By: Ashley Stockton, Ruben Chavez, Joseph Pantaelo, Melanie Renton, and Naoya Nagatani

Background

Information Central Themes Character Analysis Styles, Techniques, and Cinematography Significance of the Title Compare and Contrast Three Types of Women Our Thoughts

The novel, The Color Purple, was written by Alice Walker in 1982. Walker was born on February 9, 1944 and was a civil rights activists in the 1960s. The Color Purple won her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in the year 1983. She has also written other works, such as Possessing the Secret of Joy and The Chicken Chronicles. The novel was turned into a film in 1985 and directed by Stephen Spielberg. It starred Whoopi Goldberg as Celie. It received 11 Academy Award nominations.

 While

watching The Color Purple, I recognized three central themes which are listed as follows:

The power of same sex relationships Religion Slavery

In

the next few slides, I will give an in depth description of each of these themes.

In The Color Purple sisterhood seems to be a major theme. Throughout the film Celie focuses on her relationship with her sister and then with other women, when Mr.___ kicks Nettie out. When Celie temporarily loses Nettie she forms a relationship with Shug and Sofia. Sofia shows Celie how a woman can be strong and Shug teaches her love. Celie and Shug form a sexual relationship and strong friendship. In addition to the female relationships, The Color Purple illustrates the power of a father son relationship. Mr. listened to his father which resulted in him losing Shug while Harbo, Mr.s son listened to Mr. resulting in him losing Sofia.

 In

The Color Purple there are several instances where religion is mentioned. Celie frequently uses the phrase Dear God and when confronted by Sofia after suggesting that Harpo should beat her Celie says: This life be over soon. Heaven lasts always. Illustrating that despite or perhaps because of all the abuse that Celie faces she keeps a strong belief in a higher being.

 When

I say slavery I do not mean in the traditional sense, even though that is exhibited when Sofia becomes a slave to the Mayor and his wife. When I say slavery I think about all the things that Celie is a slave too manly she is a slave to all the abusive men in her life. First, her stepfather and then Mr.____ when she is sold to him by her stepfather. In addition to being a slave to Mr.___ Celie is also a slave to her situation until the end.

Celie

Celie is a main character of this film. She got married to Mr. Johnson instead of her younger sister. She was abused by her father and her husband. Thats why she takes for granted that women is oppressed by men. An unwanted marriage, violence from her husband, and separation from her younger sister afflict her but meeting with two contrastive women, Sofia and Shug, changes her life and way of thinking. She has her mind set on standing on her own and leaves her husband. The end of this film, she could see her younger sister and her daughter and son.

Nettie

She is Celies younger sister and close to her older sister. She went to see her sister because she wanted to escape from her father and Mr. Johnson admitted it. On her way to school, she was almost raped by Mr. Johnson. After that he got her out of his house. She continued to send Celie letters but they were hidden. The end of the film, she came back to Celie with her two children.

 Shug

Shug

is a singer and Mr. Johnsons lover. She had an attitude of severity to Celie but eventually they become friends. Her independentmind triggers an awareness that she can become a person with independence like her. Celie and her sister leave Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson is Celies husband. He wanted her sister Nettie but their father didnt accept it. He drove Celie to work hard: looking after his children and doing household chores. He hid letters that Nettie wrote to Celie. Finally, he realized that he treated Celie wrongfully.

Mr. Johnson

The film, "The Color Purple", is a costume drama directed by Steven Spielberg. This film was made 3 years after the book, "The Color Purple", was published. It was filmed near Anson and Union counties in North Carolina. Steven Spielberg is mostly known for directing more serious films like "Indiana Jones". The film was nominated for many Academy Awards, but did not win any.

The film is not based on the whole entire novel due to the length of the movie. There are some differences between the movie and the novel for example in the novel it talks about Celie writing letters to her sister Nettie and God, and in the film the only letters it shows Celie writing are to her sister Nettie. The techniques that were used in the film were mostly to make people feel what the characters in the film felt. For example in the film Celie was always waiting for her sister to write back to her but she was always disappointed to find that there was nothing in the mail for her, that probably made the viewers sad and thought that Nettie was probably dead.

Shug says that she believes God is mad at people who can walk in a field full of purple flowers and not notice them. This gives us a sense that purple represents freedom and that God is no specific race or a specific gender, we should all accept our lives and love them. Purple is a color that loves you and just wants to love you back. When Celie and Nettie are in a purple field at the beginning they love each other, they feel free in the field. Since purple is the color for royalty, all of the characters in this book that seem to be struggling, are indeed royalty.

Even people who have the royal status are go through similar types problems the Celie goes through. In nature purple is everywhere, the problems going on in the novel are global issues, so none of the events are unusual. Celie gets beat when Shug is not around, she is left with purple bruises, possibly meaning she needs to stand up for herself to earn her freedom.

MR. Married a submissive woman. (this obviously changes alter when Celie gains her voice) Lost Shug the woman he loves because he refused to stand up to his father. Changes later in life.

Harpo Married a dominate woman. Married Sofia against his fathers wishes. Lost Sofia the woman he loves because he listened to his father and started beating her. Changes and reunites with Sofia.

The Subservient Woman: Celie is a clear subservient woman in the beginning of the novel because she is a slave to her husband, Mister, and allows herself to be abused and mistreated. She never stands up for herself nor chases after her own aspirations. She also has very little education.
The Emergent Woman: Sophia is a strong-minded woman who is entirely capable of defending herself Her abusive childhood has made her a fighter, and with this mindset, she is able to stand up for herself to her husband, Harpo. When Harpo insists that he wants a wife that will obey him, she takes the children and leaves, determined not to be controlled or abused by a man. The Assertive Woman: Shug Avery is a woman with a career dedicated to singing, and she doesnt allow anyone to stop her. She doesnt follow the role of the traditional servicing woman as Sophia and Celie do; instead, she uses her life to make herself happy. She helps Celie break her role of a subservient woman.

This film features the life of one black woman in old American society that was a male and white dominated society. There were discrimination against black people, incest, disdain for women, and domestic violence. The main character suffered from them. We felt the difficulty that black women went through in their lives in old America. In addition, we learned that everybody looks for a person who can love him/herself. Celie loved Nettie and got to be a person who changes others. Shug got to trust people because Celie gave her sincere faith. Harpo taught the importance of loving people to his father who went nuts because of losing Celie by hugging him. Sophia whose husband is Harpo brought back love that had vanished for him after seeing his behavior. Loving others make a person kind and happy. Celie realized that her true situation is strange and tried to resist it. It encourages and helps us to find importance in life.