The book, The Color Purple, is a great portrayal of multiple societies and cultures, both past, present and(what could be) future. Alice Walker(author) leaves no stone unturned as she describes life in, what seems to be, 1920's America, as well as Africa. She describes several lives of African-Americans and oppressed women in America; she also describes both in same day Africa. Although there are several important aspects to this novel, since I'm writing for a class focused on feminism in literature, that's what I'm going to focus on. However, make no mistake, this novel expresses not only a feministic viewpoint, but also a world-wide cultural view that I fear is being unrecognized.
I digress, main character, Celie, was raped by her "father" whom she had children by; she was then forced into marriage to an older man who beat her religiously. She was un-educated, because it was frowned upon for African-Americans(especially females) to have any kind of education. Celie was not only an un-educated, African-American female, but also had strong feelings toward another female...Shug. This is basically the epitome of the minority; unfortunately, not only then, the same holds true everywhere, to this day(although the severity of the stigma seems to have decreased some).
Celie drastically changes her view of men, their position, her position, and herself in general when she observes the behavior of other women(Shug and Sofia) toward men. Celie recalls Shug yelling at Albert: "Turn loose my goddam hand, she say to Mr._____. What the matter with you, you crazy? I don't need no weak boy can't say no to his daddy hanging on me. I need a man, she say. A man." Sort of like Tashi in Africa begins to "change" as she spends more time with Olivia. Nettie states in a letter to Celie, "Tashi's mother and father were just here. They are upset because she spends so much time with Olivia. She is changing, becoming quiet and too thoughtful, they say." (p160)
Walker describes a lot of similar behavior in Africa; that is, the women already belong to a much older man the day they are born. Just as Celie in America, the women in Africa are oppressed by their male counterparts and treated as less than equal. They are also not allowed to educate themselves and have the role of wife/mother already chosen for them to play. Nettie writes to Celie: "The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated. When I asked a mother why she thought this, she said: A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something. What can she become? I asked. Why, she said, the mother of his children." (p 157) And I love this quote from Olivia that Nettie tells Celie about, after she talked to that mother: "Why can't Tashi come to school? She asked me. When I told her the Olinka don't believe in educating girls she said, quick as a flash, They're like white people at home who don't let colored people learn." (p 157) There's even the same camaraderie among all the women in both Celie's make-shift "family" and the women of the Olinka tribe in Africa. When Sophia was in jail and even after she got out and came home, Squeak took care of Sophia's children as her own; not to mention, she was living and sleeping with the father of these children, Sophia's husband. Sophia's sisters were living there and helping with the kids too. And Celie, her "husband" and his mistress Shug(who is also her lover)live under one roof as well. We see this very same picture in Africa. The women share a husband; they are friends with each other and will do almost anything for one another. They "giggle and gossip and nurse each other's children." (p 166) To me, Walker is telling us that even though our cultures seem drastically different, they are not at all.
