The Color Purple

5 Pages 1188 Words

Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, was born on February 1st, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. She excelled in most things she did as the valedictorian of her high school and she even received the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for The Color Purple. Alice Walker confronts some incredibly controversial yet quite American themes and problems in this story. The tale takes us through the difficult times for the African American women in our country during the early 1900’s. These women had it harder than most and they are admired in many ways. This U.S. author tells a particularly American novel on a woman in this country (her birthplace) and the rigorous troubles she faced.
Although the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1877 and Celie lived in the early twentieth century, African Americans were still extremely discriminated against during this time. In addition, women were discriminated against as well. Women were thought as the weaker sex. They were not even granted suffrage until 1920 under President Woodrow Wilson. Celie had the double threat. In the story, “Mr.” beats Celie up and she is never allowed to talk back. She is just expected to follow his orders. Even though Alice Walker did not live until the end of when this book takes place, many of these things still occurred during her life. Alice Walker felt that this was an awfully hard time for people like her, and so she wanted to acknowledge how oppressed upon they were. This entire novel revolves around the time period that the character was in.
Alice Walker writes in a feminist Afrocentricism genre. Basically, she portrays African American woman in all of her stories. Feminism, simply stated by Feminist Utopia is “the theory that men and women should be equal politically, economically, and socially”. Afrocentricism is just a way for the culture to reclaim their history and culture. Alice Walker shows this is in her novel The Color Purple. Nettie shows Afrocentricism by goin...