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The Direct And Indirect Impact Of Rhetoric

The Direct and Indirect Impact of Rhetoric


Emory Lott
12/05/96
English 1001

In the world that we live in, rhetoric always affects and is a
part of everything that happens. Rhetoric, in its broadest sense, is
communication, and how people relate to each other. The movie The Color Purple
is about relationships. Therefore rhetoric plays a very important role in this
movie. Throughout The Color Purple the impact of rhetoric can be seen in two
groups of people, the communicator, or rhetor, and the audience. Celie, the
main character of the movie, shows the impact of rhetoric in almost every aspect
of her life. The effects of rhetoric in Celie's life are apparent through her
relationships with Mr. Johnson, Shug Avery, and Sofia.
The relationship that Celie has with Mr. Johnson is unbalanced
from the first time they meet. Celie's complacent and gentle nature leave her
at the mercy of Albert Johnson's more dominant attitude. The rhetoric that she
expresses to him, of innocence and always complying to his orders, forces her to
live a large portion of her life sheltered and overshadowed by Albert, who
continuously beats her into submission. Celie also passes on what she learned
from "Mister" to his son Harpo, the rhetoric of "the importance of a man giving
his wife a good beating." Albert Johnson does not even realize how important
Celie is to him until she is gone. At that point he returns some of the love
that is shown to him by helping Nettie and her family to return to the United
States in order to see Celie. This action shows the impact of Mr. Johnson's
rhetoric on Celie by returning to her the first person that she ever loved.
Both the rhetoric that Mr. Johnson exposes Celie to and the rhetoric that Celie
reveals to Albert Johnson have a very important role in Celie's life in the
movie The Color Purple.
Celie also shares a strong relationship with Shug Avery. Celie
first meets Shug when she is drunk and has a very bad temper. Celie...