Celie moves in with Shug and she becomes obsessed with one thing, and that is “making pants, after pants”. She fills the home with these pants and shug encourages her by saying “You making your living Celie… Girl you on your way”. These makes pants and the trousers are always “optimistic”, “happy”, bright colours like purple and red. Yet purple also has a negative side: it is the colour of a bruise and there are many episodes and incidents of bruising throughout the novel. After Sofia is beaten by the police she looks like an “eggplant” (which is purple). In this instance, purple is symbolic of the pessimism and brutality displayed in the novel.
The book shows many negative issues and problems about black/white and male/female relationships in the Deep South, yet it is also very positive. Both violence and kindness are present throughout the book. These two themes are immediately evident in the opening letter in which Celie tells God about her desperate situation. She has been raped “I’ve always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign”. She describes what has happened to her very bluntly. She does not really understand what rape is, nor is she aware of the result of the rape, so although life has been cruel to her, she has a firm trust in God.
At the beginning Celie sees God as a wise old white man with a beard. In time Shug persuades Celie that God is a power in nature and also a spiritual force within man and this is positive. God is pantheistic and present everywhere. He wants man simply to delight in himself and so worship creation. Thus “The Color Purple” is a symbol of the wonder of god. “ I think it pisses god off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” This statement is an example of the positive in “The Color Purple”.
Celie and her sister Nettie are virtually enslaved in the early part of the story, not by whites but by their own people. Celie even calls her husband “Mr__” as she is too afraid to call him by his first name, Albert. The author shows that black men consider women to be mere positions just like a cow. Before Mr__ takes Celie as his wife “he look me up and down”, he inspects her like he would an animal he is about to purchase. One of the central themes of the book is that poverty, blackness and womanhood are rich and beautiful gifts. The novel deals, both in America and in Africa, with women’s struggle to gain recognition as individuals. They deserve fair and equal treatment. As Albert says "Men s'pose to wear the pants". And in Africa, Nettie reports that “among the Olinka, the husband has life and death power over the wife” and the man can take more than one wife, however the Christian ministers try to encourage “ the bible’s directive of one husband and one wife.
Another optimistic and positive message is that women must stand up against the unfair treatment they receive at the hands of men and that they must do this by helping one another. The women in the novel, even those who have interests in the same men, stand together to support and sustain one another. The bond of sisterhood is very important. They share, support and help each other. Celie protects her sister Nettie by offering herself to “Pa” in her place: Mary Agnes endures rape for Sofia's sake in order to get her released from prison, and when Mary Agnes goes off to be a singer it is Sofia who looks after her child. From the beginning, Celie is attracted by a photograph of Shug Avery, “the most beautiful women I ever saw”. There are times when Celie is jealous of Shug; there are other times when Shug is Celie’s mentor. They comfort, support and protect each other, and in essence, their relationship symbolises the twin roles of sisters and lovers.
The bond of sisterhood is important for Nettie and Celie; Sofia and Odessa; and, metaphorically for Mary Agnes and Sofia; Albert's sister and Celie; Tashi and Olivia. Some of the women in the novel have learned to fight for themselves. Sofia is powerful and physically strong. She is not submissive and has great strength of character. She can, and does fight for what she wants, but, of course, her aggression results in her dreadful experience at the hands of the police after she dares to "talk back" to the white mayor, “When I see Sofia I don’t know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs…” subsequently she is sentenced to a life of drudgery as the mayor's servant which lasts for many years. The bond between her and Mary Agnes is stronger than their mutual claim on Harpo's affections.
The book ends on a happy, optimistic note. The last and most optimistic letter of all is addressed to “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear shy, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God”. In this letter all the main characters are reconciled in a fairy tale ending. Nettie and her family return safely home, Celie is reunited with her family at last and Sofia returns to Harpo. Although Celie is no longer young, her happiness makes her feel “…the youngest us ever felt”. Despite tremendous disadvantages, deprivation and violence she overcomes her struggles, finally achieves independence and self-confidence. She frees herself from her oppressive environment and thus The Color Purple is an optimistic novel, and this is why I find The Color Purple to be an optimistic novel.
