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Submitted by danielrovekamp on June 5, 2006
Category: Book Reports
Words: 1904 | Pages: 8
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The way we act is a direct representation of the way we feel. In most cases, we would involuntarily assume that the way we are to act, or our roles, be self-evident and left up to our own free will. However, this is not the case when the nature of our role within our own environment is left up to the scrutiny of others. This was the case with Celie in The Color Purple. In order to understand the affect of these assigned roles, the circumstances must be analyzed and the roles she portrayed, be defined.
Throughout the novel Celie is consistently presented with new ways of thinking about things. From the very beginning she was abused physically and mentally, to the extent that she saw these types of incidents as normal occurrences. Her Father used her as a solution to having a wife that could not provide for him, most specifically, sexually. However, not only was this sexual abuse so profound by the mere principle, the way her father treated her was as if she was an abused wife. From her letters we learn of times when she was punished for instances of contact with other men, and for trying to make herself feel beautiful.
After so much abuse for trying to act in a way she saw as appropriate, the role she is ascribed is the one she accepts. For most of the novel she accepts herself as a servant of the men around her and believes their words when they put her down and demean her mentality and attractiveness. This kind of torment leads her to believe that she is the things that she is described as and this is a role that she begins to fulfill. In an environment such as hers it is easy to circum to the environment and believe only what is shown to her. It is assumed that she knows nothing else.
Celie's attempts at intelligence are belittled in the same way that her attempts at beauty are. She is told that she is unintelligent and is restricted to living her life accordingly. One concept to point out is that these struggles with...
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