Black Women’s Liberation through Feminine Activities
in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple
Todsapon Suranukkharin
บทคัดยอ
บทความนี้มุงศึกษาการตอตานความรุนแรงของตัวละครหญิงผิวดําในนวนิยายเรื่อง The
Color Purple ของ Alice Walker โดยผานการใชกิจกรรมของผูหญิง นวนิยายเรื่องนี้กลาวถึง
สถานะของผูหญิงผิวดําในรัฐทางตอนใตของประเทศสหรัฐอเมริกาในชวงตอนตนคริสตศตวรรษที่
ยี่สิบ ซึ่งถูกกดขี่จากคนในสังคมทั้งในสถานะของคนผิวสี และในสถานะของผูหญิง นอกจากการถูก
ปฏิบัติอยางไมเปนธรรมจากลัทธิเหยียดสีผิวจากสังคมภายนอกแลว ตัวละครหญิงผิวดําเหลานี้ยัง
ตองทนทุกขทรมานจากการใชความรุนแรงของผูชายในครอบครัว ผูเขียนนวนิยายเรื่องนี้ไมเพียงแต
กลาวถึงการตอตานระบบปตาธิปไตยโดยผานความเชื่อในเอกภาพของผูหญิงดังเชนในนวนิยาย
ของนักเขียนหญิงคนอื่นๆ แตยังเผยถึงการตอตานของผูหญิงผิวดําในอีกรูปแบบหนึ่ง โดยผานการ
ใชกิจกรรมของผูหญิง คือ การเขียนจดหมาย การรองเพลงบลูส และ การเย็บปกถักรอย ผลของ
การศึกษาพบวา กิจกรรมเหลานี้ถูกใชเปนเครื่องมือในการสรางอัตลักษณของผูหญิงผิวดํา ในขณะ
ที่ถูกมองขามความสําคัญจากคนในสังคม กิจกรรมเหลานี้เปรียบเสมือนพื้นที่สวนตัวที่ใชแสดง
ความรูสึก ภูมิปญญา และความคิดสรางสรรคของตัวละครหญิงผิวดํา ซึ่งชวยปกปองและเยียวยา
ความเจ็บปวดจากการถูกกดขี่ และชวยสรางอัตลักษณของผูหญิงผิวดําที่นําไปสูการตอตานความ
รุนแรงจากระบบปตาธิปไตยในที่สุด
Abstract
This paper discusses the resistance of black women characters
through various kinds of feminine activities in Alice Walker’s most prized
novel The Color Purple. As black women who are living in the Southern
United States during the first half of the twentieth century, Celie, the
protagonist, and her fellow black women are struggling through serial
difficulties, both as blacks and as women in the society. While they are
discriminated against by racism, they also have to face domestic violence
and maltreatment at the hands of men in their life. Apart from the common
theme of female solidarity as in most woman writers’ works, Alice Walker
suggests another significant way in which black women can escape
oppressions and express themselves through certain kinds of feminine

activities, including letter writing, singing blues music and doing needle
work. This paper finds that these activities, although they are often
considered trivial and insignificant by most people, are actually a private
space in which black women can freely express their feeling, their sense of
intellectuality as well as their sense of creativity. This private space can
finally be seen as black women’s sanctuary, which heals their trauma and
shelters them from the threat of racism and sexism.
Introduction
The Color Purple is an epistolary novel written by Alice Walker, a
famous contemporary African American writer. In this award-winning
novel, Alice Walker is highly praised for her insightful and remarkable
portraits of black people’s life, especially for the experiences of black
women in a sexist and racist society. After winning the American Book
Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, the sales of the novel
increased to over two million copies, and it was on the New York Times
best-selling lists for a number of weeks. This novel was also adapted many
times into a popular motion picture and musical plays. One of the most
well-known adaptations is a film version directed by Steven Spielberg in
1985. Since then, Alice Walker is almost universally recognized as one of
the leading voices among African Americans, in particular for black
women, and her novel The Color Purple has become a work representative
of black communities in the United States.
The Color Purple thoroughly focuses on a life of Celie, an African
American woman who is struggling to develop her sense of selfhood. As a
black woman growing up in the Deep South during the 1940s, Celie has
gone through many difficulties before she could establish herself as an
independent woman. All through the story, Celie is presented at the very
bottom of the social hierarchy. At the same time with being discriminated
against by whites, she is also treated badly from all black men in her life;

her stepfather and her husband. From the beginning, she is beaten and raped
by the man she believes to be her father. She has two children with him but
they are quickly taken away from her. After her second pregnancy, she is
forced to marry Mr. ______, an old widower with four unruly children. Her
life as a wife, unfortunately, shows little difference from her childhood. She
is valued only as a sex slave and a caretaker for Mr. ______’s family. She
still has to endure the same kind of cruelty and maltreatment as the one that
her stepfather had done to her before. It is obvious that Celie cannot enjoy
the basic human rights of self-determination, freedom from violence, and
ownership of her own body no matter where she is.
Throughout the story, Celie meets several other black women, who
help contribute to her discovery of selfhood. She survives all difficulties
through her strong relationship with another four black women in her
extended family; Shug Avery (her husband’s mistress), Nettie (her long
separated sister), Sofia and Squeak (her step daughters in law). Each of
them, in one way or another, gives Celie an inspiration and moral support to
be successfully transformed from a frightened young girl to a successful
business woman at the end. The representation of positive female characters
in this novel is very powerful and forthright: woman defend their honor,
family, and right; care for the sick, needy and undeserving; work to ensure
their family’s livelihood; and keep society from moral decay. With this
portrayal of powerful female relationships, Walker’s The Color Purple has
eventually been recognized as one of the famous contemporary feminist
tales.
Apart from the common theme of female solidarity as in most
women writers’ works, Walker suggests through her novel another
significant way in which black women can take to escape oppressions and
express themselves through certain kinds of feminine activities, including
letter writing, singing blues music and doing needle work. Since all these
activities have long been seen as associated with women, they are somehow
considered trivial and insignificant by most people. Nevertheless, Walker

cleverly presents through her novel how these female activities can be seen
as a private space in which black women freely use to express their feelings,
their sense of intellectuality as well as their sense of creativity. This private
space is actually black women’s sanctuary, which heals their trauma and
shelters them from the threat of racism and sexism. In all the multiplicity of
approaches one can take to understand the richness of Walker’s text, this
paper then chooses to focus on this remarkable theme of black women’s
liberation through feminine activities. It aims at discussing the way in which
all these three activities are used by black women as their means to escape
from oppressions and how they all contribute to the liberation of black
women in Walker’s The Color Purple.
Letter Writing
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is written in an unusual narrative
structure through the epistolary, or letter writing, form. Although this kind
of narrative structure was very popular among the writers of 18th and 19th
century, it is rarely used in literary work of the modern era. In The Color
Purple, the entire novel is determined, advanced and resolved through
ninety letters written from Celie to God, from Nettie to Celie, and finally
from Celie to Nettie. The use of this epistolary form can be considered very
effective in the novel as the way used by black women to express their
feelings towards the oppressions over them. According to Josephine
Donovan, letter writing has long been seen as a convention used mostly by
women. She describes it as a “semi-private” (212) genre used primarily by
women because of their inferior education and because of the fact that such
writings were not expected to be published. Unlike women, men were less
likely to write letters because they were exposed to formal education. Their
writing style followed the pattern of classical models. Letters were therefore
seen as a very informal and artless form of writing used to describe
domestic life. Since it is considered as a private space, letter writing is then

used to give voice to the ideas and desires of women that had been denied in
other forums.
In Walker’s The Color Purple, letters are used by black women to
break the silence that is normally imposed upon them. With the threat from
her stepfather “[y]ou better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your
mammy,” Celie appears in the position of powerlessness from the beginning
of the story (3). Sexually violated and barely educated, Celie does not have
any other way to express her feeling but by writing letters to God. Each
letter gives the reader a greater insight into Celie’s life as she desperately
explains how her life has been ruined at the hands of her stepfather. Without
any power to control her own situation, Celie begs God for a sign to let her
know what is happening to her:
First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around.
Then he grab hold me titties. Then he push his thing inside my
pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better
shut up and git used to it (3)
Although her ability to narrate her life story is highly limited, Celie’s simple
narrative brings the reader into her isolated world with language that reveals
her pain and sadness. The fact that Celie crosses the word “I am” out of her
first letter and that she is unable to sign her letters indicates her lack of selfesteem (3). It shows that Celie is almost completely voiceless and
disenfranchised in everyday society, where she is valued only as an object.
When Celie continues writing to God, each of her letters reveals more
horrendous things that are happening to her, for example, how her mother
dies and her two children are taken away from her, how she is forced to
marry Mr._______, and how she has to endure domestic violence and
loveless sex. As Celie’s only way to communicate with the world, letter
writing here can be considered to have a psychological function in releasing
her pressure and tension. Without someone to listen to her problems, Celie

truthfully confesses her misery in each of her letters to God. Although it is
only a one-way communication, letter writing here can be taken as a form of
self-expression that provides Celie the only opportunity to express how she
really feels about each situation. Since this ability is crucial in developing
one’s sense of self, Celie’s letters to God can then be seen as her
foundational step toward liberation. In this case, Elizabeth Fifer argues that
Celie participates in the creation of meaning for herself through language.
Without language, silence would have ensured madness or, as in her
mother’s case, an early death (156).
Like Celie, Nettie also uses letters as the means of self-expression.
Escaping from domestic violence in Southern United States with Celie’s
help, Nettie flees to work as a missionary in Africa. While working there,
Nettie feels uneasy about the patriarchal culture of the Olinka tribe. Since
the natives believe that women are valued only when they get married,
Nettie is pitied in the Olinka culture because she has no husband: “Do not
be offended, Sister Nettie, but our people pity woman such as you who are
cast out, we know not from where, into a world unknown to you, where you
must struggle all alone, for yourself” (136-137). Although Nettie does not
feel threatened by this evaluation of her, it does certainly make her feel
lonely and isolated from the Olinka, who do not acknowledge her as a
person due to the fact that she is an unmarried female. Feeling lonely and
isolated from the whole community, Nettie finds the way to express her
uneasiness by writing letters to Celie. At the same time as narrating her
African experiences, Nettie also criticizes all of those oppressions imposed
on her and other native women in the letters. Again, this act of writing can
be seen as the way for women to release their frustration and suffering. With
Celie as her listener, Nettie gains more courage to survive in Africa through
her letter writing. It is therefore possible to conclude that the act of writing
plays a very important role in liberating and shaping these black women’s
sense of self. It gives them power and voice to break the silence in the
abusive patriarchal system.

Through her letter writing, the reader can also track Celie’s growth
and maturity. Unlike Nettie, Celie starts writing her letters to God, the
distant deity represented by the white male figure. Although God can be
seen as Celie’s first listener, the fact that Celie chooses to write letters to
God instead of her fellow human beings implies that she is somehow still
under the threat from the patriarchal system. It is true that Celie’s writing to
God enables her self expression and confession, as well as allows her to
develop the voice to narrate her life story. Yet it does not bring any effect in
lightening the oppression forced upon her because her letters to God cannot
be actually delivered and read by anyone. Without a willing audience, those
letters can only be kept to Celie herself. In order to fully construct her sense
of selfhood, it is thus necessary for Celie to overturn the male text of the
deity and learn to rewrite it in female terms (Tucker 84). As the story
progresses, the gradual change in Celie’s sense of selfhood is manifested in
the way she writes her letters. In the early part of the novel, Celie sees God
as her only listener and helping hand. She constantly writes letters to tell
him what is happening to her. These letters cover more than thirty years of
Celie’s life and make up almost the first half of the novel. Throughout her
letters to God, Celie shows her naivety in resisting the oppression:
I used to git mad at my mammy cause she put a lot of work on me.
Then I see how sick she is. Couldn’t stay mad at her, Couldn’t be
mad at my daddy cause he my daddy. Bible say, Honor father and
mother no matter what…sometime Mr.______ git on me pretty hard.
I have to talk to Old Maker. But he my husband. I shrug my
shoulders. This life soon be over, I say. Heaven last all ways (39).
Celie remains her role as a submissive agent until she has found out that Mr.
_____ has long been hiding her letters from Nettie. This incident can be
seen as the last straw that leads Celie to her breaking point and urges her to
form her own powerful narrative. Through her communication with her long

separated sister, Celie finds out the most important truth about her family:
“My daddy lynch. My mama crazy. All my little half-brothers and sisters no
kin to me. My children not my sister and brother. Pa not pa” (151). This
discovery is very important in Celie’s personal growth as the starting point
that Celie begins to overturn “the male text of the deity” and starts to rewrite
her narrative in female terms (Tucker 84). As she ends her letter by
reproaching God “[y]ou must be asleep,” (151) her narrative suddenly
changes from the previously mild tone of confession to accusation.
The radical change in Celie’s narrative can be seen immediately in
her following letter in which she addresses her letter to Nettie instead of
God. The fact that Celie starts writing letters to Nettie is a positive sign that
she is now one more step closer towards liberation. Instead of relying on a
distant deity, Celie finds a new way to express her feelings by writing
directly to Nettie, a more realistic female listener. Her voice is eventually
getting stronger and more well-defined as she continues writing letters to
Nettie; for example; she writes that it was “[f]or the first time in [her] life
[she] wanted to see Pa” after she found out the truth about him from Nettie’s
long hidden letters. Like the confrontation with her stepfather, Celie writes
to Nettie the way in which she stands up for herself by telling Mr.______
how she really feels about him: “You a lowdown dog is what’s wrong, I say.
It’s time to leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body just
the welcome mat I need” (170).
Unlike the way that she wrote to God, Celie does not express any
hopeless feelings in her letters to Nettie. Instead of merely reporting what
happens, Celie also moves to “the dramas or scenarios with extensive
dialogue, to insights of psychological analysis, and finally to humor” (Fifer
160). In other words, she starts to include some of her own opinions about
things, which are very sarcastic and insightful. This injection of her thoughts
into the letters helps to show the reader directly that Celie is growing as a
person and taking on more depth as a character. The fact that Celie is finally
able to sign her name in her letters to Nettie also indicates her personal

growth as an individual; she no longer regards herself as passive and
worthless. Coming up with a new concept of God and purpose in life, Celie
finally joyously addresses her last letter to everyone: “Dear God. Dear stars,
dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God” (242). This
last letter shows the extent to which Celie has developed her sense of self
throughout the course of the story. Through her letter writing, Celie begins
to be self-sufficient and satisfied with herself and her life choices. It is thus
clear that she does not only develop her voice to narrate her life story
through her act of writing, but she is also able to create a more powerful
narrative to resist oppression.
Singing Blues Music
Apart from letter writing, Alice Walker suggests another way in
which black women could freely express themselves through the singing of
blues music. Blues generally refers to a kind of music originated in the
communities of the former African American slaves during the nineteenth
century in Southern United States. Influenced by African roots, field hollers,
work calls, ballads, rhythmic dance, and church music, it evolved into a
kind of music that greatly expressed the personal feeling of those former
African American slaves. The blues music marked its birth after the end of
the Civil War. By the 1890s the blues were sung in many of the rural areas
of the South. And by 1910, the word blues as applied to the musical
tradition was in fairly common use (Tanner and Gerow 212). The blues
lyrics are often intensely personal, frequently containing sexual references
and often dealing with the pain of betrayal, desertion, and unrequited love.
Sometimes they might talk about unhappy situations such as being jobless,
hungry, broke, away from home, lonely, or downhearted because of an
unfaithful lover (Kamien 98). It is therefore possible to conclude that the
blues is actually another self-expression form among African Americans. It
is not merely entertainment, but it is a way of solidifying community and

commenting on the social fabric of working class Black life in America
(Collins 145). It allows them to freely express their feelings and, at the same
time, use their sense of creativity as well as their sense of intellectuality in
producing songs.
In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, blues music plays a very
significant role in liberating many black female characters in the novel. It
should be noted here that the word “blues” is quite ambiguous in terms of its
meaning. Literally speaking, the word blue is associated with the feeling of
depression and melancholia. In this sense, it can be said that the lives of all
female characters in Walker’s The Color Purple are in the deep blue. Celie,
in her conversation with Shug, once reveals her short life story: “My mama
die, I tell Shug. My sister Nettie runway. Mr._______ come git me to take
care of his rotten children. He never ast me nothing bout myself. He clam on
top of me and fuck and fuck, even when my head bandaged. Nobody ever
love me, I say” (97). It is thus apparent that Celie has a deep blue life.
However, all female characters are paradoxically able to free themselves
from all dominations with the embrace of blues music. To Patricia Hill
Collins, blues has occupied a special place in Black women’s music as a site
of expression of Black women’s self-definitions (148). In this case, Shug
can be taken as a good example of how black women make use of blues
music to break away from the oppressive system.
Like Celie’s, Shug’s life is filled with deep blue. At the beginning of
the story, Shug is described as a successful blues singer, whom Mr._______
has been in love with for many years. Although she is portrayed as a very
successful and desirable blues singer, Shug has been struggling
tremendously to get to where she is. In her conversation with Celie, Shug
once says that her mother never loves her and will not even touch her, while
her father makes sexual advances: “One thing my mama hated me for was
how much I love to fuck, she say. She never love to do nothing had anything
to do with touching nobody…[m]y daddy love me to kiss and hug him”
(103). Once she is in love with Mr._______, she refuses to marry him due to

his weakness to confront his father about their love: “But, he weak, she say.
His daddy told him I’m trash, my mama trash before me. His brother say the
same. Albert try to stand up for us, git knock down” (104). Moreover, Shug
still has to confront harsh criticism, for example, the preacher uses her as an
example of the evils in society: “Even the preacher got his mouth on Shug
Avery…[h]e take her condition for his text…[h]e talk about a strumpet in
short skirts, smoking cigarettes, drinking gin. Singing for money and taking
other women mens” (40). The worst thing can be seen when she gets
seriously ill and neither her parents nor other women at the church are
willing to help her: “Her mammy say she told her so. Her pappy say, Tramp.
A woman at church say she dying- maybe two berkulosis or some kind of
nasty woman disease” (40). Nevertheless, Shug refuses to be dominated by
anyone. Instead of subjecting her will to others and allowing them to
imposed an identity upon her, she has fashioned her own identity with the
world of blues music.
In other words, Shug makes use of blues music to break the silence
about the patriarchal system that abuses her. As a very successful blues
singer, Shug is one of a few female characters who can travel in the larger
world outside the black community. According to Alan Lomax, although
some of the first blues songs heard by Whites were sung by black women,
the blues tradition was always considered to be masculine and not many
black women were to be found singing the blues in juke joints (76). The fact
that Shug is able to earn her living by singing blues music obviously shows
how she is free from traditional gender roles. Instead of being seen as a
passive and an unwilling object of male desire, Shug is a very strongminded woman who can function economically and emotionally
independent of the black patriarchal lifestyle. With her blues spirit, Shug
often expresses herself in a different way from other conventional black
women. Even when she is ill, she still maintains the great appearance of the
blues queen as Celie repeats: “She dress to kill. She got on a red wool dress
and chestful of black beads. A shiny black hat with what look like

chickinhawk features curve down side one cheek, and she carrying a little
snakeskin bag, match her shoes” (41-42). During the visit of Mr._______’s
father, Shug also uses blues music to battle with the old man. While the old
Mr._______ is cursing her, Shug can be heard humming inside the house. It
seems that Shug pits her song against what the old man does wrong on her:
“She black as tar, she nappy headed. She got legs like baseball bats” (49).
Therefore, it is possible to conclude that Shug is able to create her own
sense of self through the singing of blues music. It is her means of unique
self-expression. With the embrace of blues spirit, although she is despised
by people in her black community, she never feels threatened by those
evaluations of her. She is able to survive all difficulties and choose to live in
her own way.
Besides Shug, the world of blues music also serves as a catalyst to
free some other female characters in Walker’s The Color Purple. In this
case, Squeak serves as another example of a woman liberated through blues
music. Mary Agnes, or Squeak, is introduced in the story as Harpo’s new
lover during his separation from Sofia. Like Celie, Squeak is a very timid
and submissive young woman. Due to the fact that light skin is considered
to be more attractive, Squeak’s only claim for positive identity is through
her yellow skin, as she is a young mixed-raced woman. Rather than being
seen as an individual, she is then more like a sexually, racially and socially
acceptable object in black community. Her subordinate state can also be
found through the fact that she is willing to please and mind Harpo that he
re-names her Squeak. Squeak turns out to be a real individual after she is
raped by a white warden, who is her uncle, when she tries to free Sofia out
of jail. According to Lindsey Tucker, the fact that Squeak is raped by a
white man suggests that her white identity is turned against her (87).
Whiteness can be seen as a source of violence that a text imposes on her.
This experience finally separates her from her false identity and urges her to
create the new and authentic identity of her own. Again, Squeak is able to
find her own voice through the singing of blues music. At the beginning,

Shug serves as the source of her first song, but soon after Squeak starts
making her own songs. In creating her songs, Squeak uses her own body as
the creative source. Once in Harpo’s juke joint, she sings:
They calls me yellow
like yellow be my name
But if yellow is a name
Why ain’t black the same
Well, if I say Hey black girl
Lord, she try to ruin my game (85-86)
In the above song, Squeak strongly expresses her feeling towards the
abusive system.
Black and yellow are associated with the standard of beauty created by a
white patriarchal world where people are always judged by their skin color
and outer appearance. Through her singing, Squeak is able to turn down
those negative identities imposed on her. She shows the public that she
actually has something more valuable than her long hair and beautiful
yellow skin. Instead of being seen as an object of male desire, Squeak
makes use of blues music as the way to show her sense of creativity and her
ability to lead her independent life. By singing her song, she is able to deny
both her nickname and her color name. When Celie decides to leave
Mr._______, Squeak also insists with Harpo that she is going to join Shug
in the North: “I want to sing, say Squeak” (172). Like other blues singers,
Squeak is able to make a large amount of money by singing in the juke
joint. In this case, the juke joint is considered a space of freedom and selfdetermination for black women. The usual patriarchal dividing line between
male and female seems to be blurred in the juke joint. Once women get a
chance to be in public, they have more power to control their lives and
create destinies of their own. By the end of the novel, Squeak shows her full
potential as an independent woman. She decides to leave Grady, her new

boyfriend, and moves back to Memphis to live with her sister and mother.
She has many new songs and feels good enough to sing them. Without her
ability to sing, Squeak would be the same as any other black women and
would not be able to escape from the tyrannical patriarchal system.
Needle Work
Like letter writing, needlework, such as spinning, sewing and
weaving has long been associated with women. Considered as a traditional
female role, needlework is then devalued and often seen as a trivial activity
in most people’s eyes. In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, however,
needlework plays a very significant role in the story as a way black women
use to release themselves from the oppressive system. In this case, quilt
making can be taken as a perfect symbol of the artistry that grows out of
1
women's solidarity. According to Judy Anne Johnson Breneman , the
African American quilt has a long history. It could be traced back to the
slavery period when many African American women were brought to
America to work for spinning, sewing and quilting in their master’s
household. When these African Americans became very good at quilting,
they used their free time to made scrap quilts for their family. Breneman
points out that “[African] quilts were made for every use out of necessity.
Scraps, discarded clothing and feed sacks, were materials used.” Those
handmade quilts can also be regarded as an important representation of
African American heritage as they are often passed down in the families
from generation to generation.
Quilt making, however, is not only presented in Alice Walker’s The
Color Purple as the way to express the creative energy among African
Americans, but also a means for black women to form solidarity to resist
oppression. After Celie and Sofia argue about the advice Celie has given
1
An online article taken from Women Folk’s website: http://womenfolk.com (no page
number)
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Harpo to beat her, Sofia suggests that they should make a quilt together:
“Let’s make quilt pieces out of these messed up curtains, she [Sofia] say”
(39). Quilt making is then not simply marginal women’s activity, but it is
actually the establishment of a genuine bond between two women. While
working on their stitches, they also develop their resisting spirit as they
strengthen and comfort each other. Celie obviously shares the same thought
as Sofia when they quilt together. The fact that they make a quilt in a pattern
called “Sister’s Choice” (53) and Celie gives it to Sofia as a gift once she
has left Harpo reveals the close bond between the two women. Significantly,
it is also the first time Celie begins to act on her own, making a decision to
give a quilt to Sofia instead of Shug. By giving her product of creativity to
Sofia, it implies that Celie takes side with Sofia and supports her decision to
break away from the abusive system.
Apart from signifying the relationship between Celie and Sofia, the
quilt making also plays a very important role in many parts of the story.
Another instance in which quilting is connected to female bonds can be seen
during a visit of Tobias, Mr._______’s brother. Like the old Mr._______,
Tobias is the representative of the patriarchal power. He comes to dissuade
Mr._______ from living with Shug. Unlike his father, Tobias does not
threaten Shug but he attempts to seduce her because of her reputation as a
loose woman. In patriarchal fashion, Tobias seems to divide women into
two kinds; they are either useful for their work or for the sexual pleasure
they give. While he values Celie for the first reason and wishes his wife is
more like her, he puts Shug into the second category and tries to seduce her.
During their conversation, his argument is also established on the attempt to
stir up rivalry between Celie and Shug, whom he refers to as “the Queen
Honeybee” (50). However, it is obvious that these two women are able to
reject Tobias’s evaluation of them. Again, quilt making is used as a defense,
or a kind of affirmation of female bonds. Throughout a visit from Tobias,
Celie is seen working on her quilt. She does not actually pay any attention to
Tobias’s words but focuses on her stitching: “I piece on my square. Look at

the colors of the clothes” (51). Once Shug enters the room and confronts
Tobias, she does a similar thing by turning all her interest to the quilt
making. She asks, “[h]ow you sew this damn thing?” (51) and she makes an
attempt to sew for the first time with Celie’s help. As Tobias leaves, Celie
observes “I see myself sitting there quilting tween Shug Avery and
Mr._______. Us three set together gainst Tobias and his fly speck box of
chocolate” (52). In this case, the quilt making can be seen as the healing
process that shelters women from patriarchal power. Although Tobias
makes an attempt to raise the conflict between Celie and Shug, they are able
to overcome such negative feelings by driving their attention to the
traditional feminine activity. Through the quilt making, Celie also feels
valuable as part of the family for the first time ever as she mentions “for the
first time [she] feel just right” (52).
In addition, a quilt operates as a rich metaphor for the theme of
women’s solidarity (Tucker 93). The process of quilt making often involves
the making of useful objects from different pieces of materials, which are
normally regarded as worthless; scraps and throwaways. The fact that those
scraps are pieces of clothing belonging to an individual also contributes to
the significance of the quilt as they often carry a story within them.
However, those scraps can turn to be a truly beautiful and functional work
of art only when they are sewn together. Otherwise, it would be only
worthless pieces of cloth. Like a patchwork quilt, the women’s solidarity
also incorporates the power from each individual woman, who has different
gender roles, sexual orientations and talents. While a quilt is made from
piecing together mismatched bits of cloth, the strong resisting spirit against
the abusive system in Walker’s The Color Purple is also formed by putting
together the mismatched lives of women. Although each of those women
carries on the different life stories, their experiences can be useful to one
another when they are shared and put together. Without solidarity, each
woman would be like the worthless pieces of scrap. They would not be able
to break free from the dominations alone.

Another remarkable creation by Celie’s needle is her pants. Like
other kinds of needlework, making pants has long been seen as a marginal
and unimportant women’s labor. However, Celie is able to turn it into her
source of freedom and economic independence. Celie’s inspiration to make
her first pair of pants comes from Shug. After discovering that her letters
from Nettie have been hidden for years, Celie’s madness is manifested in
her desire to kill Mr._______. Still, Shug manages to get Celie focused on
something other than plotting to kill Mr._______ by having her make some
pants. This can be seen as a very positive way to turn Celie’s anger into a
productive creation as she comments: “A needle and not a razor in my
hand” (125). By starting to make and wear her pants, Celie shows her
potential as an individual, who has finally found a way to express herself.
Since the wearing of pants and trousers is often associated with masculinity,
Celie is showing, in a small way, the way in which women can do the same
as men. As she does all the work around the place, Shug points out that
Celie should also wear men’s clothing while laboring in the field. At first
Celie does not agree with the idea because she believes that pants are only
for men, and Mr._______ will never let her wear them: “Mr._______ not
going to let his wife wear pants” (124). Then, she sees the logic of Shug’s
argument: “It’s a scandless, the way you look out there plowing in a dress.
How you keep from falling over it or getting the plow caught in it is beyond
me” (124). Thus, Celie’s pants are obviously associated with freedom and
movement. Without the confines of a dress, women can be as active as men
since they are able to move more freely and do a greater variety of activities.
The fact that Celie is finally able to break the traditional feminine dress code
also shows the reader the extent to which Celie has grown and developed
her sense of self. She completely throws away her role as a passive and
submissive object. A clear example of Celie’s new found strength can be
seen when she goes and confronts her stepfather. While going there, both
Celie and Shug dress in “flower pants”, similar in style but different in color
(152). The wearing of pants here signifies the fact that these two women are

independent of the old form of male dominations. Significantly, the fact that
their pants are patterned in colorful flowers illustrates that the darkness of
Celie’s life has finally come to an end. Her life with the new sense of self is
now as wonderful as the blossoming of flowers and trees in the spring.
Apart from indicating Celie’s self-confidence, making pants can also
be seen as her source of economic independence. After moving to Memphis
with Shug, Celie is stunned with her new freedom because she has been
imprisoned by a patriarchal system all her life. Since her life has been in the
serving position for years, Celie makes an attempt to accompany and help
Shug during her singing tour. Again, Shug suggests that Celie sew some
pants while she is gone. Before long, Celie is drawing much attention from
people in the pants that she designs and creates. With Shug’s
encouragement, Celie launches the enterprise called Folkspants, Unlimited.
Through her successful business, Celie is able to gain her financial
independence from Shug and Mr.______, despite his discouragement: “All
you fit to do in Memphis is be Shug’s maid…you nothing at all” (177-178).
As it is believed that women are supposed to rely on men for everything, the
fact that Celie is able to make her own money implies that she does not need
men anymore. It is through her pants business that Celie attains her full
liberation from the patriarchal system. In addition, Celie’s pants business
also provides her with a new identity. As a successful entrepreneur, she is
no longer seen as a submissive housewife, but she is now a master of
something. She does not have to live with men and do what they tell her
anymore.
Conclusion
Alice Walker suggests in her novel The Color Purple another way in
which women can escape from patriarchal oppression. Apart from the
common theme of female’s solidarity, black women can also find a way
toward their liberation through some kinds of feminine activities, including

letter writing, singing blues music and doing needlework. Although all these
activities are often regarded as trivial and unimportant female labor, they
actually provide a private space for black women to express themselves and
their feelings as well as their sense of intellectuality. Letter writing is used
by Celie and Nettie as their means of self confession and expression. It also
shows readers the development of Celie’s sense of self. In a similar way,
blues music plays a very important role in liberating many black women in
the story, including Shug and Squeak. It enables them to escape from the
abusive patriarchal system and lead their independent life. In addition, some
black women in Walker’s The Color Purple use needlework as their means
to free themselves from oppressions. While quilt making is used as a symbol
of female bonds, Celie’s making and wearing of pants suggests the way
black women gain more freedom and liberty. It also serves as Celie’s source
of economic independence. Throughout the course of the story, Alice
Walker gives many lessons that all minorities can learn from. In order to
construct their sense of self, it is not necessary to start by doing big and
difficult things. Like those women in The Color Purple, sometimes trivial
and minor activities can be used as a means to create a unique sense of self.
It is, however, more important to stand for what one believes and make a
difference.
References
Breneman, Judy Anne Johnson. “African American Quilts: A Long Rich
History.” Women Folk. 2001. 20 December 2006.
<http://womenfolk.com/quilting_History/afam/htm>.
Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness,
and the Politics of Empowerment. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge,
2000.
Donovan, Josephine. “The Silence is Broken.” Women and Language in
Literature and Society. Ed. Sally McConnell-Ginet, Ruth Borker and
Nelly Furman. New York: Praeger, 1980. 205-218.
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Fifer, Elizabeth. “Alice Walker: The Dialect and Letters of The Color
Purple.” Contemporary American women writers: narrative
strategies. Ed. Catherine Rainwater and William J. Scheick.
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1985. 155-165.
Kamien, Michael. Music: An Appreciation. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw
Hill, 1984
Lomax, Alan. The Land Where the Blues Began. New York: Pantheon
Books, 1993
Tucker, Lindsey. “Alice Walker’s The Color Purple: Emergent Woman,
Emergent Text.” Black American Literature Forum 22.1 (1988):
81-95.
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. New York: Harcourt Brace Javanovich,
1982.