Literary Devices in The Color Purple
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
The color purple represents all the good things in the world that God creates for men and women to enjoy. At the beginning of the book, you could say that Celie has no sense of the color purple. Sh...
Setting
The book begins about 30 years before World War II. It covers the first half of the 20th century, as we follow Celie through thirty or forty years of her life. The setting of Celie’s story is unm...
Narrator Point of View
The narrative is told in the first-person form of letters. The first half of the book is told completely from Celie’s point of view; she addresses God in a sort of diary form to let God know what...
Genre
The Color Purple, which is told through letters that Celie writes to God, plumbs the psychological depths of Celie and touches on the experiences of her sister. It is a story of friendshi...
Tone
The Color Purple is intended to be like the unedited thoughts that go through a person’s mind. And while there may be one or two humorous moments in the novel, this is not a funny story. This is...
Writing Style
The Color Purple is composed of very short chapters, written as letters to God, that explain in the shortest possible ways the trials and tribulations Celie (and, later, Nettie) experience. Walker...
What's Up With the Title?
The Color Purple is one of those books that has such an intriguing title, you can't help but pick it up and figure out what it's all about. The title refers to a moment when Shug Avery as...
What’s Up With the Epigraph?
Show me how to do like you.Show me how to do it.—Stevie WonderEpigraphs can sometimes be hard to decipher; this is one of those times. This quote from Stevie Wonder’s song "Do Like You" may ref...
Plot Analysis
Celie is in an abusive home situation.As the book opens, we see how thoroughly unprotected Celie is by the adults in her life. Her Pa repeatedly rapes her and Celie gives birth to two children by...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Celie’s children are stolen by her Pa and either killed or given away. Then she’s married off to a man no better than her Pa.Celie’s life story begins in darkness and continues in darkness....
Three Act Plot Analysis
Celie is raped by her Pa, gives birth to children that are taken away from her, gets married, and loses Nettie. In every possible way, Celie is a victim.Mr.__’s mistress moves in and Celie falls...
Trivia
When it was released, The Color Purple caused a lot of controversy. Some people accused Walker of perpetuating myths of the black male as violent and lacking family values at the expense of dealing...
Steaminess Rating
Let’s just put it this way: Pa pushes his "thing" into his daughter’s "pussy" on the very first page of the book. If graphic incest on the first page of a novel is not NC-17, well, what is? Ser...