Gender Violence in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Alice
Walker’s The Color Purple
Ary Syamanad Tahir
Istanbul Aydin University, arytahir@ymail.com
Abstract
It is clear that genders determine the position of people all over the world. This truth
charges genders, especially women. If they are not only females but also colored, it
becomes much more difficult to live in any community. This paper is an attempt to
explain and analyze the gender violence in two novels, Alice Walker's The Color
Purple and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. The paper evaluates the treatment of
violence, rape, incest and gender identity. The paper also examines the trauma of
black women in both novels and attempts to show that how the color of skin
becomes undesirable identity for major protagonists Pecola and Celie. My attempt is
to show how gender identity is explored and constructed in the two novels and how
the concept of beauty is socially constructed. It has been analyzed that race decides
the fate in Afro-American girls and ladies and how they were obliged to live a
disastrous life. The inhuman treatment drives them to stride outside and violate the
social and patriarchal rules. The paper consists of four parts, the first part is an
introduction to the concept of gender. The second part outlines the history of slavery
in the United Sates. The paper examines the African American life throughout the
period of slavery and then its abolishment. Racial prejudice and the Civil Right
Movements will also be investigated. The third part presents the theme racism in The
Color Purple; deals with how the protagonist, Celie, suffers due to the color of her
skin; finally focuses on identity issue. The final part presents the theme of racism in
The Bluest Eye; discusses why the protagonist, Pecola, obsesses to get blue eyes, and
how she possesses a fantasy image of the perfect life; finally focuses on the issue of
search for love and identity.
Key Words: Gender Issue, Sexual, Physical Psychological Violence, Mental
breakdown& Emancipation of Women.
1. Gender Issue in The Bluest Eye& The Color Purple
Gender can be defined as a social condition of being male or female normally used
with mention to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. The role of
gender throughout history cannot be disregarded in how someone behaves and how is
deemed in society. Femininity and masculinity of a child is taught since his/her early
age. Gender restricts some conduct, and some behaviors are more common among
males while some are not and the reverse is true. The concept of gender is different
from the concept of sex.
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Sex refers to the biological characteristic distinguishing male and female
this definition emphasizes male and female differences in chromosome
anatomy, hormones, reproductive systems, and other physiological
components. Gender refers to those social, cultural, and psychological traits
linked to males and females through particular social contexts (John 14).
Sex differs from gender in their biological and social construct 'Male' and 'female' are
sex categories, while 'masculine' and 'feminine' are gender categories. Sex is an inborn
status while gender is an acquired status. The concept of gender is by far, more
complicated than the concept of sex. The question of gender is typically structured
from the perspective of society where individual lives at since gender is not an inborn
characteristic; it is prone to societal changes. Society defines how individuals interact
with others and how they are viewed in societal media. Further, gender is prone to
changes. Male or female is determined since our births, but we learn to behave in
masculine or feminine manners. Beauvior states that “One is not born, but rather
becomes, a woman” (129). Beauvoir is also of the opinion that gender is not prescribed
from birth, but a temporal process changing and evolving over time to place new limits
on behavior and interaction. Beauvoir’s perspective emphasizes the dichotomy, where
female and male are considered different and separate categories: the category of male
been seen as superior and the female as both weak and subordinated to the male.
Social and institutional practices more obviously highlight the sources of gender
differentiation than the fixed characteristics of an individual. As Berschied states:
"gender differentiation takes on added importance because many of the
attributes and roles selectively promoted in males and females tend to be
differentially valued with those ascribed to males generally being regarded
as more desirable, effectual and of higher status" (44).
Eagly is support Berscheid‘s quotation by saying that "many gender differences in
social behavior are viewed as products of division of labor between the sexes that get
replicated through sociostructural practices governed by disparate gender status and
power" (19).
The differentiation of human beings on the basis of gender is an important
phenomenon that affects practically every aspect of people’s daily lives. Gender
determines the status of people all over the world. "Sex, gender, race, sexual identity,
and class profoundly influence individuals’ knowledge, experience, and opportunities"
(Andersen and Collins 67). On the other hand , Paula argues that "differences between
women and men are never merely differences but are constructed hieratically so that
women are always portrayed as different in the sense of being deviant and deficient"
(7). Because the realm of women in society to serve the desires of men that is why they
label them under such framework. According to social role theory, gender roles
directly and indirectly create differences in behavior based on the perceived role that
the particular gender should play. While persons adapt to and behave in accordance
with their gender roles, they directly conform stereotypes about what is accepted for
men and women.
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Both The Color Purple and The Bluest Eye examine the issue of gender violence. Toni
Morrison and Alice Walker highlight how black women due to gender and, color of
skin may lead black people towards a dark tunnel. Gender violence is prevalent in both
novels. There are many striking examples of gender violence in the two novels. Both
novels describe in graphic detail the pain that black women suffered as they were
beaten, raped, humiliated, and abused merely because of their colors and genders.
2. Sexual Violence in The Bluest Eye
Black women have been stigmatized and oppressed sexually during slavery time, as
well as in their own consecutive communities. At slavery time black women lived in a
sexual oppressive culture. Rape has been fundamental tool of sexual violence directed
against black women. Black women have been profoundly affected by sex hierarchy.
Black women inhabit a gender hierarchy in which inequality of race and social classes
have been sexualized. Black females were double oppressed. First, they have been
sexually oppressed by white masters under the institutionalized slavery. Second, they
have been victimized by family members and social institutions. The Bluest Eye is a
series of extended tragedy of black women’s life throughout slavery time. “The Bluest
Eye is a narrative of both violence and violation . Incest and rape become metaphors
for both black and white nightmares of inverted love and suffocation of selfhood”
(Roberta 144).
In the novel, there are many scenes where the characters involved in sexual violence.
Pocola is the protagonist of the novel raised in an unkind and uncaring family. Her
parents show her no love, no affection and no basic education; therefore trauma and
depression fill her life. One day, Cholly returned home drunk and saw his Pecolla
washing dishes. She was bending over the sink and with her toe was scratching her
calf. When Cholly saw her, he was at once reminded of his wife’s gesture which was
exactly the same when he first met her. Cholly feels that he is free of responsibility
even towards his own daughter Pecolla, he is free from all family relations. Cholly
raped her own daughter mercilessly. “She was washing dishes. Her small back
hunched over the sink. Cholly saw her dimly and could not tell what he saw or what
he felt. Then he became aware that he was uncomfortable; next he felt the discomfort
dissolve into pleasure. The sequence of his emotions was revulsion, guilt, pity, then
love “( Morrison161). Cholly’s background life is closely connected with Pecolal’s rape.
Chooly raised in a traumatic environment. His parents were abandoned him, he grew
up by Aunt Jimmy. His basic education was limited, he quitted school. He was distant
from people, from society, from love, and from responsibility. According to Husain
“Parental supervision is considered as one of the most important elements in the
development of personalities and character” (227). Cholly received no parental
supervision; he was deprived from his family’s care. Cholly brought up from the
disintegration family, he also suffers from frustration and helplessness because of
being black. His family’s background life negatively impacts of his own life. Therefore,
Cholly never cared for his family, his house, his wife and his children. Consequently,
Choly turned into abusive man; he has developed into a hazardously free beast whose
conduct cannot be controlled by any means. “Dangerously free. Free to feel whatever
he felt—fear, guilt, shame, love, grief, pity. Free to be tender or violent, to whistle or
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weep” (145). Pecola’s rape came as a natural outcome of her father’s suffering in his
life; therefore Cholly’s life misery added another traumatic chapter to his own
daughter’s life. On the other hand, this rape exposes inequality between male and
female. Cholly exploited his masculine power to conduct the misdeed of rape.
Morrison demonstrates Pecola’s sufferings with excessive feelings of emotions, as she
was herself a victim of gender inequality in one way or another, thus her words came
as if she was telling her own life’s story. Portraying Pecola’s rape shows the mentality
of the men who hurt defenseless women for the sake of their sexual pleasure or
exerting their masculine power even these pleasures comes on behalf of others miseries
and harassments.
Likewise, Cholly’s past is bound up with raping Pecola. Pecola becomes a helpless
victim of his father’s first lust. At his grandmother’s funeral Cholly met a young
woman named Darlen with whom he had his first sexual experience. Cholly is
interrupted during his first sexual encounter by white hunters, who make him give a
brutalizing sexual performance at gunpoint: “Come on, coon. Faster. You ain’t doing
nothing for her” (135). When he sensed a humiliation, Cholly turned her hatred
towards Darlene. He was incapable to direct his anger toward the white hunter. He
adopted the same white men’s merciless culture towards their victims. “He cultivated
his hatred of Darlen”(137). The first sexual experience with Darlene is the first black
spot in Cholly’s life and leads him to rape Pecola. “One way for him to rid himself of
his fears is to project them onto Pecola, and in part he tries to destroy those fears by
raping her” (Vickroy 96). Colly sees a sexual experience as a way of releasing or getting
rid of his anger and fear of the white hunters who humiliated Cholly to peruse his sex
while they were watching them. Cholly’s release from anger and fear came on behalf of
his own daughter’s misery. For Pecola fatherhood became an enormity. The rape
occurred within her home it was supposed to be a shelter of comfort and education but
it turned to the opposites. This increased the tremendousness of her sufferings and left
her miserable for the rest of her life. “The dangerously free Cholly rapes her twice,
turning her ‘outdoors,’ pushing her towards the depths of despair and the fringes of
insanity” (Bharati, Joshi 42). The rape of Pecola by her father certainly caused Pecola’s
journey towards insanity because this rape left her pregnant and as a result, she was
excluded by the entire black community. Parenting failure of his own daughter Pecola
made Cholly an irresponsible individual; however he is well aware of his carelessness
and he considers that “had he not been alone in the world since he was thirteen,
knowing a dying woman who Felt responsible for him, but whose age, sex, and
interests were so remote from his own, he might have felt a stable connection between
himself and the children” (Morrison 160).
Henry, a new tenant in MacTeer’s house, molested Frieda. Frieda’s being alone at
home paved the way for Henry’s misconduct. He touched her body in a sexual way
and he started to pinch her tiny breasts. Henry has an intention to sexually abuse
Fieda. He waits Frieda’s reaction if she remains silence about his sexual advance then
he would proceed with his sexual drive. “He . . . picked at me.” “Picked at you? You
mean like Soaphead Church?” “Sort of.” “He showed his privates at you?” “Noooo.
He touched me” (99). Frieda was not pleased by Henry’s sexual drive of rape, She
started to inform her sister Claudia how she resisted Henry’s inappropriate act.
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Claudia showed her interest to hear what happened between Henry and Frieda. She
wished she was there during the incident to stop it and insult the rapist. Girls were not
fully aware why they became center of attention by men and they suffered all kinds of
submission, some of them did not know how to react and consequently became
helpless victims and their lives were stained by hopelessness and frustration. As soon
Frieda’s father knew about rape attempt, he decided to dismiss Henry from his house
as a punishment of what he did towards her daughter. The stand of Frieda father is
contrasted with Pecola’s father, how the latter neglected her daughter and even
involved in incest. The role of father in family is vital in securing and educating
children.
3. Physical and Psychological Violence in The Bluest Eye
The Bluest Eye is rich in instances of physical violence within the black society. Inside
Cholly’s family physical violence seems to be daily occurrence. Cholly Breedlove and
Pauline Breedlove are constantly fighting in an awful way. When their marriage starts
to fail Cholly and Pauline resorted to violence. “Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove fought each
other with a darkly brutal formalism that was paralleled only by their lovemaking”
(42). Violence seems to replace respect, love, and affection between them. Cholly has
lacked marital education; he thinks that Pauline is not worth to respect because she is a
woman. Cholly sees Pauline as sexual object, treated her as a means of obtaining sexual
satisfaction. Furthermore, Cholly has lived a life of deprivation and denials; this
reflected in the way that dealing with his wife. Life in the Breedlove household is
anything but restrained. The ritualized violence of Cholly and Mrs. Breedlove’s
relation psychologically affects their children, who constantly witness parental fights
that possess.
Cholly picked [Mrs. Breedlove] up and knocked her down with the back of
his hand. She fell in a sitting position. He put his foot in her chest
Dropping to his knee, he struck her several times. In the face…his wife
ducked…[she] snatched up the round, flat stove lid…and struck him two
blows, knocking him right back into the senselessness out of which she
provoked him (Morrison 44).
Both of them deal with each other under the impacts of white culture. They believe that
by using violence, they can defeat the other one. Both Cholly and Pauline adopted the
same norms of violence which white people used against black people during the
slavery time. Through the violence between Cholly and Pauline the fact of the
influential of white culture upon black community is occurs. “Perpetuating the vicious
cycles of poverty, violence, abuse, and fatherlessness that are transferred, like DNA,
from generation to generation” (Williams 17). Pauline even acts with her daughter in a
violence way, she believes that violence is the best way to deal with Pecol. When
Claudia and Frieda visited Pecola at Pauline’s workplace. Pauline asked them to wait
for lunch until she done laundry, Pecola, accidently tilted the pan full of boiled blue
berries and the entire juice was spilled on the ground. Pecola’s feet were injured. Mrs.
Breedlove, after seeing this, responded fiercely. She knocked Pecola down heartlessly
and expelled Pecola from her house. “In one gallop she was on Pecola, and with the
back of her hand knocked her to the floor. Pecola slid in the pie juice, one leg folding
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under her. Mrs. Breedlove yanked her up by the arm, slapped her again, and in a voice
thin with anger, abused Pecola directly and Frieda and me by implication” (84).
Physical violence is seems to be an endless terrible for Pecola. She is seen to be the
worst victim of physical violence by her mother and other black people. Junior is a
black boy uses violence against Pecola to torture and suppress her. Junior invites
Pecola to his house, but he has an ulterior motive and he entices Pecola into his house,
tells her to play and entertain with her. When Pecola entered to his house; Junior
throws his mother’s cat, which he enviously hates, in Pecola’s face. He is delighted at
her hurt and at her fear as he tells her she is locked in the house and is his prisoner.
When Pecola tries to escape Junior’s plans of doing away with his powerless, he
shouts, “You can’t get out. You’re my prisoner” (Morrison 84). When Junior attacks
Pecola’s face and attempts to hold hostage her, he is taking his abhorrence for his
mother out on both the cat and Pecola.. Like Pecola, Junior is a victim because he is
mistreated by his mother, but in a different way. He is not beaten or shouted at, but
Junior never receives affection or love from his mother. Geraldine like Pauline neglects
her children, and conforms white culture. She would never “talk to him, coo to him, or
indulge him in kissing bouts” when Junior was a child (80). This emotional
carelessness by his mother is only surpassed by “the difference in his mother’s
behavior to himself and the cat” (80). The quotation illustrates that the lack of care and
supervision from Geraldine drives Junior to recourse violence and take out his
annoyance on Pecola.
Excepting sexual and physical violence, The Bluest Eye is also shows examples of
psychological violence as directed on the black by the black. In most cases black
characters speak with each other in a harsh way. For example, Maureen Peal shouts
conceitedly at Pecola, Claudia and Frieda as, “I am cute! And you ugly! Black and ugly
black e mss. I am cute!” ( Morrison 56). Maureen’s behavior towards them is a white
master’s mentality that left for black people to abuse, discriminate, and exploit among
themselves. She is unconsciously hateful towards people in her own race, linked her
hatred for their physical features and colors of skin. By expressing such a harsh speech,
Maureen attempts to negatively affect their psychologies, because she touched a very
sensitive matter, she attacked their weak points and viewed them as inferior. She knew
that they loathe their color of skins. She overestimates herself and underestimates them
as a human. This kind of treatment makes them suffer a great personal embarrassment.
Indeed, they feel so bad and wired that they could not utter even a word to respond
Maureen.
At the same time, Geraldine is another black female character like Pecola, she is
obsessed with white beauty standard, and hates people in her color. She expresses her
speeches in a snotty way that her words make Pecola sense inferiority. “Get out. You
nasty little black bitch. Get out of my house” ( Morrison 72). His quotation illustrates
that Geraldine is uncomfortable, not proud with her blackness and removed herself
from the black community. The white culture is deeply embedded in her mind; she
imitates the ways of white community and taught to deny people in black color. She
fails to appreciate their own gender and race in terms of beauty, she believes beauty
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means white. Geraldine imagined that Pecola was the representative of all the negative
characteristics of black females:
She looked at Pecola. Saw the dirty torn dress, the plaits sticking out on
her head, hair matted where the plaits had come undone, the muddy shoes
with the wad of gum peeping out from between the cheap soles, the soiled
socks, one of which had been walked down into the heel on the shoe (
Morrison 85).
Pecola felt deeply insulted by Geraldine’s words; she held her head down and moved
homeward. Geraldine’s word causes Pecola so much pain and misery and planted the
seeds of inferiority in her heart. All these treatments of violence make Pecola feel an
outcast from the entire society and traumatized Pecola, because people in her race,
gender, and color insulted her. The issue of violence, as has been dealt with by
Morrison, demonstrates a pattern of root and result. Morrison deals not only with the
occurrences of violence but also portrays how it affects numerous aspects of life. The
major consequence of the violence, as has been presented in the novel, is disintegration
of the families. The characters inflict pain and suffering on their own family members
in such a way that they are no longer in a condition to live together. For instance,
Cholly Breedlove puts his own house on fire without thinking about the plight of
family members subsequently. As result, the family members get spread. Mrs.
Breedlove stays with the white for whom she works. Cholly is taken to jail. Sammy is
taken in by a family and Pecola comes to live with MacTeers.
4. Mental Break Down of Women in The Bluest Eye
There are numerous factors that directly contributed in deconstructing Pecola’s
psychology like her rape by her father, ill-treatment within family, outside family, and
obsession to white beauty standard. The novel shows that what occurs to a black
protagonist when faces rape, mistreatment, and conform to society’ norms.
Furthermore, indicates that what may happen to Pecola where there is a lack of
support, cooperation, unity, community and nurturing family. Pecola in her earliest
youth faced a worse kind of treatment by her father; she subjected to a terrible ordeal
and got raped by her father in her own house. She faced first trauma from her own
father. Her father, Cholly, fails to encourage her daughter to grow and develop a
positive ‘self’. He rather devastates her love by exploiting her body and stimulates selfhatred in her. This rape is a very traumatizing and horrifying event in Pecola’s life that
makes her never get back to normal. Usually fathers provide emotional support and
help their daughters to cope trauma while they get rape, but Cholly deformed her
reputation, dignity, integrity, and makes a situation which no one else could survive
her. The rape makes Pecola sense of helplessness, loss self-esteem, confidence and left
her unsupported emotionally. “Pecola tucked her head in — a funny, sad, helpless
movement. A kind of hunching of the shoulders, pulling in of the neck, as though she
wanted to cover her ears” (69). Family’s support system is more important for the
victims of rape but Pecola seems even deprived from this. After the sexual assault
Pecola needed someone to reduce her anxiety, Pecola tells Pauline her story that she
has been raped by her father, Pauline does not believe her and starts to insult and beat
her. Pecola attempts to create a close relation with her mother by sharing her agony.
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Conversely, Pauline did the opposite remained silent, she relatively shared the rape
because she ignored the raped, didn’t defend her daughter, and her behavior leads
Pecola into deepest sadness. Pecola‘s mother fails to offer the safe haven from the
world‘s conflicts and instead she rejects Pecola and brings her to the brink of mental
breakdown. Moreover, other society’ members underestimates Pecola’s character as
being raped by her father. "a nasty little black bitch” (86). People around Pecola began
to look at her with amusement. Such a kind of situation paved the ways to experience
further trauma in her life.
Similarly, her mother Pauline is playing a negative role in ruining Pecola’s psychology.
Pauline obsesses white beauty standard as well. She is unhappy with her identity as a
black female. The influential of white culture makes Pauline work as a servant in a
white family. Although she is a servant to the family, Pauline feels whole in this white
world, enjoying the nickname of Polly and getting great satisfaction out of cleaning the
beautiful house. Pauline gives her love freely to the white Fisher child, finding pleasure
in “brushing the yellow hair, enjoying the roll and slip of it between her fingers” as
compared to her own children’s “tangled black puffs of rough wool”
( Morrison127). Pauline uses “honey in her words” when dealing with the white child,
while “into her son she beat[s] a loud desire to run away, and into her daughter she
beat[s] a fear of growing up, fear of other people, fear of life” ( Morrison 129). Pauline
simply accepts that her familial situation is ugly and completely gives up on providing
a sense of purpose or even love to her children. Therefore, she directly affects Pecola to
adopt white beauty standard. Her mother influenced Pecola to discard her culture and
conform to white culture. Her mother makes her see herself through the eyes of white
people. Additionally, even among her own community, Pecola was unaccepted,
disliked and almost hated. She was mocked by her teachers, classmates. Therefore, she
desires that if she has blue eyes, maybe others would love her. “Here was an ugly little
black girl asking for beauty…A little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of
her blackness and see the world with blue eyes” (158). She couldn’t establish her
identity and open a new chapter in her life. Instead she devoted all her time to focus
only to the social norms; how to possess beauty, and how to be loved. The white
culture makes Pecola to neglect all other aspects in her life and view the life in one
angle which is beauty is her ultimate dreams. Obsessing with white beauty, Pecola
Breedlove in vain keeps attempting to release herself from her black identity. As Pecola
is a dark-skinned and real African-American complexion, both black and white society
has pushed her to view herself as an ugly figure. Pecola’s physical appearance dooms
her misery, misfortune and consequently to be a victim of classical racism. Classical
racism has become a concept that the “physical ugliness of blackness is a sign of a
deeper ugliness and depravity” (Taylor 16). This concept paves the way for ill-treating
of dark-skinned people due to their skins which is associated to “dark past” and to
uncivilized ways. Pecola does not represent white standard of beauty, as she lacks
preferable white skin and blue eyes, as a result she is viewed as an ugly individual and
undesirable events definitely will occur to her because she is not beautiful. The upper
hand belongs to white society, and Pecola reveals her desire to mirror white society.
“The concept of physical beauty as a virtue is one of the dumbest, most pernicious and
destructive ideas of the western world, and we should have nothing to do with it.”
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(Morrison 89) Her excessive desire to have white beauty makes her eat Mary Jane
candies, hoping that the candies will change her color. “Smiling white face. Blond hair
in gentle disarray, blue eyes looking at her out of clean comfort…To eat the candy is
somehow to eat the eyes, eat Mary Jane. Love Mary Jane. Be Mary Jane” (49). She
repressed all her feelings, her obsession of being light skin kept her helpless and
ultimately made her insane, because her hope of being a different person ended in
failure. Eventually, she finds no way to survive herself from her traumatic life; she
surrenders to the demon known as colorism and abandon from the entire of society.
She could not stand the abuse from her parents and other black people and
internalized all traumas. For Pecola insanity is the only way to escape in this traumatic
life. As Morrison states that “She has surrendered completely to the so-called. Master
Narrative,” the whole notion of what is ugliness, what is worthlessness. She got it from
her family; she got it from school; she got it from the movies; she got it from
everywhere” (Moyers). Pecola is psychologically fragmented and breakdown both by
the denial of hers by her community as well as the unspeakable. At that time society
showed excessive interest on the outward appearances of people and completely
turned a blind eye to the inner beauties.
5. Sexual Violence in The Color Purple
In The Color Purple black women endured a double-edged oppression: One they
oppressed as worker in the house as well as in the farms; two as an object of sexual
abuse. Celie is the central character in the novel. She is at the lowest of social class: she
is ugly, black, poor, and uneducated female. Her mother’s lack of physical and emotion
power burdens Celie’s shoulder. Celie’s responsibility is not only doing the household
duties, but she has to satisfy her father’s lust. She faces incessant violence from her
father and later in her life by husband. Her stepfather Alfonso is unkind, uncaring and
sexually obsessed man that appears to be typical man in patriarchy society. He is the
typical image of all negative aspects of patriarchy society. When Celie was only
fourteen, she was savagely raped by her stepfather. “First he put his thing up gainst
my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his
thing inside my pussy
( Walker 3). Leslie argues that “Rape is criminal. Rape is gendered. Rape is sexual. In
yet another three-word sentence, rape is. But rape is controversial precisely because it
is a crime that involves sex act” (Walker16). Her stepfather raped her which will take
for good to completely heal. This rape has left negative impacts in her life. At the first,
her stepfather starts to rape her when her mother is not at home. Then he says “you
better shut up and git used to it” (Walker4). Celie replies “But I don’t never git used to
it. And now I feel sick used to it. I be the one to cook. My mama she fuss at me an look
at me. She happy, cause he good to her now. But too sick to last long” ( Walker 5).
Celie’s words express the hugeness of her sufferance, and her misery clearly shows the
agony which she is going through. After the rape her father threatens Celie to hide the
reality of being raped. Alfonso, Celie’s stepfather forces her to stay silent about her
trauma. “"You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy" ( Walker 6).
Celie did exactly as she is told and became silent about her abuse, and only disclosed
her feelings through writing letters to God. This rape causes Celie low self-esteem, low
self-worth, nervousness, and disconnection, and makes her seem defenseless against
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her abuser “I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive” ( Walker 19).
As she sees herself as a victim of sexual assault, she has no ability to regard herself of
someone worth respect and love. Due to sexual assault, Celie no longer can imagine
herself as someone of value. Her father’s brutality begins to affect all aspects of her life;
she starts to lose interest in everything even in life itself. Her sufferings are expressed
in the letters to God. , she tells God about “her life of brutality and exploitation at the
hands of men she has encountered during her life” (McDowell 143).
The rape makes Celie abhor all men without exception. She looks at men as savage not
as human. She suffered a lot at the hands of the men. Men added only miseries to her
life. She is already destined to live as a black female in a patriarchy society. Both her
stepfather and husband marginalized Celie and keep her voiceless and without an
option to defend herself as a human. That is why in her life Celie is more happy with
women than with men. “I don’t even look at mens. I look at women, tho, cause I’m not
scared of them” (7). The rape scene of the novel “is based on Walker’s great-greatgrandmother, who was raped and impregnated at age 11 by her master Walker’s greatgreat-grandfather” (Winchell 85). Walker’s heroine in The Color Purple proves that a
rape victim could survive sexual violations, heal from this violence, and go on to live a
happy and fulfilling life. The narrator is firm about her abhorrence of rape, describing
it as “[m]orally wrong,” “not to be excused,” “[s]shameful,” and “politically corrupt”
(“Luna” 98).
Sexual intercourse in The Color Purple seems to be presented as rape or abuse. Alber
has sex with Celie in a cold and uncaring way. When the couple involve in sexual
intercourse, Celie seems lack of interest in Albert’s sexual pleasure. In their sexual
activity Celie doesn’t see Albert as an intimate partner. Celie sees the sexual
relationship with her husband as something that is not essential to her, because he
never cares of her pleasure. Their sexual relationship looks like rape because it lacked
affection and mutual pleasure. Celie is deeply unhappy with sex and is not at all
attracted to Albert. She explains her reaction: “I don’t like it at all. What is it to like? He
git up on you, heist your nightgown round your waist, plunge in. Most times I pretend
Iain’t there. He never know the difference. Never ast me how I feel, nothing. Just do his
business, get off, go to sleep” ( Walker 78). Celie does not feel love and respect by
Albert and their marriage is not based on love that is why she doesn’t satisfy with her
sexual experience.
Also in Sofia’s relationship with Harpo, normal sexual intercourse seen as raping. Sofia
has lost all interest for Harpo, and she doesn’t think he even notices. Sofia only wants
sex when it involves love and affection. Harpo, on the other hand, uses sex just for the
physical experience or as a means of submitting Sophia. Sofia in this way describes her
sexual act with Harpo:
I don't like to go to bed with him no more, she say.Used to be when he
touch me I'd go all out my head.Now when he touch me I just don't want to
be bothered Once he git on top of me I think bout how that's where he
Always want to be. She sip her lemonad I use to love that part of it, she say.
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I use to chase him home from the fiel from the field. Git all hot just
watching him put the children to bed. But no more. Now I feels tired all
the time. No interest (67)
This speech by Sofia indicated that this not sexual intercourse, this is rather sexual
violence. “Sexual violence is any sexual act that is perpetrated against someone's will.
Encompasses a range of offenses, including a completed nonconsensual sex act”
(Basile112). Basil‘s definition shows that Sophia makes love unwillingly. Sophia is in
need of love more than sex, but her husband in need of sex more than love.
The way the black men treat their wives, daughters and lovers in The Color Purple
resembles the conduct of the white persecutors; in the traditional southern African
American family, as well as in the houses of the slaveholders, the black woman is
treated as an inanimate object, a status which allows for the claim of the husband’s
dominance. Black men inherited the same culture of their white masters. They act with
their girls, wives, and lovers in same way of white men treated them. Sexual violence
against black women is rooted in the slavery time. During the period of slavery the
issue of sex was widespread which existed in the plantation and the entire of society.
In black woman’s world, the white man found somebody whom he might use without
making any vows. This leads to continuous use and abuse. As Learner summarizes:
“ since slavery, they (black women) have been exploited by white men
through rape or enforced sexual services. These sexual mores, which are
characteristic of the relationship of colonizers to the women of the
conquered group, function not only symbolically but actually to fasten the
badge of inferiority onto the enslaved group The black woman was
degraded by the sexual attack and, more profoundly, by being deprived of
a strong black man on whom she could rely for protection” (xxiii).
Slavery times clearly encountered some of the frightening tales of sexual violence in
particular and all types of violence in general against black women and these types of
violence were committed by white masters. Black men consciously or unconsciously
carried these violent manners. As a result black men started to steam out or reflect
violence applied on their own race, and specifically on the black females.
6. Physical and Psychological Violence in The Color Purple
Physical and psychological violence were another type of violence which used by black
men to oppress black females. Physical violence is a common occurrence in The Color
Purple. Celie lives in a male-dominated southern African American community and in
most parts of her life Celie has been a property in hands of sex-starved men. Her
stepfather treats her very harsh. He tortured her physically and psychologically. He
never cares about Celie’s feelings, emotions and her body, and treats her less than a
human. He causes emotional damage by never showing any respect for her as a human
being; he orders her around without ever saying anything kind to her. “He beat me
today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got something in my eye
but I didn't wink. I don't even look” ( Walker7).
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After Celie and Albert got married, the way men treated her did not change at all. Celie
got beaten in the same way. Albert’s behaviors are appalling even more and cruel than
Celie’s stepfather. Her husband beats Celie constantly and makes physical violence as
a tool to suppress. On a day that should be celebrated with love and passion, Albert
beats his new wife, Celie, on their wedding day. Also, his violent streak has been
passed onto his children, for they also insult and beat her.
He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t never hardly beat them.
He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking
through the cracks. It 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 man. (
Walker7).
Albert urged his children to be act violently against their stepmother Celie. One child
throws a stone at her head, causing her to bleed. “Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me.
Mr._______ say, Cause he my wife. Plus, she stubborn . All women good for—he don’t
finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind me of Pa” (24). Harpo
wonders why his father beats Celie, Mr._______. Informs him that beating a wife is a
manly and husbandly duty. He beats her because she is his wife, and moreover
because he believes she is obstinate. In his perspective, these are appropriate and
justifiable for such unmanly violence. Throughout all these traumatizing tragedies,
Celie began to lose respect for herself and made her forget to love. Her live seemed like
a dark tunnel without a ray of hope. For Celie, life with Mr._____ is not better than life
with her father. Mr. ____ believes that the best way to submit a woman is to insult her.
Thus, he beats Celie very often and never loves her. He wants a wife simply because he
needs someone to look after of him and of his naughty children.
Mr. ____ verbally and physically abused her. He expected her to manage all the
housework and demanded that she took care of his kids, “They look at me there
struggling with Mr.____ children” (Walker 45). If Celie refused, she was
punished. Celie calls her husband "Mr.-" which is reflected by her silenced condition
and his brutality. Mr.___ beats Celie all the time, she writes, in one of her letters to
God, "I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how come I know
trees fear men" (24). Celie would “be wood” because wood does not feel pain. Her
father and husband dominate Celie and make her feel like she was bad, as if she did
something to deserve this trauma. She felt she was worth little because she should
allow her stepfather and husband to do thing like this to her. She felt controlled,
dominated and therefore subordinate to men.
Physical violence is seen in the relationship between Harpo and his wife Sofia. He
beats his wife because “the woman s’pose to mind” (65). In Harpo’s view, it is a
respectable thing for a man to do to his wife. Even though there is nothing wrong with
Harpo and Sofia’s marriage, Harpo wants to control his wife. Mr.__ advises Harpo to
take over Sofia the way most men do, by using violence. When Harpo asks Celie how
he can control Sophia, Celie tells Harpo to beat her, even though Celie believes the
couple to be happy as they are. Sofia confronts Celie about her advice Harpo to beat
Sofia in order to control her; Celie takes the first step toward getting herself out of
silence. She feels ashamed and admits for the first time in her life that she feels jealous
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of Sofia's ability to do what she can never do, that is fighting back whoever dares to
abuse her. Celie tells Sofia, "I say it cause I'm jealous of you. I say it cause you do what
I can't […] Fight” (40). Celie realizes that bringing violence into a marriage damages it,
but she’s jealous that Sofia isn’t beaten and that Harpo can be married three years and
"still whistle and sing. Celie didn’t physically beat Sofia up but she did violence against
her soul by encouraging Harpo to do it.
There are many ways of harassing a woman psychological brutality. One of the most
common one is using verbal oppression or misuse which means that women are
humiliated and often seen as stupid. Secondly, detaching the woman from keeping in
touch with relatives and friends or social institutions, is regarded as a way of brutality
which prohibits her from aid and support. Thirdly, the woman depends on her
husband economically. Furthermore, the woman is usually petrified and menaced by
the divesting relationships she lives within. Apparently, in Celie's case these criteria
can be applied of psychological trauma. Indubitably, is the object of humiliating and
dehumaninsing comments and perspectives by her life partner. Symptomatically, Celie
is repeatedly exposed to sexual molestation. Furthermore, her husband deprives her
from contacting her sister Nettie, Celie is moneyless and economically dependent on
her husband Albert.
His questioning of his wife’s decision to leave him for Memphis can be seen as an
attempt from his side to frighten her: “Nothing up North for nobody like you… He
laugh. Maybe somebody let you work on the railroad” (Walker 186). Clearly, he
resolvedly warns his wife what she must do and through his speech he seems to ask
Celie to not leave him. The patriarchal order is observed by fulfilling his wish.
Moreover, for the patriarchal maintenance Celie is repeatedly beaten, as a way of being
obedient wife and not to question the brutality authority of her husband.
She is certainly dehumanized by her husband’s remarks which makes it obvious when
he makes up his mind to call her in The Color Purple, Celie's way of calling or naming
her husband seems to denote the social distance between them. It might symoblise the
authority he is embedded with both a man and upholder of the white man's norm. In
addition to, Celie encounters another kind of oppression of being disconnected from
family members and close friends, because Albert is concealing the letters to Celie from
her sister. This can be considered as indicator of the visibility of patriarchy system in
that situation. Albert controls his wife's life in every sense of the word. The patriarchal
oppression can be seen at the beginning of the novel, her voiced is silenced.
Due to the fact that Mr _____ is hiding the letters to Celie from her sister Nettie she is
deprived of her integrity. This can be seen as an indication of how patriarchy in one
way becomes visible in the way Mr _____ takes control over his wife’s life. At the
beginning of the novel and the relationship with Mr _____, when Celie faces a great
part of the patriarchal oppression, her voice is also marginalized. Along with her
character development and patriarchal. Clearly, this quote highlights enough well how
is taking over his wife and undermines her status and individuality. His power over
her is once again revealed, in one of her letters to her sister, Celie puts her feelings into
words and complains about the male domination by these words: Well, you know
wherever there’s a man, there’s trouble” (Walker 186).
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7. Emancipation of Women in The Color Purple
Although Celie the central character suffers terribly from the impacts of the plight of
sexism and racism, she does not give in and finally she was victorious. Celie go
through a notable personal change. She developed gradually from being miserable,
passive and abused by her husband to manage her own business, possessing her own
house and feels satisfactory. Despite all of the various misery of her life, Celie is able to
liberate herself from the plights of patriarchy. At the end of the novel, she becomes
completely liberated woman; she frees herself physically, spiritually and economically.
Her stepdaughter Sofia and her best friend Shug are behind of her triumph and
emancipation. Sofia and Shug aid Celie make many new discoveries; bestowing her
that woman can struggle too, to help her to discover her identity. Furthermore, Sofia
and Shug aid her see that she is not destined of serving black men without valuing any
appreciation, they taught Celie, to regain her own identity. “Celie is eventually
introduced to another way of living by the strong female characters of Sofia and Shug
who embrace her in a kind of sisterhood, which is a way for oppressed women to resist
patriarchy” (Tyson 101). Sofia plays an essential role in developing Celie’s character.
Sofia represents an example of strong character. Celie admires her personality and
later on her great personal charisma affect Celie’s positive transformation. Sofia is the
first woman Celie meets who strongly fights male abuse; she confronts Celie’s silence
and influences her development into self-determining woman, Sofia’s active resistance
of her abuse draws Celie’s attention. Celie describes Sofia as a woman who owns a
physical attendance as well as a powerful inner determination, Celie describes, "[Sofia
is] Solid. Like if she sit down on something, it be mash"( Walker 36). Unlike Celie, Sofia
leaves Harpo because of his bad treatment. She never accepted ill-treatment by her
husband. She fights back when Harpo attempts to rule her with an iron fist. Sofia reacts
fiercely to fault. In fact, it is her refusal to lesson, or belittles herself that almost leads to
her destruction. Her reactions were so braver not only towards black men, but towards
the white people as well. Sofia shows Celie how to defy men and how to stand up to
prejudice and inequality.
No need to say no more, Mr.___ say. You know what happen if somebody slap Sofia.
Squeak go white as a sheet. Naw, she say. Naw nothing, I say. Sofia knock the man
down. The polices come, start slinging the children off the mayor, bang they heads
together. Sofia really start to fight. (Walker85)
Sofia attempts to arouse Celie’s consciousness, her voice inspires Celie to act and get
rid of her controlled emotions. Sofia’s boldness gives Celie the strength to struggle to
be a stronger person. Eventually, Sofia’s bravery reflects on Celie’s behaviors and
actions. For example, when Celie found out that Albert hid her sister’s letters she
curses out Albert, she acted like Sofia, and Sofia comes to encourage and appreciate her
attitude towards Albert. Through Sofia’s courageous Celie learns how to defy her
husband, how not to let black men persecute her anymore. Sofia is one who guides
Celie in in her journey towards discovery her long suppressed selfhood.
Like Sofia, Shug Avery helps Celie develop in various ways. Before Celie met Shug.
Celie saw a picture of Shug and she was excited about her picture, she was impressed
by her beauty and felt that a very strong feeling of womanhood towards her. Celie
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writes, "Shug Avery was a woman. The most beautiful woman I ever saw” (16). Celie
definitely realizes that Shug's realm is entirely different from hers. Shug's world is free
while Celie's world is stained by restrictions and limitations. Shug motivates Celie to
leave Albert if he continues to torture her. Both Celie and Shug spend their time
together talking to each other which indicates their mutual interests and their love for
each other, Celie describes their time together, "Me and Shug cook, talk, clean the
house, talk, fix up the tree, talk, wake up in the morning, talk" (106) . Shug's friendship
gives Celie a voice. She starts to help and guide other female friends like Sofia. While
Sofia is in prison, Celie visits her and takes care of her. Sofia's strong spirit is crushed
when she is tortured in prison, and she begins toact like Celie, Sofia tells Celie,
"Everytime they ast me to do something, Miss, I act like I'm you. I jump right up and
do just what they say" (88).
Shug and Celie's relationship begins to strengthen when shug knows what happened
to Celie and how she endured all kinds of miseries. One day, Celie narrates her life
story for Shug how she was raped repeatedly by her stepfather when she was only
fourteen. Both Celie and Shug start to cry and Shug treats Celie very kindly and tries to
alleviate her sorrows. Celie describes Shug's reaction and her own sadness:
Oh, Miss Celie, she [Shug] say. And put her arms round me […] I start to
cry too. I cry and cry and cry. Seem like it all come back to me, laying there
in Shug arms. How it hurt and how much I was surprise. […] Don't cry,
Celie, Shug say. Don't cry. She start kissing the water as it come down side
my face. (108).
Tracy states that "Shug is the first person that Celie tells about Alphonso's rapes and
therefore enables Celie's first active refusal of her stepfather's command to "shut up"
and "git used to it" (5) Celie tells about her trauma, and thus, experiences the
comforting and responsive love of an attentive listener. This enables Celie to mourn
her past life and receive a comprehension of her story. Shug helped Celie in finding her
sister’s letters by revealing their place and consequently Celie found her sister Nettie.
Finding these letters were a turning point in her life as she begin to explore hope once
again and she began to rebel her husband’s authority for the first time.
Celie planned to murder Albert by using a razor as a retaliation but Shug intervened
and made Celie reconsider her decision. Shug acts as a spiritual guide for Celie.
"Nobody feel better for killing nothing" ( 134) . Shug wants to soothe Celie from her
anger and sorrow hence, she suggests, "Times like this, […] us ought to do something
different. […] let's make you some pants". (136) Celie agrees and with a needle in hand,
she begins to create her life. Celie's sewing "like Shug singing […] creates her selfdetermination and prevents her from being owned". Now Celie no longer considers
her husband as Mr.__, but as Albert, this truth marks a change in her view of herself as
an equivalent to him. Shug advises that Celie "git man off [her] eyeball" (179) so as to
be pleased, and when Celie does so, she is able to purify her soul from the effectiveness
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of words. One evening Celie starts to challenge her husband Albert in a family dinner
and was determined to fight eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. She informs Albert that
she is going to part him and go with Shug to Memphis. When Albert attempts to stop
her from going, Celie now has an iron will and determination that enable her to face
him will all her strength she possesses, she replies;
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.
[…] You took my sister Nettie away from me, […] And she was the only
person love me in the
world. […] But Nettie and my children
coming home soon […] (181)
At the end Celie, decided to go alongside Shug to Memphis. Shug regards Celie as a
close friend, she says, "I brought you here to love you and help you get on your feet"
(190). Shug gives Celie a big bedroom which "overlook the backyard and the bushes
down by the creek" (188). It is the first time that someone thinks of Celie's comfort.
Celie's comfortable life with Shug makes her explore her own creativity in sewing
pants. Walker points out that “ Shug's successful singing career provides Celie with
the material support and domestic shelter she needs when she finally breaks from
Mr.__," (32) Shug encourages Celie to recover her creativity in designing pants. She
invests her time, money and love to help her friend to define herself and be financially
independent. Celie's sewing associates her with an ideal group of female characters in
American literature who use their arts not to expose their indignity, but to transplant it,
placing it where it really belongs on their male oppressors. The most noticeable
character of this set is Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter. Hester obliged by the
patriarchs of Salem to wear the scarlet letter as a symbol of shame, Hester uses her art
to create a letter that represents, to the narrator who discovers it two centuries later, a
"mystic symbol" giving evidence "of a now forgotten art” (27). Inspired by this symbol,
Hawthorne creates a story in which the bearers of shame are the Puritan patriarchs
who attempt to brutalize Hester for her refusal to give in to their code.
The friendship between Celie and Shug changes them both to be better individuals.
Shug aids Celie to establish her identity as an independent woman free from chains
and constraints. Shug relates to Celie her story with Albert and his dead wife. Shug
loved Albert in the past; however their circumstances prevented them from getting
married. Shug was unkind to Albert's wife, Annie Julia. She attempted to spoil their
marriage hoping that Albert would love her again. Nonetheless, when Annie Julia
died, Albert married Celie instead of Shug. Shug despises Celie at the beginning of
their relationship. Celie's friendship enabled Shug to let go of the past. She feels
remorse about her past feelings especially towards Albert who thinks that he is not
worth her love, she tells Celie, "Anyhow, once you told me he beat you, and won't
work, I felt different about him". (106). Catherine states:
Shug is able to realize that her exclusive focus on her relationship with a
man put a wedge between her and potential women friends. Women siding
with men over women is one of the values of patriarchy. With the
replacement of this value with womanist values, Shug is able to develop
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and maintain strong relationships with women and in the end, with Albert
as well (38).
Shug is in assistance of Celie to explore her own inner beauty in addition to her
external beauty, she makes her feel her strength and self-value, she arouses Celie’s
creativity and explores her aptitude in sewing pants, she acts as Celie’s teacher she
taught Celie how to love and how she receive it from other people. As soon as Celie
begins to love herself, she is capable of getting out from her emotional shell and how
she loves everybody around her. Celie’s survival hugely ascribes to Shug. As Marvin
argues that Shug sweeps through The Color Purple like a force of nature”(23). Shug is
considered as a force of nature because of her ability to have positive effects on people
around her. Thus, Celie starts to rely on herself and starts to a new chapter in her life.
Her friendship with Shug for her was more like a revival once again. Celie transforms
from this passive state into a positive state that gave an image of a real strong woman.
As La Grone gives a good description of Celie;
"The Color Purple, I thought it was a wonderful story about personal transformation
and empowerment. Celie was at the “bottom” of America’s social caste: She was ugly,
not pretty; she was black, not white; she was female, not male; she was poor, not rich;
she was bisexual/lesbian, not heterosexual; she was dark skinned, not light-skinned;
she was uneducated, not educated. Her story illustrated how being passive about a
negative condition creates victimhood. Her example showed that by fighting back
against adversity, one can simultaneously examine identity, discover selfhood, and free
the spirit from the bondage of oppressive." (La Grone, 2009: xiii)
This depiction of transformation from victimhood into self-sufficient character displays
an image of courage and strong woman. It might be interpreted in a way that Walker
as a feminist wants to convey a message. She tells how women should fight and
struggle to attain their rights, no matter how the conditions are cruel, brutal and
challenging the patience and determination will be the cause of fulfilling goals.
8. Conclusion
Gender is a social Perspective that insights the traits and behaves of males and females.
In this context, males always take over most aspects of life like economy, politics,
business, and trade. On the basis of gender, males often blamed for constantly
persecuting females. Males see themselves as superior and powerful; they often
misused their powers in dealing with females. The issue of gender plays a central role
in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. AfroAmerican women were beaten, raped, degraded, and abused simply because of their
gender. In both novels black males used all types of violence against their wives,
daughters and lovers as a means of oppression. The usage of violence by black males
against black females is a reflection of their white master suppressors as indicated in
both novels. It is further noted that during the slavery time in The United States black
females experienced trauma from both white masters and their black men. Black men
embraced the culture of white masters and applied on their wives, daughters and
lovers, they further suppressed black females instead of reducing their dilemmas.
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Slavery had a destructive and abiding effect on black families and negatively affected
family’s structure. When black people were enslaved they agonized from the lack of
self-esteem and were victims of a society that classified them as inferior beings. Hence,
blacks see themselves as inferior as well. This lack of self-worth leads them to selfdestructive behavior and the belief that they will never be fully accepted as equal
members of society. Those who have been oppressed view at themselves through the
mirror of the oppressor. This way of thinking is passed down from one generation to
another.
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