Prof. Ruth Garcia

Assignment

Last time we met in person, we brainstormed a list of themes for Walker’s The Color Purple—these are listed below. For this assignment, review the list of themes and then follow the directions, which are also below. Spend about 20-30 minutes doing this work. And, remember to categorize your work using the category Thursday, 3/26.

Themes from our class:

• Voice, Racism and Sexism
• Resistance, Colonization
• Physical and Mental Abuse
• Sexual and Domestic Abuse
• Women’s Friendships (platonic and sexual)
• Knowledge /Education and Power
• Relationships and Women’s Spaces

 Directions:

• Pick a passage from the novel that deals with one of the themes from our list.
• Then, type out the quotation, give a parenthetical citation/page reference, and respond to these three questions:

1. What happens? (summarize/paraphrase the quote—here you should give any context that is necessary to help the reader understand why this moment is happening)
2. What message is Walker conveying? (this is your interpretation of the quote—meaning what you think it is saying about your theme.)
3. Explain how the passage conveys the message you see there. Point to words, actions, images, tone, etc. (here you are explaining your thinking—how are you reading the word and actions, etc in the passage? And why are you reading it this way.)

Format for your post—please organize your post this way:

1. Theme:
2. Quote:
3. What happens?
4. What message is Walker conveying?
5. Explain how the passage conveys the message you see there. Point to words, actions, images, tone, etc.