Oct 7, 2008
The Color Purple | The Color Purple
At a glance:
- Author: Alice Walker
- First Published: 1982
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Domestic realism, Epistolary literature
- Subjects: African Americans, Self-discovery, Africa or Africans, Racism, Sexism, Homosexuality or homosexuals, South or Southerners, Gender roles, 1940’s, Missions or missionaries, Friendship, 1920’s, 1930’s, God, Spiritual life or spirituality, Child abuse, Incest, Rape, Quilts or quilting, Lesbianism or lesbians, Women’s issues, Oppression, Letter writing, Sisters, Women
- Locales: Africa, South (U.S.), Georgia, Tennessee
The Work
The Color Purple, awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in
1983 and made into a successful film, is ultimately a novel of
celebration. Initially, however, it is the tragic history of an
extended African American family in the early and middle years of the
twentieth century. Its tragedy is reflective of the country’s
and its characters’ illness, and its celebration is of the
characters’ and the country’s cure.
The story is written as a series of letters by two sisters, Celie
and Nettie. The first letters reveal the fourteen-year-old
Celie’s...
[The entire page is 1379 words long]
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