The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
by Alice Walker
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone. Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.
1. From the first letter, we know that Pa abuses/rapes Celie and takes her children away after they’re born. Eventually, Pa marries Celie off to Mr.__ who simply marries Celie to take care of his household. Nettie, her sister moves in with them, but Mr.__ kicks Nettie out. Celie’s life gets worse and worse, as she’s now separated from the only person in the world whom she loves and who loves her back. Celie’s life changes when Mr.__ brings his deathly ill mistress, Shug, home for Celie to nurse back to health. Celie quickly falls in love with Shug, and Shug falls in love back. For the first time in Celie’s life, she has a chance to enjoy sex, romance, and friendship. Together with Shug, Celie discovers the mystery of Nettie’s silence for so many decades: Mr.__ has been hiding all of Nettie’s letters in his locked trunk. She gains the strength to leave him after reading the letters. Nettie’s letters transform the way Celie sees the world. From Nettie, Celie learns that Pa isn’t actually her biological father. Celie learns that Pa has died. She also finds out that the house that Pa lived in actually has belonged to Celie and Nettie since their mother passed away. So now Celie owns a home, which she prepares for Nettie’s arrival. After she left Mr.__, he became a changed man. He’s reformed and is now a pretty decent guy. Although Celie isn’t remotely romantically interested in him, they now enjoy each other’s company.2. One of the themes in this novel is the power of voice. Ability to express one’s thoughts and feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self.
3. Tones found in this novel are serious and honest. This is a novel about utter hardship, sadness, tragedy – and a woman who finally figures out how to beat the odds no matter how badly they are stacked against her.
"He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens."
"Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr._______ say, Cause he my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for—he don’t finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind me of Pa."
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
4. Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone. Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.
1. From the first letter, we know that Pa abuses/rapes Celie and takes her children away after they’re born. Eventually, Pa marries Celie off to Mr.__ who simply marries Celie to take care of his household. Nettie, her sister moves in with them, but Mr.__ kicks Nettie out. Celie’s life gets worse and worse, as she’s now separated from the only person in the world whom she loves and who loves her back. Celie’s life changes when Mr.__ brings his deathly ill mistress, Shug, home for Celie to nurse back to health. Celie quickly falls in love with Shug, and Shug falls in love back. For the first time in Celie’s life, she has a chance to enjoy sex, romance, and friendship. Together with Shug, Celie discovers the mystery of Nettie’s silence for so many decades: Mr.__ has been hiding all of Nettie’s letters in his locked trunk. She gains the strength to leave him after reading the letters. Nettie’s letters transform the way Celie sees the world. From Nettie, Celie learns that Pa isn’t actually her biological father. Celie learns that Pa has died. She also finds out that the house that Pa lived in actually has belonged to Celie and Nettie since their mother passed away. So now Celie owns a home, which she prepares for Nettie’s arrival. After she left Mr.__, he became a changed man. He’s reformed and is now a pretty decent guy. Although Celie isn’t remotely romantically interested in him, they now enjoy each other’s company.2. One of the themes in this novel is the power of voice. Ability to express one’s thoughts and feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self.
3. Tones found in this novel are serious and honest. This is a novel about utter hardship, sadness, tragedy – and a woman who finally figures out how to beat the odds no matter how badly they are stacked against her.
"He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens."
"Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr._______ say, Cause he my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for—he don’t finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind me of Pa."
"I think. I can’t even remember the last time I felt mad, I say. I used to git mad at my mammy cause she put a lot of work on me. Then I see how sick she is. Couldn’t stay mad at her. Couldn’t be mad at my daddy cause he my daddy. Bible say, Honor father and mother no matter what. Then after while every time I got mad, or start to feel mad, I got sick. Felt like throwing up. Terrible feeling. Then I start to feel nothing at all."
4.
1)Point of View:
The narrative is told in the first-person form of letters. The first half of the book is told completely from Celie’s point of view; the second part of the book is told in letters between Nettie and Celie.
2)Setting:
It covers the first half of the 20th century, as we follow Celie through thirty or forty years of her life. The setting of Celie’s story is unmistakably among poor blacks in rural areas of the South.
3)Title:
The title refers to a moment when Shug Avery asks Celie if she takes the time to notice what little things that God does to show us that it loves us.
"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it," Shug says.
4) Style:
Composed of very short chapters, written as letters to God, that explain in the shortest of possible ways the trials and tribulations Celie experiences. Walker presents Celie’s thoughts in the vernacular, with poor grammar and spelling. These emphasize the point that Celie is not an educated woman.
5)Symbolism:
The color purple represents all the good things in the world that God creates for men and women to enjoy.
"[Shug] God does little things for people, (like creating the color purple), just to make people happy and give them pleasure in their lives."
No comments:
Post a Comment