Compare and Contrast
1930s: The relationship between men and women is clearly defined. Men are the breadwinners and the heads of the families. Women stay at home to take care of the children and the housework. Today: Men...
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Alice Walker has been criticized for portraying negative male characters in The Color Purple. Explain why you agree or disagree with this analysis. Be specific in your discussion by citing passages...
View ArticleHistorical Perspective
A Black-White Relations in the Rural South After slavery, the social and economic relations for African Americans remained much the same. While no longer slaves, many blacks remained on the land as...
View ArticleConstruction
A Point of View The Color Purple is written in the first person, and the voice is predominately Celie’s, but some of the letters that comprise the book are written to Celie by her sister Nettie. The...
View ArticleThemes
A Sexism Sexual relations between men and women in The Color Purple is a major theme. Alice Walker sets her story of Celie’s transformation from a passive female to an independent woman within the...
View ArticleCharacters
A Adam Adam is Celie’s son who was adopted by the missionary Reverend Samuel and his wife, Corrine. When the Reverend and his family return to America, Celie is reunited with her grown son. B Albert...
View ArticlePlot Summary
A First Period In The Color Purple, the story is told through letters. The only sentences outside the letters are the first two: “You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.”...
View ArticleAlice Walker
Alice Walker was born in the rural community of Eatonton, Georgia, in 1944. Most of Eatonton’s residents were tenant farmers. When she was eight years old, Walker was blinded in one eye when her...
View ArticleIntroduction
The Color Purple, Alice Walker’s third novel, was published in 1982. The novel brought fame and financial success to its author. It also won her considerable praise and much criticism for its...
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