Tolog Review: The Color Purple

The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
reviewed by Ivana Alejo 

The Color Purple is an intense and breathtaking literary fiction novel that leaves you wanting to read more and more from start to finish. The author, Alice Walker, from the very beginning of the story addresses topics that are difficult, and uncomfortable for most people to discuss in their everyday lives. Some of these topics include, rape, domestic violence, and a possible exploration of one’s sexuality.

The beginning of each chapter in the first half or so of the book, is introduced with a letter to God, written by African American protagonist, Celie. As you continue to read, the chapters are begun with letters from Celie to her companions, or written to her. In the very first chapter, the reader learns that Celie’s mother has died, and that she is now being raped by her father. We can immediately sympathize with Celie, as Walker writes her as an uneducated figure, allowing readers to understand her situation and life from a unique perspective. Celie is a relatable and selfless young heroine that is only ever concerned with others, even as she tries to make sense of the pain and struggles in her own home. Further down the line of the story, Celie is forced into a loveless marriage to Mr.____, later called Albert. The marriage is split three ways between Celie, Mr.____, and his mistress, Shug Avery. This “marriage” introduces a new idea of sisterhood within each of the female characters, in their unity against the men who have kept them submerged underground. This bond is physically represented by the quilt made by Celie and her stepson’s wife, Sofia. The cloth is formed with scraps of thrown out cloth, and fabric from old dresses and curtains, demonstrating that something previously shown to be useless has the ability to be repurposed and in the end become functional, even though it started out as individual fragments.

By establishing this bond between the women in the novel, Walker sets a feminist tone in her work that can inspire young readers to possibly adjust their worldview in the slightest way, or it can also allow for for the complete resolution of a primitive perspective on the importance of women in our universe. Walker challenges readers to glance into the lives of women from a defined minority culture and experience their hardships as if they were their own. I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys reading empowering stories about the quiet strength of women, or to anyone who is willing to extend, or maybe even alter, their foregoing impressions on this subject.