Christian 1
Matthew Christian
Mrs. Endicott
AP Literature and Composition
27 November 2015
The Color Purple through a Psycho-Analytical Lens
The life of African Americans before and even after the end of segregation was a
constant struggle for survival. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, conveys various characters
lifestyles in which they are forced to endure unthinkable challenges as a result of race, revealing
the mindset of opression which hung over them all in addition to various other mindsets.
The novel's protagonist, Celie, is introduced as a miserable, desperate young woman
struggling for a reason to move on. It is revealed that ever since she was old enough to walk she
has been forced to wait on her family hand and foot. Her “father” sexually assaulted her multiple
times, and even had kids with his own “daughter”. At the time rape was looked over completely
for African Americans, they were still not treated with respect or even as people, property that is
what they were. “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church.” (Walker, 15) This
is all Celie knew growing up, so she did not fight for herself or even to try to protect herself. She
becomes scared of all males no matter how it was because she of the beatings. Does not find men
attractive at all, but takes a liking to women, mostly Shug Avery. The love that she gains for her
is enough to have sexual relations with her. At the time she did not know it was against God to
lay with someone of the same sex. All of these events in her lifetime affected her mentally and
emotionally, Celie did not ever lose the will to live. She stayed strong through it all, and kept
Christian 2
faith in God. “Never mine, long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along.” (Walker, 26) Her
actions and the decisions she makes are all directly linked to how she has been treated in her life
growing up. She is fourteen in the beginning of the novel and is already being beaten and raped
by her step-father, anyone would be mentally and emotionally scarred.
Sophia, is a very independent woman, she does not rely on anyone. She does not take
being beat lightly. She defends herself with anything around, a stick, a rock, or chair. ”She reach
down grab a piece of stove wood and whack him cross the eyes.”(Walker, 44) “Next time us see
Harpo his face is a mess of bruises. His lip cut. One of his eyes shut like a fist.” (Walker, 43) Her
husband gets tired of being beat up so he continues to try and get the best of her. Sophia is “new
breed” of woman, who takes care of herself and does not listen to all the orders from men, she is
strong. “All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers…”
(Walker, 46) She puts her foot down after seeing it all the time growing up, even though it was
not normal at the time for a woman to do all these things and it would get them beat worse, the
mindset that Sophia had was she was not going to end up like her mother and the women before
her. The main reasons for the actions of Sophia is that after seeing her mother get beaten, and
then when turns against her, it is hard to understand why someone would try and do that to their
own family, much less their own daughter.
Nettie, is a very smart girl, the majority of her time is spent with a book. “Nettie the
cleaver one in this bunch.” (Walker, 18) Nettie along with most of the woman was beat. Her
father begins to beat her soon after Celie leaves. Nettie runs away from her father, and goes to
Africa so she can learn more about the world. The trip allowed her to find Celie’s kids and bring
them back to her. She knew that she would have to be smart to get away and be able to survive,
that is why she always read, to assume that she had strong faith in God and herself would be very
Christian 3
good. She never gave up on her sister even though Celie had not returned the letters since she
had started writing them. The choices that is made by Nettie are because of all the trauma, she
loses
Harpo is constantly trying to impress his father until his quits working altogether, and
then he goes on “strike”. He does not completely agree with his father either. He listens to him
when he says to beat Sophia, and whenever he attempts to beat Sophia, she fights back. He is
strong physically but mentally he is very weak. “Harpo nearly big as his daddy. He strong in
body but weak in will.” (Walker, 35) After Sophia and him fight he lies about all his injuries to
Celie because he is embarrassed how he let a woman beat him up. This causes him to find a
girlfriend “Squeak” she is very small something that Harpo could handle in a fight.
Shug Avery is the model for all the women; she is beautiful, can sing and has money. “I
dream of Shug Avery. She dress to kill, whirling and laughing.” (Walker, 16) Shug does not let
men control her, she does not listen to them or wait on them. ”What the matter with you, you
crazy? I don’t need no weak little boy can’t say no to his daddy hanging on me. I need me a
man.” (Walker, 51) All the men try to get with her and she lets them but she does not stay in a
relationship long enough to be tied down. Shug does not get beat because she gives them what
they want sex. “Turn lose my hand!” (Walker, 51)She is addicted to the sex. “I have to confess, I
just love it.” (Walker, 78) As long as she is being pleased she will have it. ”Tell me the truth, she
say do you mind if Albert sleep with me?” (Walker, 78) The reason she is like this is because
Christian 4
the lust that men show her feeds her to want more and more so she continues on with her teasing
and showing off her body to catch the eyes of any one in close proximity.
Albert the average wife beating male at the time, the majority of males in this time period
beat their wives for no obvious reason. Harpo asks his father why? “Cause she my wife. Plus, she
stubborn.” (Walker, 30) Celie does nothing to get beat, the girl is not stubborn she does every
little thing asked from her. Albert is the man of the house so to speak, he is also a coward; he
slows quits working around the house altogether he says No reason for me to. You here, ain’t
you?” (Walker, 35) Men in this time period could almost do anything they wanted to African
American women and get away with it. This is why Albert acts the way he does and makes the
decisions he does, like to beat his wife, he has watched it happen before, why he sits on the porch
on does not help out in anyway.
The disrespect for women and the whole African American culture even after the ending
of segregation is very evident in the novel. The law still did not protect the African American
people in the deep south, the Jim Crows that where established worsened as time went on. The
actions of all the characters happen because the events they have witnessed throughout their
lives.
Christian 5
Works Cited
"Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism.
Web. 30 Nov. 2015
.
United States. National Park Service. "Jim Crow Laws." National Parks Service. U.S.
Department of the Interior, 16 Nov. 2015. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
"African American Women: 1950-1999." About.com Education. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.
"Psychoanalytic Criticism." Psychoanalytic Criticism. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.