Journal No. 2

Completed!

The Color Purple: Journal Entry #2
pages 76-143


This second quarter of The Color Purple contained a large amount of plot and character developments. These pages focus highly on new identities, using one's voice, and redefining the mainstream concepts of society. This section of The Color Purple also demonstrates the consequences of trying to redefine concepts and of interpreting things in different ways.
The first major development in this section would be the progressively sexual relationship between Shug and Celie. However, the two sometimes act as sisters, at other times mother and daughter, and sometimes as confidantes. This is an example of redefining the ordinary perception of a relationship between women. Furthermore, it is the beginning of a transformation that we see when Celie tells Shug about her life before she married Mr.____. For the first time, we see Celie responding emotionally to her own sad life, rather than acting as if she is “wood.” The telling of Celie's story forges an even stronger bond between Celie and Shug, one that is critical to Celie's development as she looks for her independence.
Another important step in Celie's evolution is when Celie confides in Shug that she has never enjoyed sex with anyone. Shug then declares Celie a virgin, even though she has mothered two children. She also gives Celie a new name, the more respectful Miss Celie, to accompany her new status as a virgin.
Celie's christening is yet another example of interpretation. The fact that Shug has redefined the loss of innocence as a time when a woman freely enjoys sex both emotionally and physically opens a new window of possibilities for Celie. I believe this is the first time that Celie has really felt it conceivable to think and perceive for herself, rather than just accepting the conventional and the stereotypical. Celie now has the starting point that she needs to apply Shug's example of redefinition to her own life.
Yet Walker shows us that going against the accepted view comes at a price, as is the case with Sofia. After returning to her former home with a new man, she quickly gets into fight after fight. Her aggressiveness soon gets her in trouble when Sofia is in town one day with her children. They pass by the mayor's wife, who notices how clean all of Sofia's children are and promptly asks if Sofia would like to be her maid. Sofia responds with a frank, “Hell no,” that lands her a slap from the mayor. Sofia, being the independent and aggressive woman she is, beats him back. This little incident lands her in jail, where she is abused and beaten almost beyond recognition. Eventually Sofia's sentence is converted to twelve years as the maid of the mayor's house.
Sofia's defiance to fit into the typical stereotype of the “happy black servant” was not romanticized by Walker in the slightest. Instead, she wrote the cold truth about what can happen when one tries to be true to one's own perceptions and definitions. Sofia knew she would never be happy as a servant to anybody, so she plainly stated so. However, this self-expression to fit outside of the status quo completely disrupted her life. This is Walker's way of warning that being true to one's own identity is not an easy path, but rather one riddled with hardship.
Another character who represents the theme of interpretation and redefinition of the accepted is Squeak, Harpo's new girlfriend. Squeak has been quietly obedient to Harpo, thus the diminutive nickname. However, after she is raped by the prison warden while trying, unsuccessfully, to help free Sofia, she insists on being called by her real name, Mary Agnes. This redefinition of herself shows resistance from the patriarchal belittlement she has suffered because of Harpo. Shortly thereafter, Mary Agnes begins to sing. Hence, she has found a new voice with which to express herself, another main theme of this novel.
Nettie's voice has also been found by way of Celie and Shug discovering her long lost letters. The two learn of her travels with Samuel, Corrine, and Celie's two children, Adam and Olivia, to Africa as missionaries. As Nettie describes her journey, she mentions free blacks in the North, particularly in Harlem, who are living in relative prosperity. This idea would seem completely foreign to Celie, who has known nothing but oppression and poverty. The fact that a black person could live successfully must give Celie some kind of hope for her own independence from the hellish life she's always known. On the other hand, the letters from Nettie are stamped with portraits of the Queen of England, which symbolized that black people were being oppressed in their native land as well. I believe that Celie would feel sympathetic to this kind of oppression in Africa. Nettie's letters open Celie's eyes to the rest of the world, and she sees, for the first time, that her plight is also the plight of thousands of blacks around the world.
All of my questions from my previous journal were answered, though perhaps not in the ways I expected. Nettie is not dead, though she has been writing letters to Celie. Sofia has come back into the story, though with a new man and the same old feisty attitude. Celie tells Shug plainly that she does not mind her sleeping with Mr.____, though she later cries about it when she hears them together.
Some new questions of mine include: What will happen to Nettie and her surrogate family in Africa? Will the natives receive them well? How will Celie and Shug's relationship continue to grow? Will Shug continue to care fore Mr.___? Will she turn her affection solely to Celie?
With these question in mind, I'll continue to read The Color Purple. Most likely, there will be new character developments, new plot twists, and new themes appearing in the pages to come.