The Color Purple, Alice Walker's third novel, was published in 1982. The novel brought fame and financial success to its author. It also won her considerable praise and much criticism for its controversial themes. Many reviewers were disturbed by her portrayal of black males, which they found unduly negative. When the novel was made into a film in 1985 by Steven Spielberg, Walker became even more successful and controversial. While she was criticized for negative portrayal of her male characters, Walker was admired for her powerful portraits of black women. Reviewers praised her for her use of the epistolary form, in which written correspondence between characters comprises the content of the book, and her ability to use black folk English. Reflecting her early political interests as a civil rights worker during the 1960s, many of her social views are expressed in the novel.
Intro
In many works of literature, past events can affect, positively or negatively, the present activities, attitudes, or values of a character. In fact the character’s relationship to the past often contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. In Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, the protagonist, Celie, experiences a traumatic childhood, one that would be enough to break most individuals. Yet somehow Celie manages to survive and even grow stronger despite all the adversity she faces in her youth. (This is the theme that we can make it through adversity and grow stronger and better because of our suffering.)
Body Paragraph 1:
Raped by her father
Give details from the book to show the horror Celie went through. How did these horrible things impact her self-image.
How did she survive these things? What does her survival say about her attitudes and values – in other words, how does it contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Body Paragraph 2
Forced to quit school because of her pregnancies
Give details from the book to show the horror Celie went through. How did these horrible things impact her self-image.
How did she survive these things? What does her survival say about her attitudes and values – in other words, how does it contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Body Paragraph 3
Forced into a loveless marriage
Give details from the book to show the horror Celie went through. How did these horrible things impact her self-image.
How did she survive these things? What does her survival say about her attitudes and values – in other words, how does it contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Conclusion
In The Color Purple, Walker creates a protagonist that shows the reader the resiliency of the human spirit. Through Celie, the reader is reminded that facing adversity and maintaining the strength, courage, and faith to overcome it can only make us stronger and often provide us with a genuine appreciation of life.

Celie is the main character of the novel and endures a great deal of pain. When she is very young, her stepfather impregnates her, and her two children are born and sold. Celie is then married to a man who beats her and sends her sister away, never again allowing the two to communicate. The only light that came into Celie’s life