KOCHI: Alice Walker, one of the most noted American writers is about to celebrate her 78th birthday on Wednesday, February 9. The year 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of one of her most impressive novels — The Color Purple. It is not an easy read, in fact, many have kept the book aside altogether after reading just the first page. The matter-of-fact first-person account, written in the form of a letter to God, is disturbing and heartbreaking.
The epistolary novel explores the life of Celie through her letters to God, later addressed to her little sister Nettie, who escaped to Africa with Celie’s help. The black woman from the Southern United States, struggles most of her childhood and adult life to escape the clutches of men who brutalised her. For them, she was never a person. She starts writing letters to God out of near-complete isolation and lack of any confidants.
As a teenager, Celie was abused by her stepfather and later forcibly married to Albert, a widower with four children. What he needed was someone to look after the house and kids. Celie was just a servant who had to work hard and bear with his abuses — many beatings with his belts.
“He beat me like he beat the children. He say Celie git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It is all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how come I know trees fear men,” writes Celie in one of her many letters.
Over time, she, a meek woman, frees herself from her husband’s control. The women she meets later helps her become her own person, someting that happens gradually. It is Albert’s occasional mistress Shug Avery who inspires Celie to be find herself. Albert’s daughter-in-law Sofia also plays a hand in her eventual escape to Memphis. Celie starts a clot designing business there.
As she grows individually so does her language. In a pivotal moment, Celia comes to term with her sexuality and later starts a relationship with Shug. In Memphis, when Albert meets her again as a changed man, the novel progresses to show an image of Celie, Shug and Albert sitting outside her porch together. Two in love, one repentant. The book shows women supporting women in the best of lights. It is Shug who makes Albert stop beating his wife and it is with Shug that Celie finds a satisfying relationship.
The Color Purple is a poignant story of how black women are subjugated in their community. While black men were leading national protests against racism, they often ignored the plight of women who were a victim of both racism and patriarchy. Through the lyrical folk language, Walker tells the story of an ordinary woman in a common toungue. It is no surprise that the book won the Pulitzer Prize and Walker became the first African American author to win it.