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.
