The Development of Celie in 'The Color Purple' (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2009 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für Fremdsprachliche Philologien), course: Introduction to Postcolonialism, language: English, abstract: [...] In order to meet these ambitions, I will present several general aspects on The Color Purple including setting and formal features in the following chapter. The third and fourth chapters serve as the main part of my paper, since they deal with characteristics and the development of Celie in detail. Consequently, I will seek to uncover reasons for her lack of self-esteem in chapter 3 by taking a closer look to her childhood first. Moreover, I will concentrate on one main problem Celie has to face during her life: sexual discrimination. In this connection, I find it also most important to examine key figures and scenes that have turned her into the woman she is.
However, as the story continues, it becomes also obvious that Celie undergoes changes. Thus, Chapter 4 will focus on her identification process and the respective result. While the preceding chapter demonstrates the establishment of Celie's personality, the attention will now be turned to decisive factors that generate and support her search of identity. Hence, especially the relationship between Celie and Shug, the initiator of her transformation, and marginally the influence of her newly-created social network will be taken into account. Lastly, I will examine the final stage and result of her development: the evolution of a dignified, self-confident woman. Eventually Chapter 5 will provide a brief summary of the discussion. Furthermore, it will evaluate Celie's process in consideration of the given task and highlight the importance and universal validity of her development. The literature I have concentrated on is in large part taken from journals, that hold a broad range of essays on The Color Purple in general and on the character Celie in particular. However, first and foremost the research refers to Alice Walker's novel itself. As no single comprehensive analysis on The Color Purple exists, I will not focus on one academic only, but instead take different perspectives into account. However, I would like to point out the essays of Daniel Ross, Charles Proudfit, Emma Waters-Dawson and Trudier Harris, as they were rather useful for my discussion.