The Color Purple: Characters And Themes

Alice Walker's epistolary novel The Color Purple is the summit of her literary achievement. This thesis discusses the characters and the themes in The Color Purple. Afro-American female characters are the prominent characters described in the novel. Celie, a barely educated Southern Afro-American woman, is the protagonist of the novel. She grows from a physically and sexually and psychologically abused Afro-American girl into an economically and psychologically independent woman. The thesis also discusses other female characters such as Shug, Nettie, and Sofia. Abrief discussion about Afro-American male characters such as Mr._<sub><sub>Albert , Harpo, Alphonso and Samuel is also included in the thesis. As for the thematic study of the novel, the thesis discusses the themes such as womanism, race, class and racial integration. Womanism is black feminism. Alice Walker calls herself as a womanist writer instead of a feminist writer. And The Color Purple is her best novel to illustrate her ideas of womanism. Discussion about Afro-Americans' situation in a larger dimension is included in the thematic study of race, class and racial integration. In this part, the thesis uses detailed cases to illustrate the issues of race, class and racial integration in Africa and in the United States. Though progress in race relations is possible, it is difficult to achieve real racial integration.