Over ninety Letters. No separate narrative. All conversations, scenarios, and plot told from the perspective of either the main character or her sister. And yet, in the Color Purple, Alice Walker paints a near-perfect portrait of the struggle to survive in situations of oppression and hardship. The novel is entertaining, enriching, and at times, excruciatingly beautiful. At the end, the reader finds his or her soul lifted up and offered a shining ray of hope in spite of the apparent darkness and brokenness of the world. And in the midst of this, the author clearly delineates a theological argument that resonates through all sorts of people, time and place.
Question: The primary question asked by the author through the story is, “How can I have hope and joy when I am abused, marginalized and broken in two?” Furthermore, the question succeeding the question is what that hope and joy might look like and lead to if indeed they can be discovered. The author speaks these questions to whosoever will listen.
Answer: In the words of Shug, “everything want to be loved” (Walker 198). Through the loving-kindness of Shug, and the ripples that spread from this love, Celie discovers hope and joy. This is foreshadowed through Celie’s initial impressions, glimpses and first encounter with the Blues singer (6, 8); and this fact is cemented as Shug becomes the lover and teacher of the broken and marginalized Celie (115). Celie does not discover this hope and joy on her own; she is taught to appreciate the gifts of life by someone who herself has learned to do so. Through this telling, the author argues that all of us are responsible not only to notice “the color purple” but also to point it out to others as well (197). This answer to the second question is elaborated on in the second half of the book as the ripples of loving-kindness spread outward from Celie and Shug to the rest of their family and community, until in the end the very soul of Celie is rejoined in an Utopian setting as her sister and children are verily resurrected from the dead (291).
Method: Through the use of narrative and poetic language, Alice Walker lays out her perspective on how to find joy and happiness in the midst of trial. The narrative of Celie and her sister demonstrate the divided heart; part of us has been torn asunder, and only after years of living and loving and healing can this deep rift be restored. The narrative of Celie and Shug puts on display the boundless nature of love as societal conventions and even other loves themselves cannot lessen or break the bond between the lovers. The various narratives of family members and in-laws demonstrates over and again the marginalization of a people that will not give up hope, whether it be African-Americans in the South or women in an abusive marriage; all these narratives are resolved with hope and optimism. The broken family is restored, the destitute find prosperity, the lost return home, and the ugliness of life is turned to beauty. In the end, through the resolutions of these narrative conflicts, the author clearly announces that this same hope and optimism are within all of our grasps.
Further, Walker employs dialectic to establish her theology in key moments. Whether it is Celie ‘arguing’ with Shug, Sofia fighting with her husband (and whoever else is stupid enough to mess with her), or even Nettie talking with Celie’s children and the tribe in Africa, the author continually uses dialogue to move towards the deeper truths hinted at in the narrative.
Significance: Since the message is one of hope, anyone who experiences a dark time can take solace in the notion of the eventual good; all ends well for Celie and her family, so why should it not end well for the reader? Also, this hope extends outward to a broken world that can’t seem to get it right. Maybe, Walker seems to say, we can fix this whole thing if we learn to love each other as equals in the scheme of things.
Evaluation: Walker’s novel is superb, her characters rich, and her tale engrossing. Even her theology, as implied in the book, is full of sparkling hope for the eventual unity and equality of the human race. However, the only flaw is that Walker’s story does not seem to imitate the way life actually ends up. The author’s utopian vision is jarring when contrasted with the unfair nature of the poverty cycle, the un-repentance of many abusive partners, and the death of many loved ones. It seems clear to me that the author was not naïve; every scenario seems to play out for the best in spite of all the odds for failure. Perhaps this is the vision of Walker: to present an absurdly hopeful picture. Maybe the author is saying that the world doesn’t look like this at all, and we all know it. But maybe it should. And maybe it can.
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