The Color Purple – The conflicts

Internal conflicts:

The most profound conflicts of this novel are the internal conflicts that reside within Celie. Firstly I believe she struggles with her belief regarding whether God exist or not. Throughout the novel Celie has endured abuse, rape and assault both from her father and her husband and her only consolation was to write letters to God, praying for help. However she starts to doubt her faith in God hence if God really existed and loved her he would have helped her.

Dear Nettie,

I don’t write to God no more, I write to you. /… / What God do for me? I ast  /… / Yeah, I say, and he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister I probably won’t ever see again.

(The Color Purple, p.173)

                                                                                      

Secondly, throughout the novel Celie had a problem coming to terms with her sexuality. She did not understand the feelings she felt towards Shug and she did not think she was entitled to have those kinds of feelings towards a person of the same sex.  

External conflicts:

One of the most prominent and, in my opinion, most important external conflicts is the role of men and women in the novel. To the men, women are someone who is not allowed to have an opinion and they are for no good but to serve them, to cook for them, wash their clothes and raise their children. They see women as nothing more than well, just women. Also the men see themselves as the head of the house, the dominant person whose obligation is to make their wife obey his rules and if not, beating her is the solution.

There is a way that the men speak to women that reminds me too much of Pa. They listen just long enough to issue instructions. They don’t even look at women when women are speaking. They look at the ground and bend their heads toward the ground. The women also do not look in a man’s face’ as they say. To ‘look in a man’s face’ is a brazen thing to do. They look instead at his feet or his knees.

(The Color Purple, p.146)

The Color Purple – The conflicts

Until now there have been several different conflicts in the story, both external and internal conflicts. Some conflicts are rather serious, while others are less grave and easily forgiven. Cecile is the one person that we can see most internal conflicts in, obviously because she is the main character. Nevertheless, there are quite a few external conflicts in between the people surrounding her. Due to many of these conflicts, Cecile struggles with conflicts within herself. Therefore, I will start off by describing some of the external conflicts.

First of all, global and regional conflicts the people lives with is due to the apartheid system, making difference between black and white people in different parts of the world. Where Cecile lives, the people somehow seem to be able to cope with it and not questioning it too much. It is almost as if they have forgotten, or are unknowing of the reason why there is segregation. However in New York, the segregation is somewhat more palpable in the way that you are constantly reminded. For instance, if you have a certain skin tone, you can or may not go to certain restaurants, toilets or not even share a bench with someone of another race. While this is true, people are certainly not the same stereotypically.

Although in the area where Cecile is, people seem to live in their own bubble, due to the vast landscapes, one major conflict occurred. Sophia, a black friend of Cecile, is known for having a bad temper. Once when she was in town with her children, the white major’s wife approached her and wanted her to be her maid. Things happened and in her rage, she beat the couple. Consequently she ended up in prison a couple of years, and when she was released, she became the major’s maid. The word maid is not quit right, because it was more or less slavery.

Cecile lives a life filled with conflicts. For example she had an unhappy childhood. Additionally, she ended up in a tragic marriage. Furthermore not only does she have hardships, but also all the other characters and their broken family bounds and relationships. There are also conflicts between men and women and their different perspectives of gender role. Many of these things I mentioned in the previous reading log.

In the middle of the book, Cecile finds all the letters her dear sister Nettie has written to her for many years. Albert hid all of them because of a conflict between him and Nettie. The letters reveals that Nettie met a couple that happened to have taken care of the two children Cecile once gave birth two, and they are alive! Apparently, Cecile has once met the woman taking care of her children in the exposition. Another disclosure is that the man Cecile and Nettie believed was their father is not their true father. Some misunderstandings occurred when the adoptive mother thought that Nettie was the actual mother of the children, but luckily the tension between the two women was later dissolved.

All these things mentioned above created conflicts in Cecile. Namely, she has been poorly treated by most men throughout her whole life, making her feel discourages towards them. Along with other’s self-fulfilling actions, intrigues, betrayals and jealousy which has affected Cecile deeply. She has felt confused at times, but now she is angry. Her internal conflict is partly her inability to decide whether to be mad or not. I hope that she will keep on being kind but also gain a fighting spirit. Hopefully she will be reunited with her children. Because I believe that she truly deserves a happy ending due to all the sufferings she has been through.

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.