The Color Purple – The Conflicts

 

In the story of “The Color Purple” both internal and external conflicts occur. The first conflict is the internal one and it takes place within Celie and is controlled by an inner anger and disappointment towards the men in her life for always letting her down and treating her badly. She is brought up in a home where violence and abuse are commonly occurred and as a young girl, she was often molested and beaten by her father who also became the cause of her emotional scars.

By marrying Mr._____, Celie fled from the abusive home with the thoughts that things might change and that she now may have the chance of living a normal life with no mistreatment and with a family of her own. However, the conditions for the main character did not change and she soon realized that her father had married her off to a man who was even more abusive than he was and who began to treat her just as bad as her father earlier had done. By using violence against her, men in Celie’s life wants control and obedience which is described in the quote below:

"Well how you spect to make her mind? Wives is like children. You have to let 'em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating." 

Pg. 42

Furthermore, Celie has also constantly been physically abused by the men in her life by, for instance, being told that she is ugly, fat and repulsive which therefore, made her developed insecurities and fear within herself. This fear and these insecure feelings are what created her internal conflicts.

Additionally, there are several external conflicts among the characters as well where some of them are being solved with the use of mistreatment between the different characters. This is portrayed between Harpo and his wife, Sofia for instance whom he attempts to beat although there is nothing wrong with their relationship. However, Harpo wants to control his wife and his father advises him to dominate Sofia the way most men do, by using violence.

Moreover, another external conflict that however, does not contain violence is the conflict between Nettie and Corrine, the adoptive mother of Celie’s two children. Nettie and Corrine had been good friends since Nettie had left her father and their home. She worked as a missionary along with Corrine and her husband Samuel and they had a great relationship until Corrine suddenly began to distance herself from Nettie. While visiting Africa, the woman became paranoid about Nettie and she did not want her to spend any time on her own with Samuel as well as she asked Nettie not to answer the kids when they called her Mama Nettie.

Furthermore, Corrine accused Nettie of being involved with her husband in the past with whom she also may have gotten Corrine and Samuel's adopted children. While claiming this, the woman was referring to something the people in one of the African countries had said about the kids looking a lot like Nettie. With no assumption of Netties sister Celie being the biological mother of her children, Corrine created a conflict between herself and her closest friend whom she however, resolved the confrontation with immediately before her death.