the colour purple english lit a level

‘you better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mama.

• epigraph

• establishes themes of voicelessness, guilt and absence through threatening tone used by Alphonso

• burden of shame and guilt placed on Celie (the victim)

‘Dear God’

• theme of isolation

• Celies idea of god is traditional - a white, male, distant figure who watches silently, she often feels ignored

• parallels how she feels in the world : voiceless, neglected and controlled

• ‘ i am (crossed out) i have always been a good girl’

• themes of isolation

• reveals the position of women in a patriarchal society

• correction reveals Celie blames herself for the rape (product of her society)

‘He took it. He took it while i was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods. Kill this one too if he can’

• reveals Celie is extremely powerless, themes of male violence and female oppression

• verb ‘killed’ is strong and repeated - Celie doesn’t sugar coat what he’s doe, revealing how young she is

• verb ‘took’ builds into this semantic field of disregard and violence, these children represent what he’s done to celie

‘why don’t you look decent?’

• themes of powerlessness and impossibility in a patriarchal society, power, control and gender roles

• women judged of their appearances in society no matter the circumstances, reflects how women’s appearances where policed by men as a way to assert dominance.

• celie is being belittled, reinforcing her lack of agency

‘ i’m in the bed crying’ … ‘she in her room crying’

• themes of female suffering

• alice walker emphasises (hyperbolises) female suffering at the start of the novel to :

• shock you and throw you into the horrific reality of women in an early 20th century patriarchal society

• highlights to readers there’s nothing you can’t overcome (celies transformation along the novel) - direct link to AO3 - alice walkers first published short story ‘To hell with dying’, emphasising her own battle and resilience of overcoming powerlessness and suicidal thoughts

‘came out wearing horsehair, feathers…he beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway’

• themes of impossibility of women and reduction

• celie trying to be ‘prim and proper’ (much like blanche), but also trying to make herself appealing so Aphonso does not target nettie - sense of female solidarity

• also highlights once again the impossibility of women, they are expected to be prim and proper yet are also still expected to have sex with

‘she ain’t fresh though…’she spoiled’

• themes of objectification and reduction of women

• irony as alphonso is the one who ‘spoiled’ celie not herself, once again blame is placed on women

• direct link to SND ‘not pure enough to take home to my mother’

‘but she can work like a man’

• themes of gender roles, challenging them

• simile and irony as a man is expected by society to be the hard working one as strength and endurance seen as male qualities but in reality it’s celie that does everything

• however she is still not empowered or respected, her value is reduced to her ability to work - she lacks agency and recognition

‘she tell lies’

• themes of female voicelessness, control

• used in a way to discredit and control women, undermining a women’s credibility and allows the male to maintain his power

• celie is unable to say her truth, as if she spoke openly she would be accused of lying - her truth is through the letters she writes to god because no one else would listen to her and she lives with too much fear

significance in the use of AAVE

• african american vernacular english

• initially in the novel, walker uses AAVE to suggest Celie is naive and uneducated

• by the end of the novel, the use of AAVE is inspiring and empowering, celie accepts it as a part of her identity despite others trying to teach her to speak ‘properly’