The Color Blue

Melissa Nicolas

The Color Purple By Alice Walker
March 26, 2017

They really should've named this book The Color Blue with all of the sad emotions it evokes out of its readers in the first couple paragraphs. The book is an epistolary novel, made up of letters written by Celie to God and by Nettie to Celie. At the start of the novel, Celie is a fourteen-year-old, vulnerable, abused black girl who addresses her letters to “Dear God.” Though I have not gotten far I am quite impressed by the book's ability to capture my attention with short vignette-style journal entries that make up most of the books. These entries do not stray more than a page. The book takes place in Rural Georgia and Celie raises her family in the absence of their mother. She is physically and sexually abused by her father and her only wish is for her sister Nettie to continue her education and be anything she wants to be. Alice Walker does a phenomenal job of creating sympathy for Celie. She feels as though god has dealt her a bad card because she doesn't find herself very attractive, was pulled out of school at an early age to raise her brothers and sisters, and now she's been traded off to raise another man's family. Married life is also quite painful for Celie. She must raise Albert’s children, take full control of any house chores, endure unenjoyable intimate nights with her husband, and undergo regular, unnecessary beatings from him but she continuously thinks positive as she holds on to a picture of a beautiful woman, Shug Avery.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for literature. The content can be quite graphic and uneasy to read but is absolutely alluring. I do not recommend the book to children because the material is quite heavy but Adults and young adults regardless of gender should go out and read this book. The book has the capability to teach the worst of people love and compassion. I commend Alice Walker on this book.

In the first page of the book, Celie writes " He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say you gonna do what your mammy wouldn't" ( Walker 1). From there we can imagine what happens next to Celie while speaking about an encounter with her father. My initial reaction to this line was that I was appalled and shocked. I found myself already invested into this character's life and I couldn't put the book down because I needed to follow Celie and Nettie's lives. "Shug Avery was a woman. The most beautiful woman I ever saw. She more pretty than my mama. She bout ten thousand times prettier than me...I ast her to give me the picture. An all night long I stare at it. An now when I dream, I dream of Shug Avery" (Walker 6). I became as fascinated with this character as much as Celie did because of the author's brilliant writing.

One of the best parts of this book is that it is from the perspective of Celie and her sister Nettie so the reader is able to grow up with the characters and see their ideas and lives develop right in front of them and that is the most powerful tactic that Alice Walker uses to engage her audience.

Also if you are a fan of Zora Neale Hurston then you will absolutely love the work of Alice Walker because she was highly influenced by the work of Zora Neale Hurston.