Friday, January 3, 2020
Colors And Independence In Alice Walkers The Color Purple
Alice Walkerââ¬â¢s masterpiece, The Color Purple, uses ordinary things such as clothes, colors, jobs, and money as strong symbolism. In this book, pants symbolize independence. Pants change the way society views and treats a person. They also convey that a person is strong, confident, free, and equal to others. Alice Walker shows the reader how wearing pants can have a big effect on a personââ¬â¢s life, especially if that person is a woman in the early twentieth century. From the beginning of time to less than one hundred years ago, society forbade women to wear pants, because they did not want women to have freedom. Women were denied the right to earn a living, own property, and to vote; as well as denied the freedom to choose their style ofâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦Katharine Hepburn, a beloved movie star of the time, fell in love with pants. Even the popular magazine Vogue featured women in pants in 1939. (Caplan-Bricker, ââ¬Å"Women Who Wear Pants: Still Somehow Contro versialâ⬠) Soon, everyone wanted a pair. After the war, it still was unacceptable to wear pair in certain settings. In 1969, The Washington Post reported Congressââ¬â¢ outrage when Congress woman Charlotte Reid wore pants on the chamber floor. The 56-year-old widowâ⬠¦showed up on the House floor in a black wool, bell-bottomed pantsuit. Her appearance marked a first in the annals of the U.S. Congress. How did her male colleagues react? One incredulous congressman told her, ââ¬Å"I was told there was a lady here in trousers, so I had to come over and see for myself.â⬠Of the dozen or more men who spoke to Mrs. Reid about her outfit, none had other than compliments, she said. (There were no other congresswomen on the floor to comment.) (Ross, ââ¬Å"Rep. Reid in a Pantsuitâ⬠) Most women in the 1950ââ¬â¢s and 1960ââ¬â¢s never wore pants, unless they were cleaning or not going out of the house. It was deemed unprofessional to wear pants at a formal event. The public opinion of womenââ¬â¢s pants was that they were not dressy enough for more sophisticated occasion. Womenââ¬â¢s pants were for working in factories or cleaning the house. Wearing pants outside of the house during this time is comparable to wearing exercise clothes or pajamas to a fancy party. As crazy as it sounds, women in the western world areShow MoreRelatedEssay about Autobiography in the Fiction of Alice Walker1077 Words à |à 5 PagesWhen reading Alice Walkerââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"The Color Purpleâ⬠and ââ¬Å"Everyday Use,â⬠it is evident that she writes about her life through her use of allegory. Alice Walker uses the events of her childhood, her observation of the patriarchy in African American culture, and her rebellion against the society she lived in to recount her l ife through her stories. Alice Walker grew up in a loving household in the years towards the end of the Great Depression. Although her family was poor, they were rich in kindness andRead MoreAlice Walker s View Of African Americans1650 Words à |à 7 PagesAmerican Experienceâ⬠). However, Alice Walkerââ¬â¢s view of African Americans were much different. Alice goes against the general audience of the 19th and 20th century by explaining African American women are strong, independent and equivalent to men. Alice Walkerââ¬â¢s grandmother, a young African American whom had been raped by her father, gave birth to two children, and married even though she never loved her husband. Walkerââ¬â¢s grandmother is the inspiration for Walkerââ¬â¢s protagonist, Celie. Same as herRead MoreAlice Walkers Themes of Womanism, Community, and Regeneration1968 Words à |à 8 Pages7th February 2011 Alice Walkers Themes of Womanism, Community, and Regeneration Alice Walker is considered one of the most influential African American writers of the 20th century, because of her raw portrayal of African American struggles and the injustices towards black women. She was the first African American female novelist to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for The Color Purple. Her work is appealing and powerful because ââ¬Å"Walkers novels can be read as anRead Moreââ¬Å"All segments of the literary worldââ¬âwhether establishment, progressive, Black, female, or1200 Words à |à 5 Pagesexist.â⬠During the 1970ââ¬â¢s to 1980ââ¬â¢s, African American studies of Blackââ¬â¢s steep legacy was a dying trade. Alice walker stepped up in this time period as an influential writer of the recovery movement for African American studies. Three well respected works from Alice Walker are: The Color Purple, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, and Meridian. We will focus on Walkerââ¬â¢s narrative, The Color Purple wh ich details the story of a young eight year old girl named Celie who was sexually abused by her stepfatherRead MoreThe Color Purple by Alice Walker1192 Words à |à 5 Pagesas a novel containing graphic violence, sexuality, chauvinism, and racism, The Color Purple was banned in numerous schools across the United States. Crude language, brutality, and explicit detail chronicle the life of Celie, a young black woman exposed to southern societyââ¬â¢s harshness. While immoral, the events and issues discussed in Alice Walkerââ¬â¢s The Color Purple remain pervasive in todayââ¬â¢s society. The Color Purple epitomizes the hardships that African Americans faced at the turn of the centuryRead MoreThe Color Purple Research Paper1820 Words à |à 8 PagesPurple America America was in its prime in the 1920ââ¬â¢s. A time of many drastic changes, 1920ââ¬â¢s Americans enjoyed a booming economy, a prosperous and wealthy upper-class society, and general international and national peace. For African Americans; however, the 1920ââ¬â¢s meant facing economic struggle, racial prejudices, and gender stereotypes. In Alice Walkerââ¬â¢s The Color Purple, the main character Celie experiences many boundaries within the workforce, domestics, and society of the 1920ââ¬â¢s. Through manyRead More Alice Walkers The Color Purple: Celies Struggles Expressed in Letters547 Words à |à 3 PagesAlice Walkers The Color Purple: Celies Struggles Expressed in Letters Dear God, Gets me out of here. I needs to love and laugh. I needs to be free of this bastard and these white people. At a very young age, Celie begins writing letters to God. In her letters she explains her fears about her stepfather raping her, her mother and sister being beat, and her fears for her sister, Nettie. This epistolary novel (a novel in which the narrative is carried forward by letters) takes placeRead MoreThe Color Purple By Alice Walker3360 Words à |à 14 Pagesââ¬Å"Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavenderâ⬠(Yahwon). Alice Walker views herself as a womanist. Although a womanist and feminist are similar, the two terms are not exactly the same. According to Professor Tamara Baeouboeuf-Lafonant: [Womanism] focuses on the experiences and knowledge bases of black women [which] recognizes and interrogates the social realities of slavery, segregation, sexism, and economic exploitation this group has experienced during its history in the United States. FurthermoreRead More Celies Transformation in Alice Walkers Color Purple Essay1053 Words à |à 5 PagesCelies Transformation in The Color Purple à à à à Celie is not a typical protagonist. In Alice Walkers The Color Purple, the main character Celie is an ugly, poor girl who is severely lacking in self-confidence. However, Celie transforms throughout the course of the novel and manages to realize herself as a colorful, beautiful, and proud human being. Celie becomes a powerful individual. à The Color Purple follows Celies transformation from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.Read MoreEssay on Abuse of Women in Alice Walkers Color Purple1279 Words à |à 6 Pagesin The Color Purple Alice Walkers The Color Purple is an excellent account of the life of poor black women who must suffer not only social ostracism due to gender and skin color but also women who suffer greatly at the hands of black men.à This is true in terms of infidelity, physical and verbal abuse, and sexual abuse.à The Color Purple revolves around the life of Celie, a young black woman growing up in the poverty-ridden South.à In order to find herself and gain independence, Celie
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