Alice Walker and The Color Purple

            Alice Walker creates an ambience of hardship and self discovery in the book The Color Purple, and she does it through the descriptive journal entries of a young girl named Celie who is trying to find herself as she begins growing into a young woman. As Celie begins on her journey to finding herself she comes across a lot of obstacles such as violence and psychological abuse .Walker emphasizes the ability to express one's thoughts and also feelings are bad to developing a sense of one's self. Initially, Celie is completely unable to resist and get away from those who abused her. Remembering Alphonso's warning that she "better not never tell nobody but God" about his abuse of her, she feels that the only way to move on is to remain quiet and act unseen. Celie is a passive person who has no power to protect herself through action or words. Celie's letters to God, in which she begins to pour out her story, becoming her only outlet. .
             African American women in this novel tend to be the only victims of violence. Race played a high role in this novel.  Men have always being taught the dominant role in the household, most of the time they usually exert their dominance over women. This kind of activity is mainly involved with their wives being brutally beat or sexually abused. Men also commit some sexual violence against women, raping them as a sexual desire of just making the female feel below herself. Celie suffered ongoing violence from her father and later her husband. These types of behavior eventually caused Celie to shut down and become very much to herself. "I say God took it, He took it. He took it while I was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods. Kill this one too, if he cans "(Walker 145). Pa commits violence against Celie by separating her from the people she loves-in this case her children. After several beatings and attacks from her husband and father, the narrator, Celie, contemplates running away but she's too afraid to because she thinks she'll get caught and end up dead like Nettie.