BIBLIOTECA TECLA SALA November 15, 2018

Introduction

Alice Walker once told an interviewer, "The black woman is one of America's greatest heroes. . . . She has been oppressed beyond recognition."

The Color Purple is the story of how one of those American heroes came to recognize herself recovering her identity and rescuing her life in spite of the disfiguring effects of a particularly dreadful and personal sort of Contents: oppression.

Introduction 1 [http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/fiction/211- color-purple-walker?start=2] Brief Author 2-3 Biography

Themes in The 4-5 Color Purple

Free Spirit 6-8

Notes 9

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Brief Author Biography

Alice Walker is an internationally children whose parents are Womanist based spirituality. celebrated writer, poet and lynched/assassinated?) and Now Is Anything We Love Can Be Saved: A activist whose books include the Time To Open Your Heart (a Writer’s Activism (explores seven novels, four collections of couple on the verge of separating activism as a source of short stories, four children’s decides to live together, fully in inspiration), The Same River Twice: books, and volumes of essays and the present, despite awareness of Honoring the Difficult chronicles poetry. She won the Pulitzer Prize the universal unraveling of the adventure of having a film in Fiction in 1983 and the societies around the globe). made of her novel The Color National Book Award. Purple and weathering storms of Her short story collections censorship, banning, criticism, Walker has written many include: In Love & Trouble: Stories and verbal attack. bestsellers; among them, The of Black Women (poor and Temple of My Familiar (a wisdom marginalized women of color Her work has been translated tale that originates in prehistory); make choices reflecting their into more than two dozen By The Light of My Father’s Smile status in life) and You Can’t Keep languages, and her books have (sexuality and forgiveness as paths A Good Woman Down (the spirit sold more than fifteen million of healing); Possessing the Secret of of woman rises with the smallest copies. Along with the Pulitzer Joy (1992), which explores the encouragement; one of our most Prize and the National Book effects of female genital mutilation valuable human contributions) Award, Walker, in 2006, was on one woman’s psyche as well as and The Way Forward Is With A honored as one of the inaugural her body (she becomes a patient Broken Heart (after a painful inductees into the California Hall of a fictional Carl Jung). This novel divorce, a woman opens herself of Fame. In 2007, her archives led to the 1993 book and to the heartbreak offered by the were opened to the public at documentary film Warrior Marks: world, and loves the world Emory University in her birth Female Genital Mutilation and the enough to persevere). state of Georgia. In 2010 she Sexual Blinding of Women, both presented the keynote address at collaborations with British-Indian There are seven volumes of The 11th Annual Steve Biko filmmaker Pratibha Parmar, and poems. Among them: Once, Lecture at the University of Cape We are the Ones We Have Been Revolutionary Petunias, Horses Town, South Africa, where she Waiting For: Inner Light in a Time of Make a Landscape Look More met the beautiful sons of Steve Darkness (meditations on spiritual Beautiful, Good Night, Willie Lee, I’ll Biko, and was awarded the and political issues). See You In the Morning, Her Blue Lennon/Ono Peace Grant in Body Everything We Know, Absolute Reykjavik, Iceland, where she met Her other novels are: The Third Trust In the Goodness of the Earth, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Life of Grange Copeland (one Hard Times Require Furious “beautiful boy” Sean Lennon. family’s struggle to survive the Dancing, and The World Will Follow (Walker donated this latter sharecropping system – slavery Joy: Turning Madness Into Flowers. award to an orphanage for the under another name – in the children of AIDS victims in East South), (a spiritual In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Africa, The Margaret Okari biography of The Civil Rights Womanist Prose examines the Foundation in Kisi, Kenya). She Movement), The Color Purple creative inheritance of one’s served as jurist (2010 and 2012) (liberation from enforced, male maternal line, and how our own for two sessions of The Russell dominant, religion and thought; contributions,whether political, Tribunal on Palestine. In Cape also poses the question never activist, or poetic connect on this Town, South Africa, and NYC, asked by societies in which they foundation. Essays in Living By the New York. occur: what becomes of the Word reflect Walker’s Earth and

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Recent works are: Overcoming same world: the world where Speechlessness: A Poet Encounters grief is not only acknowledged, the Horror in Rwanda, Eastern but shared; where we see Congo and Palestine/Israel; Hard injustice and call it by its name; Times Require Furious Dancing; where we see suffering and The World Has Changed: know the one who stands and Conversations with Alice Walker; sees is also harmed, but not and The Chicken Chronicles: Sitting nearly so much as the one who With the Angels Who Have stands and sees and says and Returned With My Memories, a does nothing.” Memoir. She also writes regularly on her blog site at Alice Walker was awarded the www.alicewalkersgarden.com. Mahmoud Darwish Literary Prize for Fiction 2016. Two new books were presented [http://alicewalkersgarden.com/ in Spring of 2013: The Cushion in about/] the Road: Meditation and Wandering as the Whole World Awakens to Being in Harm’s Way; and The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness into Flowers, poems.

Walker has been an activist all of her adult life, and believes that learning to extend the range of our compassion is activity and work available to all. She is a staunch defender not only of human rights, but of the rights of all living beings. She is one of the world’s most prolific writers, yet continues to travel the world to literally stand on the side of the poor, and the economically, spiritually and politically oppressed. She also stands, however, on the side of the revolutionaries, teachers and leaders who seek change and transformation of the world. Upon returning from Gaza in 2008, Walker said, “Going to Gaza was our opportunity to remind the people of Gaza and ourselves that we belong to the

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Themes in “The Color Purple” The Power of Narrative The Power of Strong and Voice Female Relationships

Walker emphasizes throughout the own powerful narrative. Celie’s Throughout The Color Purple, novel that the ability to express forceful assertion of this Walker portrays female one’s thoughts and feelings is newfound power, her cursing of friendships as a means for women crucial to developing a sense of Mr. ______for his years of to summon the courage to tell self. Initially, Celie is completely abuse, is the novel’s climax. stories. In turn, these stories unable to resist those who abuse Celie’s story dumbfounds and allow women to resist oppression her. Remembering Alphonso’s eventually humbles Mr. ______, and dominance. Relationships warning that she “better not never causing him to reassess and among women form a refuge, tell nobody but God” about his change his own life. providing reciprocal love in a abuse of her, Celie feels that the world filled with male violence. Though Walker clearly wishes to only way to persevere is to remain emphasize the power of narrative Female ties take many forms: silent and invisible. Celie is and speech to assert selfhood and some are motherly or sisterly, essentially an object, an entirely resist oppression, the novel some are in the form of mentor passive party who has no power to acknowledges that such resistance and pupil, some are sexual, and assert herself through action or can be risky. Sofia’s forceful some are simply friendships. Sofia words. Her letters to God, in outburst in response to Miss claims that her ability to fight which she begins to pour out her Millie’s invitation to be her maid comes from her strong story, become her only outlet. costs her twelve years of her life. relationships with her sisters. However, because she is so Sofia regains her freedom Nettie’s relationship with Celie unaccustomed to articulating her eventually, so she is not totally anchors her through years of experience, her narrative is initially defeated, but she pays a high price living in the unfamiliar culture of muddled despite her best efforts at for her words. Africa. Samuel notes that the transparency. strong relationships among Olinka In Shug and Sofia, Celie finds women are the only thing that

sympathetic ears and learns lessons makes polygamy bearable for that enable her to find her voice. In them. Most important, Celie’s ties renaming Celie a “virgin,” Shug to Shug bring about Celie’s

shows Celie that she can create gradual redemption and her her own narrative, a new attainment of a sense of self. interpretation of herself and her history that counters the

interpretations forced upon her. Gradually Celie begins to flesh out more of her story by telling it to

Shug. However, it is not until Celie and Shug discover Nettie’s letters that Celie finally has enough

knowledge of herself to form her

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The Cyclical Nature of The Disruption of Racism and Sexism Traditional Gender Roles

Almost none of the abusers in Walker’s novel are stereotypical, Many characters in the novel one-dimensional monsters whom break the boundaries of we can dismiss as purely evil. traditional male or female Those who perpetuate violence gender roles. Sofia’s strength are themselves victims, often of and sass, Shug’s sexual sexism, racism, or paternalism. assertiveness, and Harpo’s Harpo, for example, beats Sofia insecurity are major examples of only after his father implies that such disparity between a Sofia’s resistance makes Harpo character’s gender and the traits less of a man. Mr. ______is he or she displays. This blurring violent and mistreats his family of gender traits and roles much like his own tyrantlike sometimes involves sexual father treated him. Celie advises ambiguity, as we see in the Harpo to beat Sofia because she is sexual relationship that develops jealous of Sofia’s strength and between Celie and Shug. assertiveness. Disruption of gender roles The characters are largely aware sometimes causes problems. of the cyclical nature of harmful Harpo’s insecurity about his behavior. For instance, Sofia tells masculinity leads to marital Eleanor Jane that societal influence problems and his attempts to makes it almost inevitable that her beat Sofia. Likewise, Shug’s baby boy will grow up to be a confident sexuality and racist. Only by forcefully talking resistance to male domination back to the men who abuse them cause her to be labeled a tramp. and showing them a new way of Throughout the novel, Walker doing things do the women of the wishes to emphasize that gender novel break these cycles of sexism and sexuality are not as simple and violence, causing the men as we may believe. Her novel who abused them to stop and subverts and defies the reexamine their ways. traditional ways in which we understand women to be women and men to be men.

[https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/

purple/themes/]

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Free Spirit

Twenty-five years ago, Alice audiences have bought over $5m- know my ancestors better - the Walker's Pulitzer prizewinning worth of The Color Purple immediate ancestors. My parents, The Color Purple transformed souvenirs. The book altered the my grandparents, my great- African-American literature. It face of African-American grandparents, and I just started also changed her life - for better literature, and Walker's life both thinking . . . that I could write a and worse. for better and worse: it earned story about them that I would her years of abuse from other enjoy, because it would mean

African-Americans; its reception spending time with them . . . with The Color Purple has such an damaged her relationship with her people I hadn't had a chance to uncompromising beginning that partner, from whom she spend time with, growing up" - many never got any further, eventually separated, and with her and who had lived lives entirely including, to Alice Walker's only daughter. different from the one she had sorrow, her mother. After the first escaped into. Her house in Berkeley, California, line on the first page - "You better where she lives for part of the She was the eighth child of not never tell nobody but God. It'd year, is surrounded by green and sharecroppers and grew up in kill your mammy" - there are four birdsong. When we met, in the segregated Eatonton, Georgia, short paragraphs; in them Celie, spring, she was tired, having just where $10 was spent on a white aged 14, is raped by her stepfather, returned from Rwanda where she child for every $1 spent on a becomes pregnant, and starts went for a conference on gender, black child. She lived all the now- writing letters to God about it. The but she still looks 20 years familiar injustices: separate voice Walker establishes for Celie younger than 63. She is a member bathrooms, separate drinking is both insightful and limited, of Women for Women fountains. Her high school unsentimental and direct, and, International (a non-profit principal wanted to build a controversially when it was organisation that supports women swimming pool on a plot of land published, 25 years ago this survivors of war). "I went to he owned, but "they refused to let Thursday, is written in what check on some women that I him do that. It was all about the Walker calls "folk speech": "He support, and to find an orphanage offence that they imagined - never had a kine word to say to that I want to befriend." Her voice seeing black people wearing me. Just say You gonna do what is calm, musical, often very quiet; swimming suits." When she was your mammy wouldn't. First he put her conversation a disconcerting eight, one of her brothers his thing up gainst my hip and sort mixture of the fiercely political accidentally shot and blinded her of wiggle it around. Then he grab and insightful, with a kind of warm in one eye with a BB gun; asking hold my titties." blanket of pick-and-mix an employer for a loan, to pay a Celie's story won Walker a Pulitzer spirituality. She calls herself a doctor, only brought the reply: prize for fiction, the first for an "born-again pagan" but there's a "Why you wanna waste $250 African-American woman. It has Buddha in the garden and a sign in getting your sister's eye fixed? sold 5m copies and has been the doorway that says "namaste". She's just gonna end up marrying a translated into 25 languages. The no-good nigger like you." It was She had published seven books 1985 Steven Spielberg movie made six years before she had the scar and was working at Ms magazine over $100m (of which she feels she tissue removed. with Gloria Steinem (her didn't get quite the cut she should daughter's godmother) when she In fact, she married a Jewish civil- have); the musical has been a hit in had the idea for The Color Purple. rights lawyer, Mel Leventhal, and New York, Atlanta, Chicago; "I think I was longing, really, to moved to Mississippi, where they

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became the first legally married more standard English, which in that". One grandfather, Henry inter-racial couple in the state. their time would only have been Clay Walker, she once said, They worked there for seven spoken by the people who chased her grandmother through years to desegregate schools; oppressed them, I could not the fields "shooting at her; Walker miscarried when she express this experience - it missing only because he was heard that Martin Luther King had would have been frightening to drunk". Like many, she has slave- been assassinated. In her first them". owner ancestry as well as African, and is connected, she memoir, Black, White and Jewish In order to listen to these says, to generals on opposite (2000), her daughter Rebecca ancestors, she says, "I had to sides in the civil war. "This remembers how "Daddy sits in completely change my life - that behaviour - this slave-owning sometimes with the rifle and the was the hard part. I had to give mentality, came down into the dog waiting for the Klan to come"; up the house that we'd spent family, because their sons and in The Same River Twice (1996), years making completely grandsons looked to their Alice writes of her own mother's beautiful, leave my marriage - behaviour as the behaviour of first encounter with her son-in- which had some problems, but men." law. "Screwing up her face in a had some very good things too . concentrated mental attempt to . . my daughter hasn't forgiven us "You'll notice that most people, locate some familiar place from yet for divorcing, because she in discussing Mr -- [Celie's whence he might have come, and loved us both." In 1978, she husband], even old Mr --, who expressing her compassion at the moved to San Francisco, and was the son of a slave-owner, same time that she discovered then moved in with Robert they just cut it off right there, that place, she said, even smiling a Allen, an editor at the Black they act like 400 years of being little: 'You're one of the ones that Scholar, upstate. "I had started dominated and enslaved by white killed Jesus Christ.'" The Color Purple already, but it men left no trace, and that all this "It's very hard for our parents really blossomed in the space bad behaviour started with the who see us enter a world that that I made for it. The house we black people. It's so ridiculous. they can't imagine," she says now. rented had just one big room, But it's the way that people "The world that I live in, the and a little kind of shed for distance themselves from their world I lived in from the time I left storage. And I made some own history, and their own home is a world that my mother curtains, and we slept on a participation in what is very just . . . I mean they strained mattress on the floor, and every bloody and depressing behaviour, themselves to think of me maybe day we'd go swimming and over centuries." walking, and looking at the trees teaching." She has had to work This sort of thing touched a raw - it was a very precious life. We hard to maintain a connection to nerve. She was accused of were very much in love." The her family, to her brothers, for betraying her race, of hating black book was done within a year. example, who did not receive the men, of damaging black male and education she did - it was for There is a lot of love in The Color female relationships, of being a them and those like them, partly, Purple, but also much cruelty, lesbian. "The truth is that Mrs that she chose the voice for The much of it male, much of it [Toni] Morrison won't go for the Color Purple (and why she allowed inspired by her own family, bone of divide-and-conquer that it to be filmed - to reach those especially her violent young the Liberals especially like to see African-Americans who would be grandfathers, "batterers, black people gnawing at," writes unlikely to pick up a book). That, womanisers, alcoholics, all of Kiarri Cheatwood, for example, and the fact that "if I were using a

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reviewing a book of Walker's for a few years, but eventually And through them I see that this poetry. "One can see their parted. (Walker is bisexual, and is my ancestors, especially my dribble-laden glee when they find her partners have included Tracy parents, making sure that I don't a black man who through his Chapman.) suffer unnecessarily from a lack actions or words attacks a black of material things, like housing, Her daughter, who was in her woman or vice versa. So, of or good food, medical care. So it mid-teens when the film was course, they love Ms Walker, feels to me like I was in service being made, has complained, in lover of queer bourgeois liberal to create this vision, to create memoirs, of absentee parenting. affectations and deep-down hater this story that was inspired by In a recent interview in this of black." their lives and after I did that paper, on the publication of her then they turned around and She was hurt by these attacks, book Baby Love, Rebecca (who said: 'You've taken really good which continued for years, was named one of the 50 most care of us, we'll take really good though "I often thought that many influential future leaders of care of you.'" of the men just wanted to be the America by Time magazine when subject", she says now. "It's a she was just 25) revealed that book mostly about women, and she had written to her mother, [https://www.theguardian.com/ what they're doing, and how asking her to apologise for years books/2007/jun/23/ they're carrying on no matter of hurt; apparently Alice refused, featuresreviews.guardianreview2 what the men are doing . . . I adding for good measure that 3] think that for many men at that she was no longer interested in time it was a shock that you the job of mother. They no could actually write a novel with longer speak. women at the centre." Walker, unlike many writers, "'Fame' exhausts me," she wrote says she does not resent the in a diary in 1984 - tired out by all hold The Color Purple has over the manuscripts to read, the public perception of her, though books to endorse, the awards, she does feel protective of her the invitations, but also the fact other work. Despite mixed that she was ill. Eventually she self reviews (her last novel, 2004's -diagnosed the aches and chronic Now Is the Time to Open Your weariness as Lyme disease, but Heart, was called "a remarkably there could be little rest: she was awful compendium of inanities" writing a screenplay for the film, by Michiko Kakutani of the New consulting on it, contending with York Times), she knows it is read. the added condemnation it "And I do like the way that I brought. In 1981 her mother had have been well taken care of by a major stroke, and would be this particular story. It means bedridden for the last 12 years of that I can write any other story her life. Allen admitted to envy - that I want to write, do and to having an affair because whatever I want to, pretty much. Walker had been "distracted by And I tell you how I really see it [her] work and sexually - I see it as the people in the inattentive". They struggled on book actually doing that, for me.

BIBLIOTECA TECLA SALA

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Notes

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