Alice Walker was made responsible for creating a great deal of conflicted opinions and emotions when she wrote and published the novel, The Color Purple. These opinions grew to a greater scale once it transubstantiated to motion picture format, courtesy of Steven Spielberg. It was then, that the wider audience decided to really speak out against Walker. The subject of complaint being, her portrayal of men, or rather her portrayal of black men, as the critic in question seemed to be mostly concerned. The critic’s complaint was of Walker’s apparently overly negative depiction of black men in the novel. The critic actually said that this kind of book was “…focusing on our failures.” Of course we cannot be led to believe that Walker meant the novel to be an accurate depiction of black history as it is fictional.
Before considering the validity of these accusations, we must remind ourselves that at no point did Walker claim to have based the novel on true events, for as I have already stated, it is a work of fiction. Therefore as a writer she had the ‘permission’ to exaggerate anything she felt necessary, in order to produce an interesting novel.
Another point to consider is the fact th
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I say this because he could not have observed any of the writing techniques used by Walker to put across themes and morals to the story. Shug is the key factor in the growth of Celie and Albert; she is my main example of how Walker’s novel considers both sexes by connecting them to one unbiased person. So she shows Celie that men can be controlled with the right methods, yet she shows Albert that women cannot be controlled by a man’s physical strength. ” So this blatant disregard is clearly an exceedingly bad reflection of a black male character, and of course this doesn’t stop with Alphonso. ” Personally I cannot agree with either, I believe that the novel takes both parties into account, and it is not just about women (as the title may imply). In this instance, it clearly didn’t as the film adaptation refrains from showing Albert’s conversion from inexcusable to almost likeable, it also shows in the film that Celie never speaks to him again from the time of the curse. The same Shug who emphasises her affection for heterosexual intercourse with the comment to Celie on page 68 of “…I have to confess, I just love it. Yet this is not her full portrayal of men.
Of course, there is a response to this that completely acquits Walker of any blame at all, which I personally have no problem with.
To begin, the first black male we are introduced to is Alphonso, a paedophile, who on numerous occasions rapes the then 14 year old Celie, the first introduced black female. Of course, Albert will very rarely see the feminine side of Shug as it seems like a weakness, and she will always play on the fact that Albert is in love with her to get what she wants. ” This, obviously being a lie, shows that Alphonso really just felt he had no more use for her anymore and so she was abandoned. However, this is only due to my belief that a writer’s views should always remain objective, even if it does not appear so on paper. So it is safe to say that black women would definitely be the strongest theme in the novel, as it is based around one. Which is shown on page 191 with Sofia describing Albert’s behaviour, “Eyes clamp on different pieces of furniture, see if they move in his direction.
Approximate Word count =
2509
Approximate Pages =
10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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