To stand against men, all the women must come together and love each other. Women come closer to other women to fight against the oppression, just like Celie and Shug Avery. They have no one to express their pains to, except other women. Black women are often suppressed by the men, both Black and White. Another symbolic use of the color purple is to represent homosexuality. Also, the facial scarring ritual practiced by the Olinkas leave purple bruises on the faces of the women, Thus, the color purple also resembles the pain and suffering that a women has to go through. When Sofia is beaten up by the Mayor, her face is badly bruised and Celie compares it to an eggplant.
The purple color also signifies bruishes. She has finally received the respect from her husband that she deserved. This is an important significance here, as it denotes Celie’s establishment and authority in her life. After she had established a self-identity, Albert, her husband gifts her a carved frog painted in the color purple. She creates purple pants for Sophia, as she starts gaining dignity. She gains financial independence when she starts her own company that makes pants. Celie slowly starts realising her self worth and gains self identity by standing up against her atrocious husband. Shug Avery comes into her life and teaches her to be an independent, confident woman.
It is because Celie didn’t have authority of her own life, as she was suppressed by the male figures in her life. Celie doesn’t wear purple colored clothes in the beginning of the story. Purple is symbolically used in the novel to represent dignity, elegance and authority. Different colors like black, red, blue and purple have significant meanings in this novel. She never stands up against the oppression she suffers from her father and her husband. Celie is a Black, uneducated girl who is oppressed under the patriarchal Black society. Alice Walker mainly makes use of the color purple to highlight the character development of her protagonist Celie. Writers portray several feelings and emotions of their characters with the use of different colors.
But as we dig deeper into the pages, we will find the significance of the purple color in the lives of these characters. The title of the novel might be confusing in the first glance. Celie first writes these letters to God, and letter to her sister Nettie, where she shares her suppressed feelings and emotions, that she otherwise cannot express. All of these experiences are illustrated by the author through a series of letters penned down by the novel’s protagonist Celie. The novel pictures the physical, economical, social and political environment that is faced by the Blacks even after Slavery was abolished from The States. Alice Walker’s Pulitzer winning novel ‘The Color Purple’ is one of the best novels that exposes the reality of post slavery American society.
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