The Color Purple

Information about The Color Purple

This article is about about the novel. For other uses, see The Color Purple (disambiguation).
The Color Purple

Recent paperback cover for The Color Purple
AuthorAlice Walker
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarcourt Brace Jovanovich
Publication date1982
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
ISBNISBN 0151191530
The Color Purple is an acclaimed 1982 epistolary novel by American author Alice Walker. It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. It was later adapted into a film and musical of the same name.

Taking place mostly in rural Georgia, the story addresses many issues related to African-American life during the early to mid 20th century in the American south, especially focusing on women's low position in black social culture. Because of the novel's sometimes explicit content, particularly in terms of violence, it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number eighteen.[1]

Plot summary

The story is told through a series of diary entries and letters. Celie is a poor, uneducated young woman who, at 14, is sexually abused and impregnated twice by a man she believes to be her father, Alphonso. After her children are taken away to "be with God," she is forced to marry a widower, with several children, who is physically abusive. At first, she is joined in her new home by her younger sister, Nettie, whom Celie's new husband had originally wanted to marry. After he attempts to seduce Nettie, she escapes, promising to write to Celie. As time passes, Celie assumes that Nettie is dead. In her writings, Celie refers to her husband as "Mr. ___." One of his sons, Harpo, falls in love with and marries an overbearing and physically imposing woman named Sofia. Though both Harpo and "Mr. ___" attempt to treat her as an inferior, Sofia fights back, sometimes even physically, and Celie is amazed by her defiance.

"Mr. ___" has a mistress, singer Shug (short for "Sugar") Avery, and she comes to live with the family because of her poor health. Like "Mr. __", Shug at first has little respect for Celie and the life she lives. She copies her lover, abusing Celie and adding to her humiliation. Celie initially feels threatened by this effervescent, liberated version of femininity, but she eventually realizes that she is sexually attracted to Shug. When Shug discovers that "Mr. ___" beats Celie, she decides to remain in the house in order to protect her.

After a few years of constant fighting, Sofia leaves Harpo, taking their children with her. At the same time, Celie and Shug become intimate and a strong bond grows between them. When Sofia returns to town for a visit, she becomes involved in a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, who is nicknamed "Squeak" because of her high-pitched voice. One day, the mayor’s wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia to work as her maid. When Sofia declines with the words, "Hell, no," the mayor slaps Sofia. When she returns the blow, knocking the mayor down, she is arrested for hitting a white man. She is later sentenced to work for twelve years as the mayor's maid. The separation from her family and her freedom breaks her spirit.

Even after Shug marries a man called Grady, she and Celie become lovers. One night, when Shug asks Celie about Nettie, Celie says that she believes her sister to be dead, since she had promised to write but Celie had never received any letters. Shug informs Celie that she has seen "Mr. ___" hide numerous mysterious letters in a trunk and suggests that they investigate. When they do so, they find dozens of letters written by Nettie to Celie over the years. These tell of Nettie's travels to Africa with a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, and their adopted children, Olivia and Adam. When Corrine becomes ill, Samuel tells Nettie how they came to adopt their children and that his wife has suspected that Nettie was their biological mother due to their resemblance. Nettie then learns that Olivia and Adam are Celie's long-lost children, and that she is the children's aunt. She also learns that Alphonso was not her and Celie's father but rather their stepfather. Their biological father, a store-owner, had been lynched by a mob of white men because they believed he was too successful. After Corrine's acceptance of Nettie's story, she dies, and Samuel and Nettie discover that they are deeply in love; they eventually marry.

Having read the letters and learned the truth about her children as well as her biological father, Celie visits Alphonso to confirm the story, which he does. Celie finds a new sense of empowerment, and at dinner one night she releases her pent-up anger at "Mr. ___", cursing him for the years of abuse that she has had to endure. Shug, Celie, and Squeak decide to move to Tennessee, where Celie begins a lucrative business designing and sewing tailored pants. She returns to Georgia for a visit and finds that not only has "Mr. ___" reformed himself and his ways, but Alphonso has died and all of his land now belongs to her. Celie decides to move back, relocating her business.

Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel are preparing for their return to America. Adam falls in love with and marries an African girl named Tashi, who undergoes the painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. Adam also goes through the facial scarring ritual in solidarity. Nettie writes to Celie to let her know that the family is on their way.

Celie is now an independent woman. Celie and "Mr. ___" eventually reconcile, and he begins to help her with her business, sewing with her as they sit on the porch. Sofia and Harpo remarry, and Sofia also works for Celie. Nettie and Samuel return with the children, and Celie and her sister are happily reunited.

Origins of the title

The title derives from a discussion between Celie and Shug about faith. Describing what God does to please people, Shug says, "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it." After Celie asks what God does in response to this obliviousness, Shug replies that he creates something else people will see, because God just wants to be loved. The discussion leads the rekindling of Celie's faith, despite years of abuse and neglect.

Film and theatrical adaptations

Main articles: The Color Purple (film) and The Color Purple (musical)
The novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 1985. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Whoopi Goldberg as Celie, Danny Glover as "Mr. ___", and Oprah Winfrey as Sofia. Though nominated for 11 Academy Awards, it did not win any. This perceived snubbing ignited some controversy because many critics considered it the best picture that year,[2] including Roger Ebert.[3] Others were upset by the film's depiction of the black male as abusive, uncaring, and disloyal. Other critics felt that Steven Spielberg was a poor choice for such a complex drama and that the film had changed or eliminated much of the book's defense of lesbianism.

On December 1, 2005, a musical adaptation of the novel opened at the Broadway Theater in New York City. The show was produced by Oprah Winfrey and garnered five 2006 Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, including Outstanding Broadway Musical and Outstanding New Score. That same year, the show was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Original Score Written for the Theater, and Best Leading Actress in a Musical (LaChanze). LaChanze did win the Tony Award, though the show itself won no other awards. LaChanze's win was attributed to the variety of roles for which she had garnered positive attention, as well as for a powerful backstory.

Editions

  • ISBN 0-606-00587-0 (prebound, 1985)
  • ISBN 0-671-61702-8 (mass market paperback, 1985)
  • ISBN 0-671-64745-8 (mass market paperback, 1987)
  • ISBN 0-671-66878-1 (paperback, 1988)
  • ISBN 0-15-119154-9 (hardcover, 1992, Anniversary Edition)
  • ISBN 1-56849-628-1 (library binding, 1995, reprint)
  • ISBN 0-671-01907-4 (paperback, 1998)
  • ISBN 0-7641-2064-6 (paperback, 2002)
  • ISBN 0-15-602835-2 (paperback, 2003)
  • ISBN 0-671-72779-6
  • ISBN 0-7043-3905-6

See also

Citations

Reference

  • Nishikawa, Kinohi. "The Color Purple." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 491-93.

External links

Preceded by
Rabbit Is Rich
by John Updike'		Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
1983		Succeeded by
Ironweed
by William Kennedy'''
The Color Purple can refer to:
  • The Color Purple, the 1982 novel by Alice Walker.
  • The Color Purple (film), a 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg.
  • The Color Purple (musical), the 2005 musical based on Alice Walker's novel.

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Alice Walker
Born: January 9 1944 (1944--) (age 63)
Eatonton, Georgia
Occupation: novelist, short story writer, poet
Genres: African American literature
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In political geography and international politics, a country is a political division of a geographical entity, a sovereign territory, most commonly associated with the notions of state or nation and government.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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See Language (journal) for the linguistics journal.


A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases, authors may be their own publishers.
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Harcourt Trade Publishers is a U.S. publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. The company is currently being sold by Reed Elsevier to Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group[1].
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-1982- 1983 1984 1985  1986 .  1987 .  1988 .  1989  . 1990  . 1991  . 1992 

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A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather).
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Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The book covers of such books are without cloth or leather, and are bound, usually, with glue rather than stitches or staples.
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International Standard Book Number, ISBN, is a unique[1] commercial book identifier barcode. The ISBN system was created in the United Kingdom, in 1966, by the booksellers and stationers W.H. Smith.
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-1982- 1983 1984 1985  1986 .  1987 .  1988 .  1989  . 1990  . 1991  . 1992 

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epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents", such as blogs and e-mails have also come into use.
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Alice Walker
Born: January 9 1944 (1944--) (age 63)
Eatonton, Georgia
Occupation: novelist, short story writer, poet
Genres: African American literature
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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1980 1981 1982 - 1983 - 1984 1985 1986

Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII
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    The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded since 1948 for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It replaced the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel.
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    The National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished
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    IMDb profile
    The Color Purple is the ninth film directed by Steven Spielberg, and was released 1985. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    The Color Purple
    '

    Original Cast Recording
    Music Brenda Russell
    Allee Willis
    Stephen Bray
    Lyrics Brenda Russell
    Allee Willis
    Stephen Bray
    Book Marsha Norman
    Based upon Novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    State of Georgia

    Flag of Georgia Seal of Georgia
    Nickname(s): Peach State, Empire State of the South
    Motto(s): Wisdom, Justice, and Moderation

    Official language(s) English

    Capital Atlanta

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    African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.[1] In the United States the term is generally used for Americans with sub-Saharan African ancestry.
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    twentieth century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar. Some historians consider the era from about 1914 to 1991 to be the Short Twentieth Century.
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    The American Library Association (ALA) is a group based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with approximately 64,600 members.
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    Domestic violence (sometimes referred to as domestic abuse) occurs when a family member, partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate another.
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    Female genital cutting (FGC), female genital mutilation (FGM), or female circumcision (FC), is the excision or tissue removal of any part of the female genitalia for cultural, religious or other non-medical reasons.
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    IMDb profile
    The Color Purple is the ninth film directed by Steven Spielberg, and was released 1985. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker.
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    The Color Purple
    '

    Original Cast Recording
    Music Brenda Russell
    Allee Willis
    Stephen Bray
    Lyrics Brenda Russell
    Allee Willis
    Stephen Bray
    Book Marsha Norman
    Based upon Novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    IMDb profile
    The Color Purple is the ninth film directed by Steven Spielberg, and was released 1985. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Alice Walker.
    ..... Click the link for more information.

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