To what extent do you find

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To what extent do you find “The Color Purple” an optimistic novel?

The book brings up issues which can be viewed as ether as optimistic or pessimistic.

These are often topics which arise through conflict, some of the conflicts that I will talk about in this essay are: the relationship between men and women, black people and white people and the relationship between Africa and America. I will use these to try and determine how optimistic “The Color Purple” is

The book shows optimism towards the finding, and keeping of the black cultural identity. Throughout the book yams are mentioned both in Africa and hidden in the food of young Eleanor Jane. The yam is a symbol of black identity and even though the blacks are no longer in their homeland they still eat their traditional food. Although they eat the yam based food they have lost a lot of their black roots but the book shows how they can very easily be found again, this is shown in the letters to and from Celie. So this shows “the color purple” in an optimistic light.

The use of an authentic black voice is optimistic. The book is an epistolary, and the letters in the book are written in the way the characters would speak. Words are abbreviated and the sentences are usually very short. The vocabulary is often limited although the thoughts of the characters are often complicated. Phonetic spelling is also used for example “kilt” (killed) and “yawl” (you all), the grammar used in the book is often unconventional for example “us surrounded”. All the things in the list above makes “the color purple” a book of authentic black voice. This voice makes “the color purple” optimistic as it shows that a diary can be make and written in 1930s America.

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The image of a non segregated Africa is optimistic. When Nettie goes to Africa with the missionaries and she sees the Olinka tribe that she stays with has no racial segregation she is amazed. This area with no segregation is due to the fact the population of Africa is made up of black so there are not many white. But when whites show up, they think of them as the devil. This lack of segregation show the book in an optimistic light. Although the Olinka tribe show no racial differences there are sexual difference as the women are suppressed. ...

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