The Color Purple is an epistolary novel written in the Southern American dialect. The story has constructed around a fourteen year old young black girl, the main character, Celie. The first series of letters are written to God by Celie, probably because she was completely alone, helpless and no body was there to understand her sorrow and protect the little girl. How many Celies live among us?
The poor young girl was continuously abused and raped by her step father. "He never had a kine word to say to me, Just say you gonna do what your mammy wouldn't". Celie was pregnant with her second child when her mother died cursing her. The miserable girl had no happiness except the time she spent with her loving sister Nettie.
The 20 year old Celie was passed to Mr___, just another man, an anonymous being. He accepted her as his wife only because of the dowry of a cow and to abuse her as a slave... never treated her passionately.
Celie always loved and admired women, specially the strong females; her sister Nettie, then she meets Mr___'s mistress Shug, the only person who made Celie feels special, the only relief decorated Celie's lonely world. Nettie had to run away to save herself from Mr___ and he never revealed the letters from Nettie to Celie.
Then the turning point in the story, Shug decides to protect Celie! Their intimate relationship grows fast and Mr___ gradually moves away from these women's lives. The compassion between two souls encourage Celie to stand on her feet, empower to save herself. Nettie returns with the Celie's disappeared offspring.
A great literary masterpiece, no wonder Alice Walker won the Pulitzer prize and the National Book award. I've read the book and watched the movie several years ago. Whoopi Goldberg's and Oprah Winfrey's acting skills are mesmerizing.
The Color Purple novel is too good to ignore, here I'm reading again....
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