An Evaluation On The Opression Of Black Women In "

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorHigh School, 12th grade February 2008

download word file, 9 pages 0.0

The Colour Purple "The Colour Purple", written by Alice Walker is an emotional portrayal of the life of a black southern woman called Celie. The novel illuminates the great hardships Celie encounters during her life and how she overcomes them through the help of her belief in God. Through Celie, Alice Walker is able to show the oppression of Black women and how they dealt with a double-edged sword of not only being women but also being black. It is a touching novel that enables the reader to see into the mind of Celie and shows how she progresses from an innocent, confused black girl to a determined strong woman who neither cares nor worries about her colour.

"You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy" The father's use of colloquial language highlight's how uneducated he his. The juxtaposition of the word "not never" accentuates how much he does not want Celie to tell anyone what he has been doing as the word "not" practically means the same thing as "never".

So he is practically repeating it twice. He also seems to be concerned about the mother finding out because it will "kill" her but he is truly concerned about himself and is trying to emotionally blackmail Celie, as he knows how innocent she is.

Celie begins a journal of letters to God. This is then the structure of the novel. By the novel being structured in this way it allows the reader to have an intimate bond with Celie, as the reader is able to see the inner thoughts of Celie. Her innocence shows immediately in the opening page, as she refers to God as a physical entity not a spiritual being. She begins by stating her confusion on the matter and asking God for...