“The Color Purple” Written by Alice Walker

“The Color Purple” written by Alice Walker is a book written from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old girl who gets beaten and raped by her dad. She first starts to write letters to god, then later in the book, its is just from her perspective.
Many characters in the novel break the observant boundaries of traditional male and female roles. Sofia’s strength and Shug’s sexual assertiveness, Harpo’s insecurity are major examples of such disparity between a character’s gender and the traits he or she displays.

This blurring of gender traits and roles sometimes involves sexual ambiguity, as we see in the sexual relationship that develops between Celie and Shug.

Disruption of gender roles sometimes causes problems. With these problems, come a disruption in what’s expected from the characters. Harpo’s insecurity about his manhood leads to bigger problems like him trying to beat Sofia. Likewise, Shug’s pride and confidence in sexuality and not needing a man in her life that created the problem of her being labeled a hoe. Throughout the novel, we notice how Walker tries to create that separation and show how some changes in gender roles can be a bad thing. It can be a blessing to make that change and show people how its not always a bad thing to take on a different role in personality, and to dominate all those who said they couldn’t achieve greatness.

Throughout the book we see how being a person of color can be a struggle. When the black woman went to the store for clothing, she knew what she needed to get and that’s what she did. When she got to the register, she was forced in a way to but thread that she didn’t need. The cashier put pressure on her and used his white supremacy to get her to get the thread that she didn’t need. Back then in this time, black women are overused, over-worked, and almost used as slaves still. Compared to the white race, the black people have a hard time trying to make it in life. They are abused, raped, threatened, over-worked and so much more as we can see in the book. To wrap it all up, the color purple, descriptively written and very visual has a purpose. It shines light on how black women were treated for that time period. Written from the point of view from a little girl, The Color Purple shows the racial and sexual discrimination between black women and white women.

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