The Colour Purple - The Exposition

In the beginning of the book “The Colour Purple”, you meet Celie, the protagonist of the story. Celie seems to be an Afro-American girl at the age of fourteen, living in the south of the USA. The book is written as a collection of letters that Celie writes to God, almost as a diary, confessing her sins and her fears and telling us (the readers) about her daily life. Celie lives together with her father/step-father and her younger sister Nettie. Her father beats her, and has made her pregnant twice but both times taken the children away.

A man, referred as to “Mr ___”, is the second most important character this far. He is described in the book as quite beautiful, and he has taken a liking to Celies younger sister Nettie. However, Celies and Netties father disapproves and instead of marrying Nettie, Mr ___ marries Celie.

The first time of her new life goes quite hard on Celie. Even though she has moved away from her abusive father, she is now in charge of a household of her own with three children. The three children are Mr ___: s, born in his previous marriage with a woman who was murdered. She eventually takes charge over the children and starts to settle into her knew life.

Apparently, after Celie leaves her old for the new, Nettie took Celies place as the abused daughter. As she takes refuge at Celies new home, Mr ___ tries sexual advances on her. Thereafter, Nettie leaves to see a well-respected woman from the village.

For me, the most important two characters of the book “The Color Purple” are Celie and her husband, Mr ___. Celie, the protagonist, seems to be a quite weak person in character. No wonder, she seems to have been treated badly her whole life. I feel very sorry for her. Both in her previous and current life she has been treated badly by almost all the people that surrounds her. As for her husband, Mr ___... I have very scattered feelings for him. By marrying Celie, he releases her from her previous life with an abusive father. However, he neither treats her very well. From Celies point of view, I believe that she is happier with her husband than she was with her father. Even though she is not treated very well and her husband is still the real master of the house, she now has more freedom as the woman in the house. She is in charge of the household and the children, which gives her own responsibility. Also, Mr ___ : s sisters come to visit and they are very nice to Celie. She has never had a new dress, but now she was given a new one who was tailored just for her.    

“You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.

Dear God,

I am fourteen years old.”

Those are the first three lines in the book. I don’t know if I have taken the right ones. However, the first two lines made an impression on me. Yes they did catch my interest! These lines make you wonder who has spoken them (as they seem to be a command) and the third line is the exposition of the first letter to God from Celie. However, this is we come to, what I think, is the most negative thing with this book. The spelling and grammar in it is supposed to be realistic to the how less educated people like Celie and her kind spelled. That is interesting, but in the other hand it makes the book so much harder to read. Especially for a non-native English speaker like me!

The meaning of the title “The Colour Purple” has not yet been revealed in the book. I believe that it will come soon and that it will have something to do with the colour of the fabric that the people use for their clothes in the book.