The Color Purple Analytical Essay

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In this analysis of the “The Color Purple” a Pulitzer-Prize winning story written by Alice Walker (1982) and directed by Steven Spielberg (1985) I will give examples of events in Celie’s life and follow them with references supporting Conditioning. “The Color Purple is the story of a young girl’s life, nurtured with humiliation, domination, and fear. Her faith in God and the love of her sister is what ultimately sets her free. “It has been found that childhood conditioning is a contributing factor of Domestic Violence”, (DAZ Foundation) Humiliation: The Color Purple begins with the 14-year-old pregnant Celie and her sister Nettie playing. Their joy is quickly interrupted by the deliberate attack to Celie’s self-esteem, as her father tells…show more content…
If you were systematically insulted, criticized, or bullied, then you are more likely to have absorbed the negative messages about yourself instigated by other people”, (www.UncommonHelp.com). Non-Consensual Sex: We then find out that Celie has been repeatedly raped by the man she believes to be her father. After giving birth to her second child, he takes it from her and says, “You better not tell anyone but God, it’ll kill your mother”, (The Color Purple). The child is presumably sold. The next scene is Celie following her mother’s casket in route to her funeral. Seemly, her father’s threat has come true because her mother dies from a broken heart, leaving Celie feeling…show more content…
5). • “According to the theory of learned helplessness, a subject placed in an uncontrollable environment will become passive and accept painful stimuli, even though escape is possible and apparent” (Novelguide.com). Empowerment: When Shug returns in the spring of 1936, she helps Celie find all the letters that her sister Nettie had sent her over the years. Nettie was alive and with Celie’s children in Africa. With every letter she reads her self-esteem is being restored. Celie has finally had enough and is ready to fight back. During dinner Shug announces that she is leaving and that Celie is going with them. Alfred, “Over my dead body”. Celie, “Your dead body be just the welcome I need” (The Color Purple). As they are leaving Alfred lifts his hand to strike her and Celie curses him. “The jail you planned for me, is the one you’re gonna rot in. Everything you done to me, I already done to you. Until you do right by me everything you think about is gonna fail.” (The Color Purple). Celie has taken control over her
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    Alice Walker’s The Color Purple shows the significant struggle of the main character, Celie, as she fights through the terrible persecution and hatred of the 1910’s to 1940’s. Her story is a difficult one, and one that makes The Color Purple a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, and a Major Motion Picture. Celie mostly tells her story by letters she writes to God, and her sister Nettie. In the first set of letters to God, Celie tells the horrible story of her rape by her own father, named Alfonso. Celie

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