The character I chose to write about is Celie. Celie is the main character of The Color Purple. We learn that Celie is living a very rough life. She is a black girl growing up in the 1930’s. Her father made her leave school even though she liked it, so Celie is not the smartest. Her younger sister seems to be smarter than her. Celie is 20 years old and has already suffered in life; she was raped by her father and she disliked the man she married. Her father made her give up both of the babies she had. Celie is a black woman and she appears to be poor. She has caring qualities that make her a good wife to a man. Celie is described by Mr as being ugly, Mr clearly wants Celie sister Nettie. Celie is shown to be very unhappy with Mr. He does not treat her right and he is cheating on her. Celie only wanted to marry Mr because he wanted to keep her away from her sister. Celie says in the book that she thinks all the men that she sees look alike. She did not appear to care for men much, she said she was scared of them. This could be due to her being raped by her father. Celie did she was more attracted to females, since she didn’t fear them. That is how she becomes infatuated with Shug Avery. Celie thinks she is the most beautiful person she has ever seen. Knowing how Celie lives helps us understand the pain she is going through. We feel connected to the violence and sex she has to endure through the book. Since we know her struggles we feel a sense of accomplishment when she finally stands up to Mr.

In The Color Purple by Alice Walker there is an interesting relationship between the characters Sofia and Celie. The two definitely have their differences but also have similarities in some ways. One of the difference between Celie and Sofia which is the most obvious is the fact that Sofia has a stronger character than Celie because she can stand up to men and refuses to have her freedom taken away by anyone. Celie is the opposite in which she isn’t strong enough to fight for herself when she is being beaten by her husband, who’s in control of Celie’s freedom and what she does with her life. Sofia is a fighter who didn’t let the fact that she is a black women stop her from moving up. Around that time blacks worked for whites and the women usually had to follow the rules of their husband. Sofia wasn’t having it and wouldn’t be controlled by the white men who controlled the state or the black men who had power in the household, which is what made her the strong women that she is. Celie who is always told she isn’t good enough and is constantly subjected to violence in her household makes her feel weak and useless, which is why she’d rather keep to herself and God and stay invisible. Quoted in the text ” You got to fight. You got to fight. But I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive” (Walker 19 pdf). This quote shows that Celie isn’t much of a fighter as Sofia and she believed the way to make it through the harsh life she lived was by taking in all the pain, at least she was able to live another day rather than to fight and be killed. The only similarities between the two seemed to be that they are both black women living in Georgia. The relationship between the two women represent later on in the book because Sofia becomes a role model in Celie’s life and finds herself finally being able to stand up for herself. Quoted in the text ,”You a low down dog is what’s wrong, I say. It’s time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need.” Celie is finally able to stand up to Albert and I would say its from watching Sofia and the ways she stood up for herself. Women around that time were very loyal to their husband and would usually be a slave in their own home; so Celie wasn’t the only women who couldn’t stand up to the horrible abuses she was subjected to.

Shug Avery is a black woman in her 30s. She is not a nice person in the few pages, we read she is mean to Celie and Mr.; however, because of the life she has lived she built a tough exterior. Like most of the character in The Color Purple, she is born poor but she changed her financial status by becoming a singer. She has earned enough money to travel and have a luxury life. She has more freedom than most of the women in the book who are home with children and work day and night, which is the norm back in those days. One would say she is very independent and that is different than the women in that period of time, where most women are told what to do by their husbands. She does not let gender role to define her and does not let be dominated by anyone. Shug has always chosen her own way of life. Because of her life of a singer, she travels to different places, so her sense of styles is determined by our worldly view.  Many of the people in her town do not understand that and judge her by how she is dressed and believe her to a promiscuous person. One thing about Shug Avery is that she loves to be admired and she is not ashamed about it. She is not modest neither about her sexual intercourse. She has a number of children even though she is not married.  Shug is the opposite of all the women’s characters in The Color Purple and society’s expectations of the woman gender. She is independent, has her own money and enjoys her sexuality. She does not let people dictate her life.

In The Color Purple by Alice Walker a prevalent theme is dominance. Dominance in this instance is defined as those having the final say on the well-being of those physical, socially, mentally or economically “inferior” to the dominant party. As an expression of this dominance, the will of the dominant person is imposed in any form of expression that they choose. In the case of Celie’s step-dad and then her husband this dominance is expressed violently( Is dominance ever expressed benignly?).
Celie’s stepdad not only rapes her, he beats her, impregnates her, takes the children of this incestuous union against her will and demands her silence. As an effort to further restrict Celie’s voice, her stepdad denies her a continuing education further retarding her ability of expression and articulation of her dire circumstances. The sex act for Celie is an expression of violence and domination and not of love, affection or tenderness. Never does her uninvited partner show any real concern or attention to her feelings and just engage in the act for their own selfish gain.
Harpo, Celie’s stepson, learns from his father that his role as a man in a relationship is one of dominance and for his voice to be heard and followed he should employ regular beatings to his female partner. Unfortunately for him, Sofia, his wife, is more than equal to the task. She is not only physically his superior but also possesses a will, temperament and history that has prepared her for those who would dare attempt to dominate her. Harpo so much wants his voice to be the dominant voice and to fulfill his role as a man in the early twentieth century American society that he ignores his already loving relationship in pursuit of this role. Sofia is too accustomed to speaking her mind and doing what she wants, it proves a combustible situation. His attempts to silence Sofia are futile and to his own detriment and only succeeds in chasing her away.
Shug Avery has learnt to wield her sex appeal as a tool as dominance and empower her voice. She is an independent woman and has to be. She is equally admired and despised by her contemporaries but as long as she draws breath she would be the one dispensing sharp barbs in the way of pointed remarks especially to those she knows are receptive to her will, namely Celie’s husband.
Celie having only experienced sex under the threat of violence and from men, has no desire to be with them sexually. Maybe she always was homosexual but as we progress through the book Celie is increasingly aware of her attraction to women, in particular Shug Avery. Furthermore it is only with women that she is comfortable voicing her fears and her history and confides in both Sofia and Shrug the circumstances of her relationship.

Works Cited
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple: USA, First Harvest.2003. Print

Celie and Sofia are two women from the book The Color Purple, who have similar attributes by using strength and love as a means to make it through the hardships life as bestowed upon them.

I will start my comparison of these women with the one that uses her strength physically because of her build, and mentally due to her strong will to fight for her respect and independence. Sophia is a strong and confident spirted woman who refuses to be tied only to housework, child rearing, and working in the fields. She is ahead of her time with her expectations that men should also share in the chores of the house, and stands firm on expressing her opinions of how things should be done in their marriage to her husband. She never lets anyone silence her voice no matter the circumstance, until her strong will eventually shapes the outcome of her future and humbles her to the point her voice is somewhat diluted.

Celie represents the woman whose voice is silent but her strength is measured by her dominant endurance. She lives in silence due to her fear of not wanting to be heard, and although seen she is still not appreciated. She endures life as an adult still being physically and mentally abused by her husband and step-children.

The women are similar because of their strength, yet different from the way the choose to deal with adversity and abuse. The factors that contribute to their traits come from the courage they both find at different stages in their lives as women to find their strength to stand up to abusive husbands, who define having a wife as not an equal but someone to control.

In the book The Bell Jar by Alice Walker, the main character Celie, suffers throughout her journey. She is raped by her step-father and forced into a marriage where she is also mistreated. And constantly forced into tasks and things she does not want to do. Even when she is constantly told to fight, she does not in fear of men. Her stepson Harpo falls in love with a girl named Sofia, who is almost completely the opposite of her. But they are alike in the ways they grew up and suffered under the same circumstances. Both women are seen as minors, both women were not allowed an education. Although Sofia was a fighter, she always fought her brothers and when Harpo raised his hand to beat her she had to fight him. For example “I love Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me”(Walker, pg40). She did not hesitate to beat him and fight for her respect ,even against the man she loved. Unlike Celie who constantly takes beatings and does everything that is told of her. Furthermore, “I ain’t never struck a living thing, I say..I think. I can’t remember the last time I felt mad, I say”(Walker, pg41). Due to the constant suppression she suffered all her life. Celie does not fight but on the other hand Sofia always fought. Sofia had to fight for the respect she knew she deserved. Even in a time where women were not seen as equals and women were taught to accept that belief. Sofia knew different and fought, Celie knows but chooses to not fight. In conclusion, both women took everything that was forced upon them and had different outcomes.

In “The color purple,” Alice walker shows how different upbringing have different effects on personalities of everyone’s lives. Celie and Sofia are two perfect examples of how different environments make two different characters. Celie and Sofia both are deprived of love and respect from the men in their families in their upbringing years. Celie had to deal with a step father who abused and raped her, got her out of school and then had her marry a man who liked her sister. She got pregnant twice with her step father’s children, who he gives away after birth. Her husband Mr.______ doesn’t even talk to her much. She doesn’t even know his first name. He also beats her up as well, just like her father did. She’s there to take care of his three kids and do all the house work. She is very isolated from the world, her mom doesn’t care about her after her rape. She can’t talk to her sister about it and she is warned by her step father not to say anything to anyone but God. So she writes letters to God, to mourn over the pain she deals with, and to get it off her chest even if it’s only in writing letters to basically herself.

Sofia has a difficult childhood as well, she had to fight every man in her family. She is also pregnant before she gets married at the age of fifteen. She isn’t educated but she is strong (physically and mentally). She is able to take a stand for herself. She doesn’t let any man step over her, beat her or tell her what to do. She is married to Harpo (Celine’s son) who loves her at first but since she’s such a strong woman and doesn’t depend on anyone, he doesn’t know how to deal with her. And Celie is a bit jealous of that. Celie suggests to give her a beating, which ends up getting him hurt the first time and pretty beaten up the second time he tries. She doesn’t do a lot of chores like Celie, she does what she likes to do.

Celie is quite and was brought up to not to speak up for herself. All she can do is bear the suffering she gets from everyone around her. She has no control about the situations that were happening in life. But as she grew older and met more people especially Shug Avery and Sofia, she gets her voice. She stands up to Mr____ and gets her own business and life together.

In the book “The Color Purple”, written by Alice Walker, she differentiates the characters, Celie and Sofia. Even though they are both Black women who are experiencing similar issues, the two characters holds an identity of their own. In the past Celie and Sofia have both experienced a tuff coming of age, due to their families. Unfortunately, their struggles/issues is never brought to a stop. Being the adults they are now today, Celie and Sofie continuously experience struggles living in their very own household. The two women are now married living along Albert’s property. Albert is Celie’s husband, and Albert’s son is the husband of Sofias. However, like most people would claim to say “father like son” Albert and Harpo (his son) both beat their wives. This is an issue of domestic violence. Readers are able to get a sense of the different characteristics the two characters present when dealing with domestic violence.

Celie who is much older than Sofia has suffered through many hardship experiences throughout her life, as stated above. Her mother died from illness, she is a victim of rape, her babies were taken from her, she lost the right to stay in school, and her step children treat her very poorly. In the book Celie is having a conversation with her younger sister Nettie, Nettie says, “You got to let them know who got the upper hand. They got it, I say. But she keep on, You got to fight. You got to fight. But I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive.” (Pdf. Pg. 19) Celie states she does not know how to fight and that the only thing she knows how to do is stay alive. This allows the readers to get a sense of her mindset and how she lets the pain and sorrow take over her whole life. She feels her battle with the children is not worth sacrificing her loneliness and continues to obey Albert’s children. Not only does Celie obeys Albert’s children she also lets him beat on her. In the book Celie recalls the reaction of Sofia when she notices that she is scared of Albert. It states “I think bout how every time I jump when Mr. _____ call me, she look surprise.” (Pdf. Pg. 29) This gives me an insight of how the two characters are different from one another. Another statement from the book that exemplifies Celies type of character is when she stated, “I like Sofia, but she don’t act like me at all. If she talking when Harpo and Mr. _____ come in the room, she keep right on. If they ast her where something at, she say she don’t know. Keep talking.” (Pdf. Pg. 29) This gives readers an understanding that if this was Celie who was talking when Harpo came in the room she would shut-up, and if someone was to ask her where something is she would’ve gotten up to find it. Celie has no voice and has never fought back, she allows people to walk all over her and boss her around. Even the people who surrounds her sympathy her, such as Nettie, her husband’s sisters, Sofie, and Shurag.

Now Sofia has also encountered through a ruff past herself, as stated. However, she is a strong women who fights back and doesn’t let the pain and sorrow take over her life. She has fallen in love with Harpo and he creates a little shack for her and the baby to live in, right on his father’s property. Harpo loves Sofia but when he takes advice from his father and Celie on how to keep her, the violence occurs. Celie advises Harpo to beat Sofia because she is jealous of her bravery towards others. In the book it states “Next time us see Harpo his face a mess of bruises. His lip cut. One of his eyes shut like a fist. He walk stiff and say his teef ache.” (Pdf. Pg. 29) This gives me an interpretation of what happened that night when Harpo tried to beat Sofia for the first time. She had fought back and beaten him up herself. Sofia states “All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men. But I never thought I’d have to fight in my own house. She let out her breath. I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me. Now if you want a dead sonin-law you just keep on advising him like you doing. She put her hand on her hip.” (Pdf. Pg. 31) Sofia is furious and she lets Celie know that she will kill Harpo if she has to. The hand on her hip symbolizes the bad-ass woman she is. From this day forward Celie starts to respect Sofia, however, she does not have the courage to actually become her.

In the book The Color Purple has many themes between violence, sexuality and voice. One of the themes that stand out the most is sexuality; within the first page of the book the main character introduces the fact that she is raped from her father. This quote shows an example how sexuality is shown in this story, “Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around…. He start to choke me. saying You better shut and git used to it” (Walker, 1). Sexuality in this book is referred to rape against the main character as she has no control of the situation. The story starts off as the girl thinking that she has always been a good girl but now she doesn’t think that she is due to the fact that she is getting raped from her father. The next theme of the book is violence. This quote shows an example on how violence is shown in the story, “He beat me today cause he say I winked at boy in church. I may have got something in my eye but I didn’t wink” (Walker, 5). Violence in this book is shown to the main character as if she is a bad person. This quote refers back to her thinking that she isn’t a good girl but her father shows her otherwise. The final theme of the book is voice. This quote shows an example on how voice is shown in the book, “Well, He say, real slow, I can’t let you have Nettie. She too young……But I can let you have Celie. She the oldest anyway.” (Walker, 7). This quote shows that the main character doesn’t have a say or a right to her own voice. The story shows that this takes place in a time period that females didn’t have a right to their own opinions or had a say in anything, the book was written in 1982 as it was a time of the women’s rights movement.

In “The Color Purple” the two characters that we are introduced to is that of Celie and Sofia. They both have similarities and differences. They are both young black girls living in Georgia with husband who “beat” them. Sofia is a fighter unlike Celie, she doesn’t let anyone push her around regardless of who you are. She rejects the position she was dealt which is that of the black woman during this time when they were not equal to whites and were not treated on the same level as their husbands. She is also fierce and daring by not living under the rule of her husband. She fights back multiple times when Harpo tries to get her to do something like stay home instead of going to her sister. While compared to Celie who let’s not only her husband beat her his kids walk all over her. Sofia is a devoted mother and follows Mr. word for word while Celie does whatever she wants with no remorse. While Celie may not be as strong as her she continues to hold on despite all the struggles she faces which shows that they both won’t give up until the bitter end.

Celie feels worthless and has low self-esteem while Sofia self esteem is through the roof. An example of this is when she when to go meet her baby father dad. It writes on page 27 “Young womens no good these days, he say. Got they legs open to every Tom, Dick and Harry. Harpo look at his daddy like he never seen him before. But he don’t say nothing. Mr. _____ say, No need to think I’m gon let my boy marry you just cause you in the family way. He young and limited. Pretty gal like you could put anything over on him. This shows that even though Mr. is looking down on Celie for getting pregnant by his son she is still standing up for herself and does not care what he says as she is brave and outspoken. She laughs off his comments and even asks for water instead of being in a hurry after her future father in law didn’t give her his full  blessings. Also in the novel it writes on page 29 in my version “I like Sofia, but she don’t act like me at all. If she talking when Harpo and Mr. _____ come in the room, she keep right on.If they ast her where something at, she say she don’t know. Keep talking.”. This shows us that whatever the men have going on does not affect her in anyway. While if they were to ask Celie a question or ask where something was she would jump up and get right to it due to her fear and being unable to stand up for herself.

Celie is tame due to all the abuse she has faced in her life so far by getting rape by her step father and having her two children taken from her to now she is willing to accept the abuse. Sofia is the opposite she is combative and proud. She doesn’t let anyone abuse her or feel lower then anyone regardless of gender. Sofia is a leader who does not compromise herself for others.