Lindsey Hardy Final

   Celie, a young woman in the 20th century south. Abused from day one, Celie and her sister, Nettie, live with their mother and father on a farm somewhere in the south. When their mother goes ill, Celie begins to take the place of her mother, doing for her father, what her mother could no longer do. Walker writes, "Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn't" (1). Although he never touched Nettie, Celie gets pregnant, not once but twice, and each time her father would steal the child away to kill it. Because of these various hardships that the girls endure, their attitudes and actions are effected. They are both shy and soft-spoken women, more Celie than Nettie. Nettie was the stronger of the two, but you can't blame Celie, as she was treated way worse.
   The mental effect that the abuse had on Celie is one that you pick up on through the way she allows others to talk about her. In the quote, " He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it" (Walker 1) and "He say Why don't you look decent? Put something on" (Walker 3). The only way she can express her feelings towards others, is by letters to God. This shows how she really had no one. No one to help guide her, no one to give her strength and love. That is what she found in God, which is probably why all of her letters, at first, were written to him.
   Yes, my opinion of Celie did change throughout the story. At the beginning of the novel Celie did have a tough life, which is why she was so down all of the time. Because of this attitude in her, I was not drawn to her at first. I did not like the way she was so pessimistic about everything. However, she had no reason to be optimistic anyway. Throughout the story, you see Celie go from a battered young girl to a strong-willed, normal 20th century woman. With the help of friends, Shug Avery and Harpo, she gains courage to stand up to Mr. ____, the man she was forced to marry, who also beat her. She unleashes a new side of herself. She then has her own business making pants, which keeps her busy and gives her something to do. In this story you really see how a person can grow when they are surrounded by love and encouragement. Celie makes something of herself, hoping that one day, Nettie will prosper in the ways that she did.
   I believe that the reason Walker chose Celie to be the narrator was to have her story told in the best way possible. Reading the encounters first hand, from Celie's point of view, really made the stories believable and added emotion. If I read the story from the 3rd person point of view would still get the emotion across, but it would be harder to depict your ideas of each other character. Because Celie's descriptions depict her as "the victim", you can see how this little bit of bias really influences your ultimate opinion of the father. In the quote, "First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don't never git used to it" (Walker 1). Reading it from a different perspective could really change this. A different narrator may favor the side of the father, rather than Celie does for herself.
   Overall, I really enjoyed re-reading the novel, The Color Purple. This time around, I was able to get deeper into the text and really understand the message that the book was trying to send.

  

Bailey Druschel Final

My narrator of The Color Purple is Ms./Mrs. Celie. She is portrayed as an ugly, stupid, skinny African Amerian woman. Celie, in my opinion, is a sweet girl who doesn't know what she is doing because her Pa and Arthur control what she does. Celie is one to fall for chores and giving in to sex because she couldn't control any of it. Celie describes, "He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway" (Walker 7). Celie is referring to Pa because her mammy was sick. She dressed up in her mammy's heals and feathers that he doesn't like, but he will make her have sex anyways. It just goes to show that Celie didn't have a clue of her surroundings. She was too young of a person to know what was happening to her. Celie obviously knew it was bad, but she knew she couldn't do anything to her Pa because he could've done something terribly wrong to her, like even beat her to death. My view of Celie changed dramatically when she stood up for herself at a family dinner with Shug. She told Arthur she wasn't dealing with his nonsense anymore and Shug said Celie was going to Memphis, Tennessee with Shug. Celie left and she was an entrepreneur for her famous pants clothing line, "Celie's Folk Pants." They came in all sizes and she made all her time spent on that to sell amounts of pants for money. Celie was given house she grew up in and lived there happily. Celie viewed herself as young woman. She felt better about herself as a whole and Arthur actually loved her for her this time. She was loved and felt good for once in the book. She changed for the good and Celie ended as a brave, independent woman in the South.

I believe Alice Walker chose Celie because Alice may have lived a similar life as Celie. Alice may have wanted a narrator to describe the depth of women in the South in the 1900s to give us people today views of society in the 1900s. The author wanted the readers to view the nasty things these women went through with men. Alice could have been beaten by her father, or could've just had a live as a slave. Alice shows that Celie is a weak woman in the beginning of the story. Celie is only a teenage a girl with not much education. Alice try's to show that younger woman, such as Celie cannot control a man. She gives flashy scenes of Celie being raped and beaten by her Pa. Showing us readers how Celie was forced to marry Mr. _____. Celie's quote says, "How she could come to me if I marry him and he be so love struck with her I could figure out a way for us to run away" (Walker 9). Alice uses this to engage the reader with the problem of Celie marrying Arthur when he loves Nettie, but Nettie is too young. Celie feels terrible and doesn't want to lose her sister because Nettie loves him back. Alice wants to give foreshadow that they could run away for Nettie to marry Mr. ____, but that isn't what happens at all. Celie deals with Arthur for a while and Alice brings out an urge of anger with standing up for womens' rights. Celie always seems to dig down on herself and Alice could've done that to herself living with people who controlled her. I like Alice Walker and I like the way she wanted Celie to be the narrator. Celie could be another Alice Walker just as a character. Alice shows power for the climax and shows that women can have control. It shows how women can be stoned than what they really are and no one is stupid or ugly in any way. It shows how love is portrayed and anyone can love anyone. Alice made a happy ending and I'm sure that's how Alice's life ended up was happy.

Samantha Shipley Final

    


     The Color Purple is narrated by an African American woman named Celie who makes her way through the ups and downs of life in deep, rural Georgia. She is portayed in such a way in the begging that you as a reader take pitty on her. A young girl of fourteen, she is confused about why she is treated the way she is. Her mother was dying and her "father" turned her into an object of sex. It is no wonder her demeanor is so depressive. The negativity surrounding her in a way allows her to believe she is not superior and must obey others. "She ugly. Don't even look like she's kin to Nettie. But she'll make the better wife. She ain't smart either, and i'll just be fair, you have to watch her or she'll give away everything you own. But she can work like a man" (Walker 8). She is characterized as the lesser of the other charcters, constantly being put down by the men in her life. Not only was she constantly put down by her collegues but her opinions were represed too. Never did Celie have a say in what she wanted. She was known as the girl who was forced to do things against her will. Raped, forced to marry, and allowed herself to be beaten by those who took advantage of her. It was not until the end of the novel when Celie stood up for herself and the other women that I began to see Celie as a stong, an independent charcter.

     My love and understanding grew for Celie as the novel progressed. When she finally took all of her repressed feelings and opinions and told Mr._____ how she felt, I realized the whole time she was very much capable of sticking up for herself and had a good head on her shoulders.  My opinion changed from feelings of pitty and dislike, to feelings of understanding and compassion for Celie. Never have I ever thought of her as an independent woman. It seemed she only survived when she had a shoulder to lean on whether it was welcoming or cold. She is mostly definiatly characterized as a follower, not a leader. It was not Celie who chose to be married, nor was it Celie who chose to pack her bags and runaway to Tennesee, but those who she depended on to survive.

     You as the reader really get to know and understand character who is deemed author whether or not protagonist or antagonist. I as a reader believe the author choses there narractor for that reason exatly. Why would Walker chose such a woman like Celie to narrate? She an uneducated women who is constanly being mistreated by those around here. Maybe that is the reason she was chosen in the first place. We get so much of a deeper understanding of Celie when we read the novel because everything portayed, is portrayed from her perspective. First hand account. When I read from Celie's perspective, it in my opinion added a sense of charcter and allowed me to grasp a better understanding of the story. We are hearing the story from someone who is the victim and it deinaitely makes others in our minds seem like animals.

    In my whole hearted opinion, I loved the way Celie narrated and constanty wrote to God for guidance. "Dear, God I am fourteen years old. I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happenng to me" (Walker 1). It gave the novel a sense of reality. She wasn't just wrting to a journal or a diary, but something real. It was as if we took the place of God under the circumstances and Celie was venting to us. We feel involved as the reader and it allows us to be put in a certain mindset that makes us feel part of the story. If the story had been narrated by another charcter of the story, say Mr.____ or Pa, we would have somehow taken pitty on them and only saw Celie as a lowly African American girl. This was Celie's story and that's why I believe the author chose her as narrator.

                                                                                            Samantha Shipley

Kacie Griffin Part 2

Why do you think the author chose them to be the narrator? How does their perspective change the story? What does it add? What is your opinion of them? Why? Include at least one quote.


Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, chose Celie as her narrator. I believe she chose her because of all the tragedy she went through. Her life was hard from the beginning, for she was raped by her father as a child. He seemed to take his sexual frustrations out on Celie because her mother was sick. Her stepfather once said to her: "You better not never tell nobody but God. it'd kill your mammy" (Walker 1). Celie's life definitely could not and did not get better until she made a change. Courage was a big theme throughout the book, and Celie showed it in ways you do not usually see. For example, Celie endured many gender discrimination issue within her own home. While this was happening, she still managed to do housework for the men treated the women so terribly. She is the face for women of this time period, and Walker wanted the message of courage to be portrayed that way.
      Celie's perspective definitely changes the story. We see everything that happens through her eyes, for we could have missed some aspects if Celie happened not to write them down. She had her own opinions and problems that shaped what the story was all about. One this that it did add was the parts where we saw the letters Nettie wrote. This was a neat aspect that definitely made the story more interesting to me. I overall liked the way Alice Walker decided to tell this story. The letter format made it seem more intimate and real.     

Kacie Griffin Part 1

Analyze your narrator. Who are they/ What do you know about them? How would you describe them? How where they characterized in the story? Did your opinion of them change? Include at least one quote in your answer.

The narrator of The Color Purple is Celie. Celie is a woman we saw mature of the course of the novel, for she was about fourteen when we started and many years passed as the novel progressed. She was beaten and raped by her stepfather as a young girl. This results in her getting pregnant twice, and her stepfather giving the children away. Celie was then married off to Mr._____. They did not love each, but they both did love Shug Avery. At first, Shug was just an idol to Celie, but after she met her, they fell in love. Celie loved Shug like she had never anyone before. Their bond was special and sincere. The only other person Celie had received love from was Nettie. Nettie is her younger sister who often wrote her from Africa. When Nettie was taken away from her, I believe that a lot of emotional damage was done on Celie. She lost hope then, and she did not even know it until years later. Celie was an evolving character who changed a lot throughout the course of the whole novel.
      At first, Celie was characterized as weak and fragile, but throughout the novel, she learned she was capable off standing up for herself. She stopped letting people walk all over her. When she fought with Mr.____ for saying she could not move to Tennessee with Shug was really the turning point for her. My opinion of her definitely changed. She was a boring charcter at first because she would almost always sit back and take the bad stuff, I felt she had no backbone or courage, but once she started being with Shug something changed. She had a fire in her that would not stop burning. Celie stopped judging herself so much with Shug, for when leaving for Mephis say tells Shug, "I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I'm here" (Walker 207). This shows that Celie stops cares and realizes all she needs is Shug and Nettie to achieve complete happiness. 
           

Jaimee Martin

Why do you think the author chose them to be the narrator? How does their perspective change the story? What does it add? What is your opinion of them? Why? Include at least one quote in your answer. The above quotes should be used to support your answer to the above questions and should be fully introduce and discussed.

                Alice Walker tells a beautiful story for the perspective of someone who is perceived as not so beautiful and her life somewhat reflects that. I believe she chose Celie to narrate this book due to how people see her. I think Celie narrates to show that she is more to herself than just a face. She has feelings, she has needs, and she wants to be content with her life. In the beginning, she just wants to know why things happen in her life, “Dear God, I am fourteen years old. I am I have been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me” (Walker 1).  As we go through the book, she starts to get a grip on her life. Walker chose Celie to show that everyone goes through things in their life, and sometimes you may not understand why it happens, but in the end your life can be the way you want it to turn out. Celie is not privileged. She isn’t the prettiest face. She isn’t the smartest. At the end of the book, she has everything she wants.

                Celie’s perspective changes when Shug Avery comes into the picture. She changes from being quite a Debby Downer to Little Miss Sunshine. It shows what love can do to a person. It adds to the story by showing that, even the ugliest or uneducated people can have a happy life, it just can happen at different times in your life. My opinion of Celie has defiantly altered from when I began reading this book. She has changed so much within the time period of this book and to be completely honest, I became proud of Celie. I was proud when she left Mr._____. I was proud when Shug and she went to live together and she could peruse something she loved doing; making pants. I was discouraged in the beginning of the book due to what she went through and how she lived to becoming proud of who Celie became. This book goes to show, your life experiences are not who you are, they help create who you’re going to be in the end.

Jaimee Martin

Analyze your narrator. Who are they? What do you know about them? How would you describe them?  How are they characterized in the story? Did your opinion of them change? Include at least one quote in your answer. The quotes should be used to support your answers to the questions and should be fully introduced and discussed.

                In the beginning of the book, I believed Celie to be a very religious young woman with not many other goal in life besides pleasing her Pa. Every day, Celie wrote to God. Her journal entries always started with “Dear God,” and then continued to tell him about her day. She’d always write to him, even if her day was awful, God knew about it. She was also not very educated, but she knew God didn’t care. Nettie her sister continued through school, while Celie had her children. But eventually Celie started writing to Nettie, she lost her faith in the middle of the book, “Dear Nettie, I don’t write to God no more. I write to you” (Walker 192). I believe this changed her as a character. She had no faith in God, but had faith in Nettie. Celie was also very home oriented. She cared for her family even if her family didn’t care for her. At a very young age, she was married off to Mr._____ and was told to take care of his children as if they were her own. So that’s what she did, although she was still concerned with her actual children, to whom she gave birth to, “I was in town sitting on the wagon while Mr. _____ was in the dry good store. I seen my baby girl. I knowed it was her” (Walker 13). Although she never saw her children, she knew which ones were hers and still cared to know if they were having a good life. Celie was also very quiet, she didn’t speak up much but when she did, she got beaten by Mr._____. She was also very in love with Shug Avery, a woman. Celie is god and home oriented, shy, not educated, very caring towards everyone, and in love with a woman.

                I know that Celie is a strong woman. I know she is shy, but also has a mouth on her when needed. It took Shug Avery to get her out of her shell, to break out of her cocoon and turn into a beautiful butterfly. When Shug came around Celie became who she was destined to be. She became smarted, more outspoken, more outgoing, brave, and defiantly more understanding and loving. When Celie moved to Tennessee with Shug, Celie became Celie. She opened up, she found a passion and pursued it as well as never losing her faith in Nettie. She learned how to accept everyone and everything for what they had done in the past. She never gave up on Shug when she wanted to go have her fling with the 19-year-old boy, she developed a relationship with Mr._____ when she returned home, and again never lost faith in Nettie. Nettie was her world, I believe she is another reason Celie opened up, because she wanted to have something to show off when Nettie came home.

                My opinion of Celie did change as we progressed throughout the book. I thought she was just a plain canvas. She didn’t have goals, she was quiet. She let her husband and Pa abuse and rape her. She never once fought back. Celie was the definition of cowardly, but as we progressed through the book that changed and it was abrupt too. When Shug Avery came to town and started living with Celie and Mr._____, Celie almost instantaneously had a different outlook on life. She started talking back, not listening to Mr._____, resisting him as well, and she fell in love. She gained her self-respect that was long missing in her life. Shug Avery opened up Celie, and changed my perspective of the whole book. Love made Celie the happy, goal aspiring, brave woman she was in the end of the book; as well as, her faith in Nettie.