Analysis of the Color Purple essays

Analysis of the Color Purple essays Alice Walkers depiction of a southern black woman in the novel The Color Purple was the most powerful Ive ever read in my life. One reason this was so was because Walker applied a variety of literary devices to the story, giving it more of an impact. She used symbolism, applied her tone as an author, and used a specific dialect for her characters, all in letter form. Its important to the author to use these devices in their novels, especially if they are trying to convey a certain message or issue to their readers. A particularly weighty one at that. If it had not been for the vivid vernacular placed upon her southern-born characters or the use of written letter form as an alternative to the form frequently utilized in novels, this story wouldnt have left such a mark or rather, a stamp, on my soul. The appearance of symbolism in The Color Purple is not as glaring to the readers eye as one may think. Though you dont read the actual words of the title until towards the end of the book, Alice Walker didnt just pluck the name of her award-winning novel out of thin air. On page 291, Celie is showing Shug her completely purple and red room. She even shows her a little purple frog perched on the mantlepiece, carved for her by her husband Albert. I am not sure of the exact significance of the actual color purple in this context, but the use of any color at all at this point in the story symbolizes a character growth in Celie. Through a good chunk of the book she is living a drab and colorless life, exhibiting no emotions of her own. Not until her husbands previous lover, Shug Avery, comes around, do you catch the true Celie and not just a hardworking housewife who gets beatings. And there is, of course, no emergence of any kind of purple coloring until that point. Walker interp rets Celies conversion in color and mood in many ways, but one way in particular was to launch Celie&apos...