The Color Purple | The Color Purple

At a glance:

Author: Alice Walker
First Published: 1982
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Social realism
Time of Work: The first half of the twentieth century
Setting: Rural Georgia and Africa
Principal Characters: Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery, Albert, Harpo, Sofia, Mary Agnes (Squeak), Alphonso, Samuel, Corrine, Olivia, Tashi, Reynolds, Eleanor Jane
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 Color Purple is a series of seventy short letters; the first fifty-one are from Celie to God. Celie’s stepfather, Alphonso, rapes her repeatedly when she is so young that she does not even realize what is happening to her. She does not know that she is pregnant until her first baby is born. Alphonso steals it, as well as a second baby, and threatens her not to tell anybody but God what he has been doing to her; he says that if she tells, it will kill her mother. Celie pours out her confusion and pain in her letters to God. Her mother dies anyway,...

The Color Purple | The Color Purple

At a glance:

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