[Lindsay 2] The Color Purple by Alice Walker

I'd been meaning to read this book for a long time, mostly because it's one of the "classics" of literature that I had absolutely no previous understanding of, and was therefore very curious about. I was pleasantly surprised when I finally started it. The main plot of the novel revolves around the personal journey of an African American girl living in the South in the early decades of the twentieth century, and how she takes control of her life throughout adulthood. It's an epistolary novel, and a majority of the letters are written by Celie, the main protagonist. At first her letters are to God. She tells about her life as it happens, starting when she is fourteen and raped on various occasions by her father, who gives her away to a man she doesn't know to marry. The novel continues throughout many years of her life, as she grows older and comes into contact with different people who help her to mature, and appreciate and participate in life more fully.

The other major plotline of the novel is the exchange of letters between Celie and her sister Nettie, who writes while on a missionary trip to Africa. Nettie seems to be more educated than Celie (as evidenced by the differences in their writing), and ends up on a completely different continent for much of the story, but they face many of the same problems. Both deal with white racism, Celie in America and Nettie from English business owners who are taking over the lands of the native tribes in Africa for rubber production. Both women also deal with sexism, Celie more in the form of male dominance over her own self, and Nettie as an advocate for the girls in the village to receive an education and to not have to go through female genital mutilation. The sisters also both end up coming to an understanding of God from a more pantheistic sense, discarding their understanding of God as a white male form. This helps Celie in particular as she begins to come into her own and make decisions about her life that don't necessarily involve men of any color.

Overall, the growth of Celie and some of the other primary characters made this a really satisfying literary experience, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.