Literary Analysis:
1. My novel, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, is about a girl named Celie who writes a letter to God everyday to tell him what has happened to her, how she feels and anything else underneath the sun. Celie was sexually abused by her “father” and as a result gave birth to two of his children, but Celie would never experience the joy of raising her two children, Adam and Olivia, because shortly after their birth they were taken from her. This marked the beginning of a pattern in Celie’s life which consisted of pain, sadness, abuse, and misfortune. After being married off to yet another abusive man, which we know by the name of Mr.______, Celie meets Shug Avery, little did she know that Shug Avery would be not only her salvation from her hell of a home, but a vital player in her reunion with her dear sister Nettie, the only person Celie has ever loved, besides Shug Avery.
2. The theme of the novel was that even through tremendous strife, a person’s relationship with God should never falter. Celie suffered for decades both as a child and as a wife/mother, but, as you see in her letters, she always had faith that God had a better plan for her and that she was strong enough to endure. “Well, sometime Mr._____ git on me pretty hard. I have to talk to Old Maker. But he my husband. I shrug my shoulders. This life soon be over, I say. Heaven last all ways.” (Pg. 39-40) Celie has never had a very strong and loud voice, in fact, for most of her life she didn’t have a voice at all. Yet through her spirituality and friendship with Shug Avery, Celie is able to gain a sense of entitlement to her own life and voice. She learns that she must fight for what she wants because even though God is on her side, he cannot hand her what she deserves, she must grab it and never let go.
3. The author’s tone is very informal, sometimes depressed, but mainly serene. Each of her letters begins with “Dear God,” and then the reader see’s this outpour of emotion from Celie that the reader knows only God would be able to see. God is her confidant and when she speaks to him it is obvious to the reader that she is doing this in hopes of finding some solace with God, because if she can’t find it there, she won’t find it anywhere else. For example, in her first letter she says, “Dear God, I am fourteen year old. I am I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me.” In only three lines the reader is able to imagine and empathize with Celie’s deep confusion and fear regarding the abuse she faces at home and she is turning to God for the comfort she needs so desperately. It is because of this deep sense of vulnerability that the reader is able to connect with Celie and feel for her. Her vulnerability is perfectly portrayed when she says “But I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive.” Celie has never fought for herself prior to meeting Shug Avery and so the mere thought of it scared her half to death, which only further made Celie a relatable and human-like character.
4. The author used a number of literary tools in order to describe her purpose such as theme, simple syntax and diction, symbolism in the color purple, both direct and indirect characterization, simple structure, first person point of view, allusions to the bible and situational irony because Celie was able to reunite with Nettie and her children because Mr. ____ had allowed immigration to do so.
2. The theme of the novel was that even through tremendous strife, a person’s relationship with God should never falter. Celie suffered for decades both as a child and as a wife/mother, but, as you see in her letters, she always had faith that God had a better plan for her and that she was strong enough to endure. “Well, sometime Mr._____ git on me pretty hard. I have to talk to Old Maker. But he my husband. I shrug my shoulders. This life soon be over, I say. Heaven last all ways.” (Pg. 39-40) Celie has never had a very strong and loud voice, in fact, for most of her life she didn’t have a voice at all. Yet through her spirituality and friendship with Shug Avery, Celie is able to gain a sense of entitlement to her own life and voice. She learns that she must fight for what she wants because even though God is on her side, he cannot hand her what she deserves, she must grab it and never let go.
3. The author’s tone is very informal, sometimes depressed, but mainly serene. Each of her letters begins with “Dear God,” and then the reader see’s this outpour of emotion from Celie that the reader knows only God would be able to see. God is her confidant and when she speaks to him it is obvious to the reader that she is doing this in hopes of finding some solace with God, because if she can’t find it there, she won’t find it anywhere else. For example, in her first letter she says, “Dear God, I am fourteen year old. I am I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me.” In only three lines the reader is able to imagine and empathize with Celie’s deep confusion and fear regarding the abuse she faces at home and she is turning to God for the comfort she needs so desperately. It is because of this deep sense of vulnerability that the reader is able to connect with Celie and feel for her. Her vulnerability is perfectly portrayed when she says “But I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive.” Celie has never fought for herself prior to meeting Shug Avery and so the mere thought of it scared her half to death, which only further made Celie a relatable and human-like character.
4. The author used a number of literary tools in order to describe her purpose such as theme, simple syntax and diction, symbolism in the color purple, both direct and indirect characterization, simple structure, first person point of view, allusions to the bible and situational irony because Celie was able to reunite with Nettie and her children because Mr. ____ had allowed immigration to do so.
Great ideas! I thought it was a good paper. You articulated your ideas well and effectively.
ReplyDelete1. You were direct with your plot explanation and through your diction I could tell you understood the novel.
ReplyDelete2. Nice explanation of the theme. That single quote was a nice touch to your point of view.
3. The quotes you choose were very helpful. It was a good idea saying you noticed how she started her letters, showing you paid attention to the way the novel was written.
4. Give examples of each literary element. That would help paint a better picture of why you chose those elements to represent your novel.
I really liked the way you explained the novel. I would just advice you to point out some more examples for the literary elements that the author used. Apart from the great ideas!
ReplyDeleteIt was well written. Started off good with a good summary of the book and gave a good example with page numbers. It would of been helpful to add more examples with page numbers to help support your opinion. Good job though!
ReplyDeleteWow.... That story seems really sad and heart wrenching!!! I really liked that you were quick and to the point when answering the prompts, but some more summary would have been helpful to understand who Shug Avery is and how he was an important character.
ReplyDelete