The colour purple?

Question

hi i have read the colour purple and i can not decide what the theme is can you help me and try to make me understand why the theme is as it is

thanks

Answer 1

i did that in high school. there is no one theme but some are: redemption, female enpowerment, the strength of men and women (like mr and his kid the fat one.. i dont remember what his name is now), love, marriage, race segregation and class segregation in the south and how the main character is a poor black women  etc etc... i dunno the list goes on

Answer 2

you should watch the film instead then.......all will be reveiled...exellent film

Answer 3

There is no one theme in The Color Purple (I'm not American, I just spell it like that because it's the title of the book). It would be impossible to pick out one single theme as the main theme. Some of them include:

The repression of black people: You can especially see this when Sofia hits the Mayor's wife and is sent to prison

The repression of women: Especially black women as the lowest of the low - not only are they black but they are even below black men in their status as women.

Forgiveness and redemption: A very good example of this is Mr.____ at the end who redeems himself. He becomes religious and sorts his life out.

Religion: Religion is a huge theme in the novel - Celie addresses her letters to God, who is the one constant in her life. She says in one letter something like "As long as I can spell g-o-d I have someone beside me". Also, Nettie becomes a missionary and goes to Africa with Samuel and his wife (can't quite remember her name).

Family: The relationship between Celie and Nettie, how they meet each other again at the end and also Celie being reunited with her childrena at the end of the book.

The struggle of women to be independent from men: Sofia is a very confident and outspoken woman who will not let Harpo boss her around. Celie eventually becomes independent with the help of Shug and sets up her own trouser shop.

Love and s*x: Celie's relationship with Shug and how she comes to be comfortable with herself with her help etc.

Hope this helps. There is a lot more as it is an excellent book but I hope what I've written gets you thinking.

Answer 4

Information is below.

Answer 5

Well you can watch the film as the plot is more defined and easier to understand.

The story is told through a series of diary entries and letters. Celie is a poor, uneducated young woman who, at 14, is sexually abused and impregnated twice by a man she believes to be her father, Alphonso. After her children are taken away to "be with God," she is forced to marry a widower with several children, who is physically, sexually and mentally abusive. After some time of living there, she is joined in her new home by her younger sister, Nettie, whom Celie's new husband had originally wanted to marry. After he tries to seduce Nettie and fails he forces her to leave and she goes to the home of a black Pastor, promising to write to Celie. As time passes, no such letters appear to arrive and so Celie assumes that Nettie is dead. In her writings, Celie refers to her husband as "Mr. ___." and it is some time in the book until we find out his name is actually Albert. One of his sons, Harpo, falls in love with and marries a strong and physically imposing woman named Sofia. Though both Harpo and "Mr. ___" attempt to treat her as an inferior, Sofia fights back, sometimes even physically, and Celie is amazed by her defiance.

"Mr. ___" has a mistress, singer Shug (short for "Sugar") Avery, and she comes to live with the family because of her poor health. Like "Mr. __", Shug at first has little respect for Celie and the life she lives. She copies her lover, abusing Celie and adding to her humiliation. Celie feels intrigued and excited by this effervescent, liberated version of femininity, and it is often assumed that she eventually realizes that she is sexually attracted to Shug. They have a relationship and through this relationship Celie realizes she is worthy of being loved and respected. When Shug discovers that "Mr. ___" beats Celie, she decides to remain in the house for a short while in order to protect her.

After a few years of constant fighting, Sofia leaves Harpo, taking their children with her. At the same time, Celie and Shug become intimate and a strong bond grows between them. Shug helps Celie discover her sexuality as a woman. When Sofia returns to town for a visit, she becomes involved in a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, who is nicknamed "Squeak" because of her high-pitched voice. One day, the mayor’s wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia to work as her maid. When Sofia declines with the words, "h**l, no," the mayor slaps Sofia. When she returns the blow, knocking the mayor down, she is arrested for hitting a white man. Sofia is severely beaten in jail and is later sentenced to work for twelve years as the mayor's maid. The separation from her family and her freedom breaks her spirit.

Shug comes back, married to a man named Grady. Shug and Celie become closer and start a secret relationship as lovers. One night, when Shug asks Celie about Nettie, Celie says that she believes her sister to be dead, since she had promised to write but Celie had never received any letters. Shug informs Celie that she has seen "Mr. ___" hide numerous mysterious letters in a trunk and suggests that they investigate. When they do so, they find dozens of letters written by Nettie to Celie over the years. These tell of Nettie's travels to Africa with a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, and their adopted children, Olivia and Adam. When Corrine becomes ill, Samuel tells Nettie how they came to adopt their children and that his wife has suspected that Nettie was their biological mother due to their resemblance. Nettie then learns that Olivia and Adam are Celie's long-lost children, and that she is the children's aunt. She also learns that Alphonso was not her and Celie's father but rather their stepfather. Their biological father, a store-owner, had been lynched by a mob of white men because they believed he was too successful. After Corrine's acceptance of Nettie's story, she dies, and Samuel and Nettie discover that they are deeply in love; they eventually marry.

Having read the letters and learned the truth about her children as well as her biological father, Celie visits Alphonso to confirm the story, which he does. Celie finds a new sense of empowerment, and at dinner one night she releases her pent-up anger at "Mr. ___", cursing him for the years of abuse that she has had to endure. Shug, Celie, and Squeak decide to move to Tennessee, where Celie begins a lucrative business designing and sewing tailored pants. She returns to Georgia for a visit and finds that not only has "Mr. ___" reformed himself and his ways, but Alphonso has died and all of his land now belongs to her. Celie decides to move back, relocating her business.

Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel are preparing for their return to America. Adam falls in love with and marries an African girl named Tashi, who undergoes the painful rituals of female genital cutting and facial scarring. Adam also goes through the facial scarring ritual in solidarity. Nettie writes to Celie to let her know that the family is on their way.

Celie is now an independent woman. Celie and "Mr. ___" eventually reconcile, and he begins to help her with her business, sewing with her as they sit on the porch. Sofia and Harpo remarry, and Sofia also works for Celie. Nettie and Samuel return with the children, and Celie and her sister are happily reunited.

Sorry it's long. It's a very nice film :o)