The Color purple was an entertaining novel about a young black girlstruggling to survive in a harsh world. Her name was Celie, and through outher life she was abused in many ways. If any one is competent andcourageous in this world it would be Celie.
After her mother passed away, she had nothing left but her father, whobeat and molested her. not only did he physically abuse her, but he put herto shame in many ways. The one thing that was important to Celie, her rightto education, was stripped from her when she was 15. Not only did herfather take away her education, but he told her in contrasted ways that shewas useless. His actions showed that he thought she had no purpose on thisEarth but to serve men. He also repeatedly verbalized this untrue opinion.
Throughout her life, Celie tried to stand up for what she thought butwas continually put back down where she some day come to believe that shebelonged. Celie was forced to marry a cruel man after her father took awayher right to be educated. The only thing that she ever did for this man wascompletely negative things. She was there solely to cook, clean, take careof the kids and make sure that her husband was sexually content. Celie’ssister, Nettie, was a more daring individual. Once she saw what was goingon with Celie, she fled her life to avoid encountering the same hardshipsthat her sister had to withstand.
When Celie thought that all hope was lost, a woman named Shug Averycame into her life. Shug was everything that Celie wasn’t. She wasbeautiful, strong willed and artless. The reason why Shug came into Celie’shome was because she was sick and she needed to be nursed back to health.
Celie spent night and day taking care of Shug. Even though Shug told Celieto her face that she was ugly, that didn’t change the fact that sheidolized her. It puzzled Celie as to why Shug had such a strong hatred forher, but we soon found out that Shug was in love with Mr. Celie’shusband. Shug came around to caring for Celie after all the help she hadgiven her during her time of illness. What also made Shug feel for Celiewas the fact that didn’t love Celie. He had mutual feelings forShug. Shug began to show Celie that being a black woman was no reason topermit everything that she had gone through.
Celie appreciated the care andrespect that she got from Shug. She had never been treated that way by anyone before. Celie came to have a love for Shug that she had neverexperienced before. She was in love with Shug. She had no ability to beattracted to men because of the way that they all had treated her. she fellin love with the first person to actually treat her as a human being. Thesefeelings were foreign, but extraordinary to Celie. At the end of the novelCelie comes to conclusion that she has the ability to make Shug feel theway that she does, and she is content with this thought. It is never saidif these dreams of Celie’s were fulfilled.
There are many obstacles that Celie endures on the road to theAmerican Dream. Some of these obstacles include the way that women weredenied of many rights that they deserved, The way that any man was asuperior to a woman, and the way that any white person was superior to ablack person. This is way that people used to live. Women were merelyobjects to be owned. Black people were solely used to get things done forwhite people. Celie wasn’t holding the best hand. She had a lot of oddsagainst her, making it very hard to survive in such a harsh world.
I think that the novel’s message regarding the American Dream isthat with a strong will, a good mind, and a positive attitude, what everthat you see as the American Dream will always be within your reach.
