The Color Purple, published in 1982, tells the story of Celie, a Black woman in the South of America. Celie writes letters to God in which she tells about her life, including her roles as daughter, wife, sister, and mother. Through the course of her story, Celie meets a series of other Black women who shape her life: Nettie, Celie's sister, who becomes a missionary teacher in Africa; Shug Avery, the Blues singer who saves Celie from her abusive husband and helps her become a stronger person and finally Sofia, her larger than life daughter- in- law.
“Oranges are not the only fruit,” is a story about a young girl called who retells the of her life beginning when she is seven years old and living in England with her adoptive parents. is a fundamentalist Christian and dominants Jeanette's life. From what Jeanette first tells us her mother is quite a bully towards her and her father, “My father like to watch the wrestling, my mother liked to wrestle.” although we know he exists, seems to prefer living a quiet life; hence we do not really hear much about him throughout the story. Jeanette is taught at home up until seven, and her mother who is her teacher, teaches Jeanette mainly about the Bible and God. At school, Jeanette is always an outcast because of her evangelical beliefs and no matter what she does it seems to remain this way. For example; Jeanette’s written work about her holidays was about her going on a pilgrimage to Morecambe with a bunch of pensioners. Jeanette has no friends her own age. The odd few girls that do come along always turn out to be more than just her friend. Jeanette eventually leaves home, leaving behind the village and manages to escape her strict religious mother and other members of the church.
Both Celie and Jeanette start their stories as young girls at the start of their lives. Celie is living with a physically abusive father, while Jeanette is with her mother and father. Jeanette doesn’t appear to have much of a relationship with her dad, her mum however is quite abusive in the way in which she speaks to her daughter, and the ways in which she gives her comfort, i.e. gives her an orange to peel instead of a hug. The difference between her mother and father can be seen at the beginning of the story, Jeanette here could be suggesting that her father much prefers to stand back and watch, where as her mother is more the type to become really involved in something, such as her love for the church.
The influence of religion on Jeanette is much stronger than it is on Celie. It is very much Jeanette’s life and has an influence in everything that Jeanette says and does “’God’s in everything’”. Social aspect could be seen as the influence here. Jeanette lives in a world completely surrounded by people who are all in favour of and worship God and it could be considered that she is in a way brainwashed by this. Their extreme beliefs make them appear that this is the norm, and Jeanette is in turn indoctrinated by it all and accepts the situation for what it is.
In the early parts of the novel, Celie sees God as her listener and helping hand, yet Celie does not have a clear understanding of who God is. She knows deep down that her image of God as a white patriarch “don’t seem quite right,” but she says it’s all she has. Shug invites Celie to imagine God as something radically different, as an “it” that delights in creation and just wants human beings to love what it has created. Celie appears to take this in to mind. She doesn’t accept it completely straight away, but by the end of the novel we can see that she has finally escaped her past life and accepted God and the new life she has started to live. In her last letter Celie writes, “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God.” This re-imaging of God on her own terms symbolizes Celie’s move from an object of someone else’s care to an independent woman.
When young they both do as they are told. Jeanette is a bit more rebellious than Celie. As she grows older this becomes even more apparent. Both girls become more independent when they meet two stronger female characters than themselves. For Celie, Shug Avery helps her to realise she doesn’t have to put up with the lie she is living with Albert. As a result Celie leave shim. Jeanette manages to leave home and escape her mother and the rest of the village after realising she isn’t going to be accepted as much in the village as elsewhere.
Jeanette is seen as a sinner for having a relationship with Melanie. She is forced to choose between Melanie and the church. It soon becomes apparent though that she can’t follow the village’s strict religious ways. For this reason and others, Jeanette leaves home and the church to try and find her own way in life without her mother and her strict beliefs. God is getting in the way of her living the way in which she wants to. Despite this though, Jeanette still firmly believes in God, and that what God wants for her ultimately, is to be happy. “ I loved God and I loved the church, but I began to see that as more and more complicated.”
Celie uses God to confide in. Even though she at first doesn’t think God is listening to her, she still uses him to talk to, as apart from Shug she doesn’t have anyone to talk to whom she can really trust with Nettie being gone. Her prayers are finally answered when Nettie returns with Celie’s children and the rest of her family. She finishes her story with ‘Amen’, which is symbolic as prayers are also ended with Amen. “The Colour Purple” seems to interpret religion more as an escape from reality, rather than a way of life as it appears to be in, “Oranges are not the only fruit”.
Both characters manage to free themselves from what is going wrong in their lives. Friends help them both, for Jeanette it is Katy, Elsie and Miss Jewsbury who help her realise that she doesn’t have to put up with the villagers and their strict religious ways of thinking. For Celie, Shug is the one main person who really helps her to become free of her husband. Shug does this by encouraging Celie to leave with her and start afresh. Celie plucks up the courage to do this, and starts a new, better life with Shug. Eventually Celie returns home, to be reunited with her sister Nettie, and the rest of her family.
The letter writing in “The Color Purple” resembles a diary. Celie tells her story through private letters that she writes to God. Therefore, Celie narrates her life story with complete candour and honesty. As a poor African-American woman in rural Georgia in the 1930s and a victim of domestic abuse, Celie is almost completely voiceless and disenfranchised in everyday society. However, Celie’s letters enable her to break privately the silence that is normally imposed upon her. It is her voice and form of escape.
It can be concluded that religion for both girls is quite significant. It is an important factor in the way in which it helps to shape both of their lives. The two manage to escape their old lives and start afresh, with God remaining a strong influence upon them. Celie acknowledges her newfound self and her new life by ending her letters as if they were a prayer, with the word “Amen.” Jeanette has escaped her demons and eventually returns home once she has found her own path in life with God, but without all her previous restrictions. The two novels reflect on the ways in which religion can affect how a person lives their life, and how it can help them to cope in times of need and desperation. The novels also show how religion can have the influence to help a person to have the strength to survive and completely change their direction in life, as is seen in “The Color Purple” and “Oranges are not the only fruit.”
“Oranges are not the only fruit” Jeanette Winterson Chapter One, Genesis. In this scene we are introduced to Jeanette, her family and the life she lives.
