Skip to main content

Support System

I think everyone can agree that having a support system is a very important aspect of living in a society; especially one that is as connected as ours is. 'The Color Purple' really demonstrates how a person grows when they have a good, reliable support system. It is very easy to see how much Celie has grown from the beginning to the current point. She started as a character who was docile and was willing to use her body to save her sister from her father,and then does it again with Mr___. Throughout her narrative she has constantly been made an example of in situation of talking about how a 'good' wife should act. The fact that almost every person who has control over the narrative has encouraged the subservient act plays a huge role in her personality: doing everything she is told to, shrugging of physical, sexual and mental abuse or regarding herself as disposable.
Now this wouldn't be that great of a novel if the character started out so abused and not have some improvement. After Celie is married to Mr____, she meets Sofia who is the girlfriend, later wife, of Celie's stepson. Sofia is the first one who has stayed long enough in Celie's life, and is strong headed enough to help her gain some semblance of control in her own life. Of course everything isn't nice and dandy which can be seen from the question Sofia asks about eating food (Celie answers that one eats to live without even considering the other reasons, satisfaction) , but we see her start to stand up for herself internally. What is important to know about the novel is that in the beginning Celie in no capacity stood up for herself, not even internally. Meeting Sofia helped her see that everything about the way she was being treated was wrong, she still doesn't stand up for herself in front of people or anything but it is a start.
Enter Shug Avery. Shug is someone who has always been portrayed as strong, in control. She adorns bold colors, isn't afraid of giving her opinion and is a very stubborn character. Her entrance is where we see Celie start to rebel. When Albert ( Mr____ who has only been called Albert by Shug) takes Shug in because she was ill his father paid his, let's say a, visit. In this visit his father made sure to express his discontent over Shug's stay but that is kind of irrelevant, what is important is Celie's reaction. Celie really looks up to Shug and does not really appreciate people bad-mouthing her crush, so she spits in the water she was asked to serve Mr_____ (the father). She also threaten to do something more drastic, but I'm not gonna talk about it so you know yeah. But all in all it's just that as soon as Shug, someone she admires, likes and idolizes comes she is standing up to authority.
This just goes to show why ideologies centering people who surround us exist. People can help you develop confidence (loyal strong people) or they could break you down and make you be a subservient docile person (toxic people). Make it a great life or not, the choice is yours( Boulan people)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry and why it's Relevant

Everyone I have spoken to (the five other people I talk to on a regular basis) about poetry and their thoughts about it, have in so many words expressed the same idea, poetry is overrated. This made me wonder how poetry is still relevant. From my (very biased, and skewed) sample it is obvious that people don’t really like poetry. Now from personal experience I can say that I thought of poetry as an unnecessary middle ground between stories and songs ( alliterations, they’re perfect). Cause like you get the whole narrative that you get in stories, but you have to add a rhyme scheme and rhythm to it, and then add hidden meanings. AND ALL THIS IS IN 5 STANZAS. Now I have changed a lot of my opinions this year, and poetry has been one of those. Poetry because of its position as a middle ground has the capability to express deep and complex meanings in a few words. It expresses emotions that a story might express in 1000 words, and with a smaller word range each word emphasizes the overall...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Put a Spell on You

Background Music  Magic tricks have always fascinated me. I know they are optical illusions, however, it’s always fun to enter a show and be prepared to figure out the magician’s secrets. Of course, I have always failed at that, and I’d have to be told (usually in a condescending tone) about the obvious trick. Despite my lack of comprehension with simple optical illusions, there is one illusion that I have figured out: freedom. Humans as a species love the idea of freedom, especially freedom in perceptions and ideologies. However, freedom like every magic trick is just an illusion; when looked at deep enough we come to the realization that outside factors are always influencing us. These factors do not just appear in our life, they are almost always sources of manipulation, set by people in authority. Most humans inherently look for someone to lead or guide them, the ones that don’t become the leaders and guiders. The leaders are charismatic beings who have an innate capability...
4 comments
Read more

Poetry 2

  So poetry right? It’s fun and interesting and everything until you have to sit down and analyze a poem about the Titanic which is apparently structured like the Titanic. Cheers to all the poets out there, cause that’s exactly what I needed in my life, more things to analyze.  (‘Life’ ‘analyze’ do those two rhyme? Sounds like it. Eh I digress) In my last post I tried to be all intellectual and find out why poetry is still so relevant in our society, and I came up with this theory that poetry works well because it’s the grey area between novels and songs, and so you get the best of both worlds. But still I mean it’s not necessary for a poet to ensnare and confuse me with twisted riddles when all they want to say is ‘pay attention to what you’re doing, people can trick you’. Like yeah Mr. Olive Senior I know that, but because of you I now have to write an essay on that. Like proper using words and coherent sentences.  (I wonder though, what would happen if I answered a poe...
Post a Comment
Read more