1

Jia Hui Ma Wu

Kyle Janosch

AP Literature 2

March 05, 2020

Marxism and Rance

The book named “The Color Purple” is written by Alice Walker, it’s about Celie’s

experience from an African American woman that was uneducated and traded by abused.

Social is a place where can affect most of the people mind and belief because most people will

treat a group unfairly based on the social prejudice against that group, for example at the early

period in the United States the African American was traded by unrespectful and abused by the

White. And the bourgeoisie or capitalists were been unrespectful to the proletariat, and workers.

So the society at that time had effected people believing that all the people of that ground should

be different from them. The author Walker has been using Marxism and Race as the two literary

elements she used to show that “Because of their social class and power, Sofia is forced by

society to treat Celie and Eleanor Jane differently”

The story of “The Color Purple” happened during World War 2 where the prejudice of

race and social occur. Marxism is a social, political, and economic theory originated by Karl

Marx, which focuses on the struggle between capitalists and the working class. ​Karl Marx’s Das

Kapital (1867) states that: The mode of production of material life determines altogether the

social, political, and intellectual life process. It is not the consciousness of men that determines

their being but on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness. Which

means the social will actually affect people's opinions and beliefs. Institutionalized racism was
 2

also excited as white people were more powerful than the other race we called it “white

privilege”. ​And Critical Race Theory is “ Is a theoretical and interpretive mode that examines the

appearance of race and racism across dominant cultural modes of expression”. ​Based on

owl.purdue.edu, white privilege refers to the various social, political, and economic advantages

white individuals experience in contrast to non-white citizens based on their racial membership.

These advantages can include both obvious and subtle differences in access to power, social

status, experiences of prejudice, educational opportunities, and much more.

Sofia is a stronger and ​fiercely independent​ African American woman because Sofia

refuses to submit to whites, men, or anyone else who tries to dominate her, so we can see her

different attitudes to different people. The author Walker used the Marxist Approach Applied to

Native Son and Rance to demonstrate how Sofia trade Celie and Eleanor Jane differently because

of their races and the different social class they are in. Even though the relationship between

Sofia and Celie was not good when they just met but because their thought was the similar, same

race, the same level of the social class and how Celie traded nicely to Sofia, based on all these

facts Sofia viewed Celie as a friend. Eleanor Jane, such as Ms.Millie’s daughter, this identity

became the reason for her bad relationship with Sofia because Eleanor Jane is rich, powerful and

white, also the behavior that her parents have done to Sofia. Even by the end of the book,

Eleanor Jane tried to take care of Sofia's kid.

Before Celie meets Shug and Sofia she was still a self-abasement woman but based on

her later experience such as meeting new friends like Sofia and Shug who are female but strong,

Celie learned a lot from Sofia and Shug and so Celie became more confident, cheerful, strong,

and no longer feel powerless because of being an African American female. Sofia and celie's first
 3

meeting wasn't so great, as she sees how Sofia is stronger and defender by herself Celie were

jealous, so when Mr.___ suggested Harpo hit Sofia she agrees on it. When Sofia realized why

Celie agreed that suggestion Sofia said “...To tell the truth, you remind me of my mama”

(Walker 43), this is the moment where Sofia and Celie get to know each other as a friend

because Sofia got the familiarity feeling with Celie not just because they have the same race but

also because Sofia realized that Celie is powerless such as herself, even though Sofia is a

self-abasement woman but she still is colored and colored people in that society did not have

power. When Celie got a store from her natural parents she told Sofia to work in the store so

Sofia can get a job because at that moment Sofia got free from been the mayor’s maid,

“Meanwhile, I hired Sofia to clerk our store...Sofia real good at selling stuff too...” (Walker 287)

here also shows how Celie traded nicely to Sofia and Sofia has returned her respect.

Compering to Celie, Sofia is more complicated with Miss Eleanor Jane because she is the

daughter of the major. By the time Sofia was the mayor’s maid, Miss Eleanor Jane developed

strong to rely on Sofia as she said: “ I feel like you the only person love me…”( Walker 273).

But because of the mistreatment, she suffered from Eleanor Jane’s parents, and Sofia knows that

They were two people who lived in a different class of society, so Sofia can not reciprocate

Eleanor Jane’s feelings. So most of the time Sofia will emphasize the racial differences to

Eleanor Jane, for example, “I’m telling you I won’t be able to love your own son. You can love

him just as much as you want to. But be ready to suffer the consequences. That’s how the

colored live”. This is what Sofia tells Eleanor Jane when she was trying to caring Sofia’s

daughter who named Henrietta, so even Sofia knows that Eleanor Jane may be different from
 4

other white people but the prejudice of race and social had effected people belief since they are a

kid.

A lot of good authors use literary theory to give their work more depth, to give the reader

a sense of what the author is trying to say about the context of the story and how the protagonist

is affected in the context of the story, just like how Alice Walker uses the Marxism and Race in

that period to shows “Because of their social class and power, Sofia is forced by society to treat

Celie and Eleanor Jane differently”.

 5

Work Cited

“Critical Race Theory // Purdue Writing Lab.” Edited by Purdue Writing Lab, ​Purdue Writing

Lab​,

owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_s

chools_of_criticism/critical_race_theory.html.

“The Color Purple as a Marxist Text.” ​It.info​, crossref-it.info/textguide/the-color-purple/42/3312.

Purdue Writing Lab. “Critical Race Theory // Purdue Writing Lab.” ​Purdue Writing Lab​,

owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_s

chools_of_criticism/critical_race_theory.html.