Comparative Analysis
Presentation
The Color Purple By: Alice Walker
Beloved By: Toni Morrison
Sara Beard
ENG. 121
Professor Adam Colton
December 9, 2013
The Color Purple
• Background
• Author: Alice Walker
• Published: 1982
• Setting: 1910-1940, Rural Georgia
• Main Characters: Celie & Nettie
• Symbols: Sewing and Quilts= Relationships to God
• Themes Present: Strong relationships between women, Racism, Sexism,
Gender Roles, Oppression and Freedom
• Reproduction: Movie- 1985
Beloved
•
Background
•
Author: Toni Morrison
•
Published: 1987
•
Setting: 1850’s (flashbacks)-1873: Cincinnati, Ohio, Sweet Home Plantation Kentucky, A
prison in Alfred, Georgia
•
Main Characters: Sethe (Momma), Denver, Beloved, Paul D
•
Symbols: The color red=vitality and mortality , the trees= healing, comfort, and life, The
tin tobacco box= Paul D’s heart
•
Themes Present: Power of community, Destruction of identity, The power and
limitations of language, Oppression and Freedom
•
Reproduction: Movie- 1998
Historical Background
• The Color Purple caused a number heated debates in
the African- American community. The topics of these
debates were old stereotypes, sexism, and racism. On
the contrary several African- American women and
Caucasian women praised the novel as a feminist
work.
• The Color Purple won Pulitzer Prize Award for Fiction
and the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983.
• Alice Walker published her famous book The Color
Purple in 1982, and three short years later acclaimed
film maker Steven Spielberg turned the novel into a
film.
Historical Background
• Beloved was written by Toni Morrison to give a
voice back to the African-Americans who had
been forced into silence and submission for
hundreds of years.
• Beloved won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988.
• Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved was published in
1987, and eleven years later was produced as a
film.
Plot
• The Color Purple is about a woman named Celie who is
frequently raped by her stepfather. This rape results in
the birth of two children, whom Celie is told are killed.
Celie is married off to an abusive man whose name is
not given, and takes her younger sister, Nettie, to live
with her. After her sister is kicked out she meets her
husband’s mistress who enlightens her to the fact that
her sister has been sending letters all along. After
reading Nettie’s letters Celie is empowered to leave
her husband, and eventually she is reunited with her
sister. Nettie happens to have found Celie’s two
children and brings the children back to live with
them.
Plot
• Beloved is the story of a former slave, Sethe who lives with
her daughter, Denver, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The story features
flashbacks to the times with Sethe was a slave on Sweet
Home Plantation. In these flashbacks we see the events that
lead Sethe to not only run away from the plantation, but also
to kill one of her daughters when her former owners try to
recapture them. The story then goes back to Sethe’s present
where she is joined by a friend, Paul D, from the time when
she was a slave. Paul D finds them living in a house haunted
by the spirit of the daughter that Sethe killed, events
progress and this abusive spirit, Beloved, becomes corporeal
and drives away Sethe’s true family. The story climaxes when
Sethe tries to kill a man that she mistakes for her old owner;
after this event Beloved disappears and Sethe retires to her
deathbed, but Paul D returns to share a moment with Sethe
before the story ends.
Comparisons
• Both Beloved and The Color Purple share an African
American background, a theme of oppression
versus freedom, a strong African American
woman protagonist, and women finding strength
in each other.
• Both books won awards and were made into
movies.
• These stories both deal with some extremely
sensitive elements of society including racism,
sexism, and infanticide.
Thesis
• The Color Purple and Beloved are two stories
that share several common elements including
racism, sexism, and infanticide; however the
true theme that they share is the contrast
between oppression and freedom.