The Color purple was an entertaining novel about a young black girl struggling to survive in a harsh world. Her name was Celie, and through out her life she was abused in many ways. If any one is competent and courageous in this world it would be Celie. After her mother passed away, she had nothing left but her father, who beat and molested her. not only did he physically abuse her, but he put her to shame in many ways. The one thing that was important to Celie, her right to education, was stripped from her when she was 15.
Not only did her father take away her education, but he told her in contrasted ways that she was useless. His actions showed that he thought she had no purpose on this Earth but to serve men. He also repeatedly verbalized this untrue opinion. Throughout her life, Celie tried to stand up for what she thought but was continually put back down where she some day come to believe that she belonged. Celie was forced to marry a cruel man after her father took away her right to be educated.
The only thing that she ever did for this man was completely negative things. She was there solely to cook, clean, take care of the kids and make sure that her husband was sexually content. Celie’s sister, Nettie, was a more daring individual. Once she saw what was going on with Celie, she fled her life to avoid encountering the same hardships that her sister had to withstand. When Celie thought that all hope was lost, a woman named Shug Avery came into her life. Shug was everything that Celie wasn’t. She was beautiful, strong willed and artless.
The reason why Shug came into Celie’s home was because she was sick and she needed to be nursed back to health. Celie spent night and day taking care of Shug. Even though Shug told Celie to her face that she was ugly, that didn’t change the fact that she idolized her. It puzzled Celie as to why Shug had such a strong hatred for er, but we soon found out that Shug was in love with Mr. ______, Celie’s husband.
Shug came around to caring for Celie after all the help she had given her during her time of illness. What also made Shug feel for Celie was the fact that Mr. _____ didn’t love Celie. He had mutual feelings for Shug. Shug began to show Celie that being a black woman was no reason to permit everything that she had gone through. Celie appreciated the care and respect that she got from Shug.
She had never been treated that way by any one before. Celie came to have a love for Shug that she had never experienced before. She was in love with Shug. She had no ability to be attracted to men because of the way that they all had treated her. she fell in love with the first person to actually treat her as a human being.
These feelings were foreign, but extraordinary to Celie. At the end of the novel Celie comes to conclusion that she has the ability to make Shug feel the way that she does, and she is content with this thought. It is never said if these dreams of Celie’s were fulfilled. There are many obstacles that Celie endures on the road to the American Dream. Some of these obstacles include the way that women were enied of many rights that they deserved, The way that any man was a superior to a woman, and the way that any white person was superior to a black person.
This is way that people used to live. Women were merely objects to be owned. Black people were solely used to get things done for white people. Celie wasn’t holding the best hand. She had a lot of odds against her, making it very hard to survive in such a harsh world. I think that the novel’s message regarding the American Dream is that with a strong will, a good mind, and a positive attitude, what ever that you see as the American Dream will always be within your reach.
