in The Color Purple? Alice Caiger Lauren Bacchus

HOW DOES ALICE WALKER PRESENT THE IMPRISONING FORCE OF MARRIAGE IN THE COLOR PURPLE?

Alice Caiger Lauren Bacchus

In history, we see women oppressed by their husbands and having nothing to do except care for their children. I wanted to see how far this is reflected in literature set in the 19th and 20th century. The Colour Purple shows an abusive marriage set up by the wife’s father and the novel shows us how Celie gains confidence and is able to stand up against her oppressive husband.

The Colour Purple

by Alice Walker Writing in 1982, Walker looks to the past to explore how both race and marriage imprisoned women in the early 20th century. Marriage is presented as a restrictive force towards women through the abusive nature of the relationship between Celie and her husband. When Harpo asks Albert why he beats Celie, he explains that it is ‘cause she [is] my wife’. This sexist attitude sums up the relationship between Celie and her husband at the beginning of the novel. As a reader in the 21st century, we know that this is an old-fashioned attitude that was common in the early 1900s. However, not all marriages in the early 20th century were like this; in this case, the marriage was abusive because of the leniency in the law. Women were the property of their husbands, and there was not the same social awareness of domestic abuse as today. When we learn that Albert ‘ beat [Celie] when [Shug is] not here’, we realise that Albert loves Shug and becomes gentler when she is around. This suggests Albert resents Celie for their marriage because he cannot marry Shug. We infer that the imprisoning force on Celie may be due to the lack of a connection and relationship. We do not know whether Albert would have had the same violent attitude if married to Shug but we can deduce that their marriage would have been different due to their love and relationship with each other. This is further demonstrated when Celie and Albert begin to get along better, enjoying each other’s company, and Celie admits that he ‘seems to be the only one who understands [her] feelings’ about Shug’s departure, giving them something to connect over. Walker presents marriage restrictively as she showed Celie being unable to discover her sexuality. Her character is oppressed by men for most of her life, which left her with no

time to figure out her own identity. The renaming of Celie as ‘a virgin’ is critical to her realisation and empowerment. Shug redefines the meaning of virgin to be about women and their choices; Shug’s sexual confidence encourages Celie to take the same control over her own life. She shows Celie that there are more than just mainstream beliefs, foregrounding Celie’s independence when she leaves Albert. This is a restrictive force because it shows how Celie was trapped without any specific beliefs and in a marriage which does not suit her sexuality or make her happy. Their marriage includes the literal sense of imprisonment, when Albert hides Nettie’s letters. Celie is restricted in whom she can talk to for the first part of the novel and believes her sister to be dead or no longer interested in speaking to her. Albert chooses to hurt both sisters because he doesn’t want to admit to Celie that Nettie declined his marriage offer and sexual advances. He chooses the easy option and so the reader see him as not only a horrible character but a coward too. Celie’s anger is shown through Walker’s use of hyperbole as Celie wants to ‘kill him’. This is the first time we are shown Celie’s anger towards her husband. We see that Albert has taken away Celie’s only trusted family member and this causes a lot more upset than his abusive behaviour towards her. We are shown Celie’s selfless nature as she minds a lot more when her husband’s actions are hurting somebody she cares about; making her a lot more likeable. This event is the catalyst for Celie as she calls her husband ‘a lowdown

dog’ and says his ‘dead body’ is ‘just the welcome mat [she] needs’. The juxtaposition of ‘dead body’ and ‘welcome mat’ shows Celie’s anger and how little she cares about offending Albert. Although this phrase is sarcastic, it shows her new-found power and confidence that she is able to joke and speak with conviction instead of cowering away from conflict. Celie’s confidence escalates in this part of the novel as she discredits her marriage: when Albert says they are ‘still man and wife’, Celie claims they ‘never [were]’. Perhaps the reason they are able to get along is due to Celie’s Their marriage confidence and her own independence. When married, Celie never defied or includes the overpowered Albert, which led him to feel like he could do anything to her. literal sense of When Celie departs, Albert is left to think about their marriage and he feels imprisonment powerless. This meant that upon the return of Celie, Albert acts like an equal rather than her superior. Overall, the novel supports the conclusion that women are oppressed in their marriages due to their husbands. This is due to many different reasons - especially the time period in which the novel is set. The laws and societal standards were very different from today. For example, married women had no property or assets of their own. This meant they were imprisoned in their marriage by law because they had no way to leave. In The Colour Purple, we infer that the reason for the terrible marriage between Celie and Albert is due to their lack of emotional connection and the arrangement by her ‘father’.