LIT 007:

Literary Criticism
P2 | PERFORMANCE TASK

Submitted by:
DE GUZMAN, CATLYN D.
GRECIA, ANGELOU
FERRY, MICA MARIE DC.
(AU-FA1-BSEDEN4-MAIN1)

Submitted to:
MA’AM MISTY GALVEZ MATEO
Subject Teacher
College of Education and Liberal Arts
 Finding Light in the Purple:
A Literary Analysis of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple”

“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker is an American literature that gained attention
for its powerful exploration of racism, sexism, and the complexity of the human mind. In
the novel, it describes the life of Celie, an African-American woman in the American
South in the early 1900s. In this story, we see wealthy white people gain the benefits of
a system that oppresses Black people, leaving them poor and powerless. Celie faces
many problems due to her ethnicity and financial problems. White and some Black
people treated her badly. It shows how these problems are caused by the structure of
society, where the rich people gain wealth while the poor live in poverty. The Color
Purple is about promoting a beautiful society where everyone has a chance to grow.
This shows the importance of standing up against inequality and working together to
create a brighter future for each and everyone. This paper aims to provide a critical
analysis of the novel through four distinct literary lenses: Feminist, Marxist,
Psychoanalytic, and Formalist. Each lens offers a unique insight into the complexities of
the story, revealing the ways in which social, economic, and psychological forces shape
the lives of the characters.

The Color Purple of Alice Walker narrates the life of Celie, a black woman, when
she was young until she became an adult that results in unveiling the situations of all
women during that period. Women are viewed as inferior in society. They have no
power to decide for their own life. This is because men believe that women are only
responsible for the roles in the household, like cleaning or keeping the house organized.
And women are also expected to provide the needs of the men, especially in terms of
their sexual desire. Through the lens of Feminist approach, Alice Walker was able to
explore the life of Celie, who experienced sexual abuse, domestic violence, and societal
oppression in a patriarchal society. With the existence of other characters like Albert,
who embodies the patriarchal system that oppresses women, his character emphasizes
the violence, sexual abuse, and discrimination that Celie experienced. Additionally, with
the existence of the character of Shug and Sophia, both women who embody resilience,
self-worth, and women empowerment, the novel was able to counterpoint the
patriarchal norms that have shaped Celie’s life. Resulting for her character to undergo a
transformative journey. From a woman who is deeply submissive and abused to
becoming a woman who discovers her own identity and worth, who develops resilience
overcoming her trauma and own suffering, and gaining her voice to fight for what is
right.

Alice Walker's novel provides a strong perspective for analyzing the difficulties of
class, gender, and race in the American South in the early 1900s. An analysis from a
Marxist perspective of the novel looks at how economic systems, specifically capitalism,
influence power structures and generate inequalities. Celie faces oppression from White
and Black men, showing the regular abuse of Black individuals in a capitalist society
that advantages the wealthy White ruling people. The story shows the wealth gap
between rich landowners and poor Black workers, which is shown through Celie's fight
to survive by doing household chores and without proper education or opportunities in
life. The portrayal of Celie's life in the novel shows how she experiences both racial
discrimination and economic exploitation. The capitalist system directly limits her
options and opportunities, which results in her lack of ability to act and control over her
life. For example, her forced marriage with Mr. Albert, a rich White man who considers
her as his possession, highlights the oppression of Black women in a society that values
financial gain over equal rights. The story explores how capitalism promotes struggle
and self-support, sometimes disregarding the welfare of the community. The bonds
Celie forms with her sister Nettie and her relationship to Shug Avery, stand up to
societal norms and showcase possibilities for unity and resistance against oppressive
systems. By sharing experiences and supporting each other, they discover strength and
empowerment, showing that working together is very
important to break down systems of inequality.

The story emphasizes the intersection of class, gender, race, and the importance of a
beautiful society that focuses on the working class and confronts oppression.

Psychoanalytic approach, developed by Sigmund Freud, emphasizes the role of

the unconscious mind in shaping human behavior and experiences. In the novel “The
Color Purple”, the main character– Celie, is marked by her trauma from her childhood.
The abuse she suffers from the hands of her father and later, her husband, shapes the
way she sees herself. Her early experiences of sexual violence and emotional neglect
lead her to a deep sense of worthlessness and broken identity, because of that, Celie’s
self-hate manifests in her self-destructive behaviors, her acceptance of abuse, and her
inability to uphold herself. Meanwhile, in one part of the novel, when Celie dreams of a
beautiful woman, it gives us insights into her unconscious desires and repressed
memories. The beautiful woman in her dream represents her longing for freedom, self-
expression, and a sense of belonging. This dream symbolizes her yearning for a life
beyond the confines of her oppressive reality. Another character from the novel, Shug
Avery, became a crucial figure in Celie’s journey of self-discovery. Shug challenges
Celie’s self-hate, encouraging her to embrace her sexuality, express her emotions, and
make her own decisions. Shug’s influence helps Celie confront her repressed desires,
overcome her fear of intimacy, and ultimately break free from the cycle of abuse. Celie’s
journey from victimhood to freedom serves as a testament to the human capacity for
healing, growth, and self-discovery.

"The Color Purple" also illustrates a Formalist approach by giving readers direct
access to Celie's thoughts and feelings and highlighting her path from oppression to
self-discovery. The novel's emotional power and conceptual relevance are enhanced by
Alice Walker's use of vivid imagery and symbolism, such as the bed sheets indicating
communal history and the color purple symbolizing spiritual awakening. Through the
use of alternating perspectives and shifting timelines between Celie and Nettie’s letters,
it creates a sense of suspense and anticipation, as the readers eagerly await the
reunion of the two sisters. The novel's structure explores themes of gender, race, and
sexuality within the historical setting of early 20th-century America, resulting in a rich
and complex perspective of Black females. The language in the story is full of
vernacular and dialect, which helps to create a realistic feeling of the characters' voices,
reflecting the cultural and linguistic richness of Black American communities.

The Color Purple of Alice Walker undeniably explores the theme of racism and
sexism meaningfully. With the existence of the characters of Celie, Albert, Shug, and
Sophia, this literary analysis paper was able to discover the novel’s complexities
through the use of lenses like Feminist, Marxist, Psychoanalytic, and Formalist. It also
allows us to witness and deeply understand how social, economic, and psychological
factors shape people's lives and how women can overcome oppression and how
capitalism can create inequality.

The Feminist approach reveals how women are treated by men in a patriarchal
society. The character of Celie as a submissive wife to his husband, Albert, who
experienced violence, sexual abuse, and oppression that holds their life emphasizes the
struggles that women experience in the society. Furthermore, through the characters of
Shug and Sophia, this approach also showed how women can uplift or empower each
other to resist from the societal norms that hold their life as a woman. While the Marxist
approach reveals how capitalism favors the white people and degrades the black. It
shows the huge difference between the status of white and black people in society
during that time. Since society viewed black people as inferior to white people. In which
black people were likely to be seen negatively by white people. And they only see them
as slaves. Just like the character of Sophia, it was shown that
she was imprisoned for physically fighting back to a white. Then for the psychoanalytic
approach, it emphasizes how the unconscious mind can provide understanding of
character’s behavior and the

underlying themes of the novel. It also describes how desire and trauma can affect the
decisions and behavior of the character. And lastly, the formalist approach which
focuses on the text itself. This means that this approach analyzes the elements included
in the novel such as plot, characterization, setting, theme, and style. It also provides
symbolism that will add messages with greater significance. Which will contribute
improvement or enhancement of the novel's narrative and its ability to communicate
meaning.