes a sexual commodity for her Pa, epitomising a male dominated society, where women accepted patriarchy. This epistolary style of writing was popular in the eighteenth century novel sentiment, morally edifying the reader, with authority being given to the protagonist, in this case, Celie. 'Celie writes to God, for lack of any living person with whom to share her troubles' (p.155 Literature and Gender (LG). She is not able to defend herself due to her multiple jeopardy, of being a woman, being black and being uneducated. Celie is a woman who, through being raped and

  • Word count: 1759
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Heritage in Everday Use by Alice Walker

Heritage Are there priceless memorabilia in your family that have been passed down from generation to generation that you hope, someday, will be passed unto you? What type of significance does this priceless heirloom or skill represent about your heritage? In the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, a mother promises a handmade quilt to her youngest daughter Maggie, on the day of her marriage. However, Dee tells her mother and Maggie that they do not understand their heritage, because they plan to put the priceless quilts to 'everyday use'. Evidence in the story makes obvious that Dee is the one who misunderstands her own heritage, resulting in the mother's decision to give Maggie the quilt. The issue with Dee's name change presents a good example of her misunderstanding. Dee has changed her name to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo"(328) because she said, "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me"(328). What she meant by 'oppress me,' was the taking on of American names of black slaves. However, to Dee's mother, the name Dee is symbolic to their family heritage. She can trace the name back to the time of the Civil War (328). The name Dee is significant to the mother because it belonged to much-loved family members. Another instance that shows Dee's confusion of her heritage, surfaces in her thoughts toward the quilts and other

  • Word count: 606
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Each writer believes that language empowers women. How successfully is this shown in the play and novel? Evaluate and investigate the ways in which each author achieves this and explore how satisfactory the end is to each text.

Each writer believes that language empowers women. How successfully is this shown in the play and novel? Evaluate and investigate the ways in which each author achieves this and explore how satisfactory the end is to each text. Both Alice Walker and Timberlake Wertenbaker write about how people are treated, what it means to be brutalised, what it means to live without hope and how language can be a humanising force. Alice Walker emphasises throughout the novel that the ability to express thoughts and feelings is crucial to develop a sense of self. Walker highlights the progression of narrative and articulacy through language. Walker acknowledges that existence to this development sustains Celie, essentially as an object, with no power to assert herself. This recognition, acknowledges the power that narrative and speech have, in resisting oppression and allowing the empowerment of characters such as Squeak and Celie. Timberlake Wertenbaker identifies themes such as the human ability to transcend circumstances, the theatre's ability to change life and the power of language. Each of these aspects of 'Our Country's Good', influence the convicts and develop the empowerment of the main characters. Wertenbaker presents the theatre as a means of liberating people. The language of the play, used by the convicts, offers them the chance to envision a future in which they are free and

  • Word count: 2536
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare racial and cultural struggles in Alice Walker's The Color Purple as well as Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

In African-American texts, blacks are seen as struggling with the patriarchal worlds they live in order to achieve a sense of Self and Identity. The texts I have chosen illustrate the hazards of Western religion, Rape, Patriarchal Dominance and Colonial notions of white supremacy; an intend to show how the protagonists of Alice Walker's The Color Purple as well as Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, cope with or crumble due to these issues in their struggle to find their identities. The search for self-identity and self-knowledge is not an easy task, even more so when you are a black woman and considered a mule and a piece of property. Providing an in depth analysis of these texts, this essay attempts to illustrate how both of these Afro-American writers depict and resolve their respective protagonists' struggles. Religion is believed by many to serve as a means to achieving or finding self or identity. However, in the Euro-influenced Christian religion especially, directly after 'finding one's self', one is called to deny one's self in the name of a white 'God'. 'Humble yourself and cast your burdens to God' they say, for 'He will make all wrongs right'. Logically however, one must ask...what interest does the white God (who is especially portrayed in Afro-American writings such as The Color Purple and The Bluest Eye as a further extension of Patriarchal values) have in black

  • Word count: 2925
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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ORANGES ARE NOT THE ONLY FRUIT Compare and contrast the two characters of Celie and Jeanette. Consider the influence of religion on the two main protagonists.

Sarah Hutchinson 16th January 05 Compare and contrast the two characters of Celie and Jeanette. Consider the influence of religion on the two main protagonists. Despite the fact that Celie and Jeanette are characters who appear to be lost in completely different worlds they do in fact have quite a lot in common. The influence of religion on the two girls is significant and can be seen throughout the two novels. Jeanette is trapped at home with an extremely strict religious family, and could be considered to be quite naïve, as she hasn't seen much of life outside of her village. Her village is full of evangelists, although the way they act makes them seem a lot more like a cult. Hence, it could be said that Jeanette had to endure religion being forced upon her throughout her childhood. Celie on the other hand, embraces religion and it is an important factor in her survival. After Celie has been raped by her abusive father, who also gave her children away, she is forced to live with Mr. ____, her husband, who is equally, if not more abusive than her father ever was. Celie can't see herself living any other way, and although she isn't happy, she accepts this way of life. Jeanette Winterson wrote, "Oranges are not the only fruit", which was published in 1985. She was born in Manchester in 1959, and was adopted by two

  • Word count: 1926
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Examine Walker's narrative techniques in The Color Purple including consideration of the use of letters, language and imagery, as well as responding to critical opinions of these techniques.

Examine Walker's narrative techniques in The Color Purple including consideration of the use of letters, language and imagery, as well as responding to critical opinions of these techniques. The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a short novel set in the Southern States of America during the 1920's. The main character in the book is a black girl named Celie who writes letters to God in a diary form about her unusually traumatic life. Celie's writing letters to God is known as an epistolary form, because letters to God or in a religious context are called epistles. Walker's language, style and choice of letters instead of chapters are effective in many ways, both in telling the story and also in conveying important themes. Celie's letters to God are a very effective medium for Walker to convey messages to the reader. They present an intimate view of the character's thoughts without interference from the author and they convey the shape of events to come with dramatic immediacy. They are all unsigned and read more like diary entries and therefore they involve the reader in more ways than one. Firstly, the reader connects with the first-person narrator and empathises with her as a mature adult reading a child's plea for help- "Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me". Yvonne Johnson comments on this bonding between reader and character- "the reader...

  • Word count: 3025
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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I am going to use the film 'The Colour Purple' to look at the way Steven Spielberg uses media techniques to look at the injustices faced by black people in South America in the 1930's.

Injustices faced by black people in South America I am going to use the film 'The Colour Purple' to look at the way Steven Spielberg uses media techniques to look at the injustices faced by black people in South America in the 1930's. I will be using evidence from the film to help support my answers. The slave trade made the black people to come to America in the 17th and 18th century. But this was abolished in 1870 by the civil war which had broken out. However, what the white people had thought of the blacks did take a lot longer to change. The black people in South America in the 1930's were treated terribly, especially the women, and were given no rights. Black people weren't allowed the same rights as whites and had no rights over them. Black women had no rights over men and could be abused, beaten, raped and forced to do anything the black men wanted. The film 'The Colour Purple' is about two black sisters named Nettie and Celie. Celie was raped twice in her youth and had two babies taken away from her dad and think her dad has killed them. Then Celie to a new home with Mr. (who's name we do not know). But Mr. Prefers Nettie. Nettie then later moves in with Celie and Mr. Who then tries to rape Nettie on her way to school, but she fights back and stops him from doing so. When Nettie returns Mr. Kicks her out. She then promises to write to Celie but none of her letters

  • Word count: 1758
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Black men are not portrayed in a favourable light in the novel 'The Color Purple'. Do you agree?

Black men are not portrayed in a favourable light in the novel 'The Color Purple'. Do you agree? Alice Walker wrote the novel 'The Color Purple' as a womanist. It tells the story of Celie, a Black woman in America's Deep South. The novel is written in the epistolary technique. Celie writes letters to God in which she tells about her life and her different roles, as daughter, wife, sister, and mother. In the course of her story, Celie meets a series of other Black women who shape her life: Nettie, Shug Avery and Squeak. Throughout the novel Alice Walker expresses her own experiences of life through Celie and other characters in the book. Although the novel mainly focuses on the hardships of black women it also features the hardships that white people suffered and also the difficulties that faced black men. Males are portrayed in many different ways in the novel The Color Purple. All though men are portrayed as mainly as oppressors there is some good imagery of men too. The four main male characters in the novel are Alfonso, Mr. Albert, Samuel, Adam, and Jack. Some of these characters are portrayed as good others and others are portrayed badly. From the beginning of the novel we get bad imagery of Alfonso, Celie's step dad. We see him as a child abuser, a wife beater and an overall bad husband. "He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say you gonna do what your

  • Word count: 854
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The Colour Purple - letter to Celie

The colour purple letter to Celie Dear Celie, Any more letters from Nettie come? You ast. I say I wouldn't give 'em to you. I am now sending you all the letters from Nettie as part of 'pologising to you. In the past your Pa say to me I can have you when I wanted Nettie. Your Pa say Celie ugly she ain't smart either, doesn't even look like she kin to Nettie. Celie, I thought for a long time about getting you and 'tween you and me I only got you 'cause your Pa send your cow with you. Celie you proved your Pa wrong. Your heart is made of gold and I know your habit of sewing has made you a very wealthy woman. I know now I put you through a lot of misery. You spent your wedding day with a bandage on your head 'cause Harpo laid your head open. You must be very angry 'cause I didn't punish him, just told him don't do that. Celie, every lick I hit you, I know now I suffer twice. Now I rot in my own jail that I make from my weakness. Shug say 'before, 'you can't make up your mind what you want.' This is very true; I couldn't make up my mind before, who I want, You, Shug or Nettie. Now I know t'was you and your sweet soul that give me strength to live. I said to you a man try to be nice to you, you fly in his face. I was wrong but I say things like this 'cause I say words which make it harder on myself. I write this letter to say I is sorry, to 'give it to you straight, just like

  • Word count: 500
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What message do you think Alice Walker is trying to convey in the short story 'Nineteen fifty-five'?

GCSE English Coursework Diverse Cultures Nineteen fifty-five written by Alice Walker Essay question: What message do you think Alice Walker is trying to convey in the short story 'Nineteen fifty-five'? In Nineteen fifty-five, a short story written by Alice Walker, there seems to be a variation of different messages that she is trying to convey. As an author she relates the story to real life issues as well as using the character Gracie Mae to highlight the way in which black people have been exploited by whites. The story is set over quite a vast timespan, from 1955 to 1977. By setting the story over this period of time Alice Walker is reminding us of the interlocking political and racial situations from the Civil Rights Movement. At the beginning of the 1968 section, Gracie Mae mentions that 'Malcolm X, King, the president and his brother' had all died. All of these people were concerned with gaining equality for black people. The plot of the story and its characters is closely related to Elvis Presley's career. Elvis rose to fame in 1955 and died in 1977, exactly the same as the timespan of the story. Also the character Traynor is based on Presley, in both the way his career developed and the fact that as a white man he had the black sound. The Civil Rights Movement that swept through the Southern states in the 1950's and 1960's affects the lives of all Americans

  • Word count: 1702
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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