The Color Purple – The peripeteia

As most novels and movies made today, Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” contains a peripeteia, a sudden change, which differences the storyline remarkably. In the story of “The Color Purple” the most unexpected change occurs when Celie decides to leave Mr._____ whom she has been married to since leaving her father and her family home.

Already from the beginning of the novel, Celie feels miserable and she keeps praying and blaming God for all of the bad things that has happened in her life. By reading the first three sentences once again, I now understand that they are words spoken from her father, warning her about what would happen if she ever told anybody about the abuse he has been putting her through. Therefore, Celie addresses all of her letters to God since she cannot tell any human being what she has endured. However, one day when the main narrator no longer finds any faith in God, she complains to Shug who gives her advice and makes her realize that God is everywhere and that he sees every fight that she puts up. It made Celie understand how her view of God really should be and she finally found faith once again. Along with her faith, she also gained confidence and decided to leave what had hurt her, in this case Mr._____,  

From this moment on, Celie was portrayed as a stronger woman, whom everything depended on. Even if she now lived with Shug Avery, the rest of the characters saw her as a motherly figure and they asked for her advice and help as soon as they had the chance to. The drastic change also led to Celie, finally taking care of herself instead of constantly running after everybody else in her life. She begins providing herself by making pants that are mostly made for and worn by women, showing power and position in a time era when only men wore pants. This is another indication of Celie’s personal growth and determination on creating a new, empowered life where no men are allowed to control her or let her down.

Moreover, another turning point in the novel is presented even before Celie’s resolution to leave Mr. _____ as an underlying reason to why she decided to leave him. The change occurred when Celie and Shug found Nettie’s letters hidden in Albert’s trunk. Celie realized that her sister had been alive all along and she felt like it was the last straw when it came to her life with Mr.____.

The main change happens quite suddenly, however, in the back of my mind, I always hoped for Celie to leave Albert due to the fact that he constantly mistreated her and never paid attention to all of her good qualities. With the help of Shug, Celie had gained confidence and she did not want to be treated like a punching bag for the people around her to take out their personal aggressions on. When Celie finally left him, the story found a new direction in which it developed just as the main character did.

Additionally, I believe that the ending was very good but it was somehow expected, particularly the reunion Celie finally got with her beloved sister Nettie, whom she had not seen for approximately thirty years. The relationship between the two women showed a remarkable difference concerning the connections all of the other women had between one and other. No matter how different their lives were, they never envied their other half, nor did they ever wish the other sister anything harmful. The rest of the women were very envious of one and other and a lot of comparisons were made, especially about the women’s wealth and families.

Moreover, at the same time some parts of the ending were very surreal. I am specifically thinking about the friendship Celie initiated with her ex-husband Albert. Firstly, I found it strange that she now bonded emotionally with the man she had earlier left for his abusive and unfair behaviour towards her, however, at the time, they only had each other left and their common love for Shug, before Nettie finally arrived.

Moving on, the title of the book confused me throughout the novel, however, I did try to find small details that could explain why the book is called “The Color Purple”. Firstly, I noticed that colours overall, play an important role in the story. The writer described for instance Mr. ___ renovation of his house when he painted the interior “fresh and white, indicating his new beginning. Furthermore, the colour purple was mentioned a couple of times, for example when the narrator talked about Sofia’s bruises in the colour of an eggplant as well as the purple flowers in the fields that Shug reminded her would anger God if they did not notice and appreciate them.

To conclude, the final message of the book mainly discusses the gaps between white people and people of colour as well as between women and men. The importance of always standing up for yourself and the people you love, even if you are seen as a insignificant minority in the society, is indirectly explained throughout the novel. This is demonstrated in the role of Celie, a black woman who gets treated very badly for the sake of her ethnicity and gender. However, Celie finally understands the importance of defending and standing up for herself, which develops the story and her character remarkably.