Natalie Faith Contreras

Brittany Estrada

AP Literature

9 December 2018

AP Literature Essay #3

In Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, The Color Purple, the protagonist, Celie, living in the

South begins to write her first set of letters addressed to God at the age of fourteen and continues

to write letters addressed to various people into her adulthood. During her early life, Celie

experienced verbal, physical, and sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather and her husband

which fuels a shift in her attitude in her later life with the help of Shug Avery. By analyzing the

importance and meaning of home and its continuing influences on Celie, Walker’s use of

allegory, allusion, and symbolism, therefore highlights the theme of power in the novel.

In the first letter of The Color Purple, Celie is introduced as a fourteen year old living in

Georgia as she writes to God. At fourteen, she was raped by her alleged father and eventually

gave birth to his two children, in her own home. A home is meant to be a safe place for

individuals to feel comfortable and secure, but Celie’s home serves as an allegory for a power

struggle that Celie experiences throughout her life. In her home, Celie is almost always in charge

and runs the entire day to day operation, until it comes to the end of the day, where she finds

herself being sexually abused by her stepfather. As an African American girl living in the South,

Celie does not have much power in her community. It is in her home, where Celie is most

powerful that she is also powerless at the hands of a man. Celie’s home plays an important role

in Celie’s lack of confidence as she is constantly subjected to abuse in the place where she is

deemed most powerful.

 Celie’s letters follow her as she is sent off to marry Mr._, where she is once again

subjected to abuse but this time at the hands of her husband. Despite leaving home to move in

with her new husband, this pattern of abuse follows Celie. The abuse she experiences is an

allusion, connecting the abuse she dealt with at her childhood home with the abuse she is now

dealing with in her current home. Without directly addressing her past abuse, Celie alludes to the

connection between the two instances and the pattern she experiences. In her childhood home

she is viewed as a sexual object by her stepfather and a nurturing sister by her siblings. Similarly,

when living with Mr. _, Celie is viewed as a sexual object again, but also as a nurturing

stepmother. Although Celie had left home, her idea home remains significant as she continues to

deal with this power struggle between being the boss at home and the exploitation of body.

Celie befriends the blues singer Shug Avery who helps Celie gain self confidence and the

courage to leave Mr._. Celie changes her sense of style, moves to Tennessee, and becomes a

seamstress who makes pants. In this 1900’s time period, Celie’s new style of wearing pants

represents the push against gender roles due to their their close association with men. Not only

does Celie wear pants, but she created them as well. The pants Celie makes symbolize her new

sense of power in society as pants tend to represent power in various instances. Being an African

American woman who opens up her own business builds Celie’s rank within the social class

system. Celie’s pants are sold to both men and women which demonstrate how power has no

gender roles. Overall, Celie’s transformation as she finally breaks away from home, adds to the

meaning of the work as a whole that the powerless can become powerful.

Throughout her early life, Celie is subjected to abuse by the men in her life. Celie’s

pattern of abuse begins at her childhood home and follows her into her adulthood and her new

home. Looking to Shug Avery as a mentor and friend, Celie is able to gain confidence to break
away from her pattern and leave it behind. The idea of home holds a great influence on Celie’s

power struggle but she eventually prevails over the circumstances with a new found confidence.