The novel, The Color Purple, was written by Alice Walker in 1982. The Color Purple unleashed a storm of controversy upon its publication. Many critics said that Alice Walker focused on the sexual oppression of black women at the expense of dealing with the overall oppression of blacks. However, Walker's novel is a complex analysis of race relations and racial identity. The novel is about Celie, a young African American woman who sees herself as nothing, only property. Whatever anyone tells her to do, she does it, she doesn't think anyone wants her opinion. That is, until she meets Shug Avery, an African American singer/celebrity. Shug helps Celie see herself as a woman, an important woman who has her own voice.
             Celie's letters to God are the sole narrative for the first half of the novel. Celie is a poor uneducated, Southern black woman. Her experiences are limited to a small geographic area. However, when she comes upon her sister Nettie's letters after many years of separation, Walker situates Celie's narrative at the crossroads of a long road to finding her racial identity. Celie's narrative provides a compelling contrast to the situation of African women. She suffers rape at the hands of her stepfather and physical abuse at the hands of her husband. She is a Christian woman, but Christianity does not alleviate her problems. Moreover, the church she attends subscribes to restrictive notions of femininity. The women at her church stared judgmentally at her when she was pregnant with her two children. They condemn Shug Avery for having a sexually active lifestyle. They disapprove of her singing, her risqué clothing, and her smoking. Celie does not even know about the existence of her clitoris until Shug tells her about it. When she and Shug become lovers, Celie experiences the pleasures of sex for the first time in her life. She celebrates the discovery of her sexuality.
             The...