The Color Purple

Synopsis: Set in the deep American south between the wars, this is the classic tale of Celie, a young poor black girl. Raped repeatedly by her father, she loses two children and then is married off to a man who treats her no better than a slave. She is separated from her sister Nettie and dreams of becoming like the glamorous Shug Avery, a singer and rebellious black woman who has taken charge of her own destiny. Gradually Celie discovers the support of women that enables her to leave the past behind and begin a new life.

Review: The story begins with Celie's first letter to God .. 'You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy' .. she's fourteen years old, her mama's has just given birth to her baby sister and she's not recovering well. She leaves Celie and the other children to travel to Macon to see the doctor. This is the day that Celie is raped by her father for the first time. She asks God 'Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me'.

Celie twice becomes pregnant and gives birth. Her mama is really sick now, dying. She want's to know who the father is of Celie's children. Celie doesn't say. Her father takes the babies into the wood, Celie presumes he kills them.

The person Celie is closest to in the world is her younger sister Nettie, Celie lives in dread that their father will begin abusing Nettie, she want's to save her if she can. Nettie is pretty and smart, Mr _____ ,a widower with three children, has seen her in church and is now calling at the house. Celie urges her sister to keep studying, she want's more for her than to be a housemaid bringing up somebody else's children. But then she see's the way her father looks at Nettie and she tell's her to marry Mr _____. But their pa says Nettie's too young to marry, he want's her to have more schooling and anyway what about Shug Avery. Mr _____ carries a picture around of Shug which he has accidentally dropped, she's the most beautiful woman Celie has even seen, she stares at her picture and dreams about her.

Mr _____ comes again to ask for Nettie's hand, but their father is adamant the answer is no, he offers Celie as a replacement.

'She the oldest anyway. She ought to marry first. She ain't fresh tho, but I specs you know that. She spoiled. Twice. She ugly. But she ain't no stranger to hard work. And she clean. And God done fixed her. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain't gonna make you feed it or clothe it. Fact is, I got to get rid of her. She a bad influence on my other girl's. She ugly. Don't even look like she kin to Nettie. She ain't smart either. But she can work like a man. She near twenty. And another thing ... She tell lies'

Celie marries Mr _____, his children hate her and throw rocks at her and Mr _____ beats her. Nettie runs away from home to live with them but Mr _____ doesn't want her living there so she stays only a short time. Celie gives her the name of a local Reverend and his wife who she hopes will take her in. She doesn't hear from Nettie for a long time and thinks she must be dead.

Mr _____ is still obsessed with Shug Avery, she's a singer and a former lover of his (they have three children together who are being raised by Shug's parents), and when she comes back into town he takes himself along to see her and stays away all weekend. Celie doesn't mind this at all, she just wishes she could see Shug for herself, some folk in the town call Shug names ... 'strumpet, hussy, heifer, streetcleaner' ... this doesn't matter to Celie, she feels protective towards her. When Shug becomes sick, Mr _____ goes off to fetch her and bring her home. After a tentative beginning Celie and Shug become friends, well a lot more than friends. It seems to Celie that nobody, bar Nettie, has ever really loved her, ever really taken the time to know her. Shug awakens in Celie both emotional and sexual love and she starts to blossom. With Shug's help, Celie finally learns the truth about what has happened to Nettie and her two long lost children and she begins to break free from a lifetime of oppression.

The book is considered to be a feminist novel, the woman characters are strong and for the most part right thinking and the men are mostly despicable, weak, bullies. It's true that some men in the book (one in particular) are horrific but some of the others do get the chance to redeem themselves. The language is pretty ripe and there is a fair bit of adult content, but it's not there to shock, just to add authenticity. The title refers to the following word's spoken by Shug and Celie, when they are discussing God, or Shug's perception of God.

'God love everything you love - and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else, God loves admiration'. 'You saying God vain?' I ask 'Naw' she say. 'Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it p*sses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it'

At times it's a harrowing and uncomfortable read but ultimately it's inspiring and hopeful.