“The Color Purple” written by Alice Walker, and published in 1982 won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1983. It illustrates the hardships and emotional trauma that came with growing up and living as an African-American woman. It also addresses many issues within american social culture and gender roles.
The novel centers upon the growth and development of a girl named Celie. She was raped at 14 by her own father and then forced into a marriage with a nefarious apathetic older man. Over time Celie learns to be soft spoken and submissive. The person she cares most about, her sister Nettie, is kicked out of her own home and thrown out of Celie’s home by her husband, because he had started to amass feelings for her but was shut down by her immediately. Sadly, Mr.had married Celie so that she could be a caregiver for his children and work for him even though she was very young. Since he is already in love with Shug Avery. He wanted Celie to believe that her sister was the only person that would ever love her thus giving him motivation to drive her away. …show more content…
Thanks to Celie’s care, Shug is able to recover and the two women start a long term friendship. Over time, Celie learns to stand up for herself and gain self-respect. Celie worries in the course of the story when Avery decides to leave but in the meantime she promises to protect her and keep her from being abused. On the other side of things , Nettie finds a safe haven in the home of Samuel , a local reverent and his wife. They adopted two children who happen to belong to Celie and actually were taken from her before she married Mr. The entire family is later sent to Africa along with Nettie to work as