A Color Purple essays

A Color Purple essays The characters relational identity towards one another in The Color Purple played a significant role in the development of each character. Specifically, the relationships between Celie and the other characters begin to define her and change her throughout the novel. The relationship between Celie and Shug Avery is the focus from early on in the book as well as the relationship between Celie and her sister, Nettie. Once Netties letters are found some of the focus returns back towards Nettie. Celie and Nettie are sisters that are close, with Nettie being the younger one. Early on in the book Nettie serves as a stronger personality than Celie even though Nettie is much younger than her. After marrying Mr. , Celie takes Nettie into her home after Celie runs away from their step father. After some failed sexual advances by Mr. _ towards Nettie, Nettie is forced to leave Celie behind also. This leaves Celie alone with Mr. _ and makes Celie basically powerless. She is essentially seen as someone who is very passive in her confrontations, especially with Mr. _, as well as other men. However, Celie shows she knows that others see her as a powerless object when she tells Sofia, Celies large dominant friend who marries Celies stepson, she is jealous of her strong, self-defensive personality. I like Sofia, but she dont act like me at all. If she talking when Harpo and Mr. _ come in the room she keep right on. Nettie tells Celie that she will write her but eventually the letters get snatched up by Mr. _ and he never tells Celie about them. Celie assumes Nettie is dead because she has not heard from her since she left. One day Shug Avery notices a few letters that Mr. _ has been holding back. With them all being hidden in Mr. _ trunk Celie, with the h elp of Shug Avery, regains her sense of self-identity by learning about her prior fa...