God in the Novel: The Color Purple

When there seems to be nobody else to talk to, we talk to God. At least some of us do, like Celie. And she has a lot to tell God in "The Color Purple". The novel is really about Celie growing up. At first her letters to God are like a child. But, eventually, with the help of both Shug and her sister Nettie, who has found her own adulthood with the natives in Africa, Celie becomes more a woman, even a black woman, and less a child. But, what does the color "purple" mean?

The color purple is mentioned by Shug. Shug indicates that it pisses God off if a person walks past the color purple and does not marvel at it. Thus the color purple becomes tied to religion for Celie. Celie's struggle to find God and understand him is given a very existentialist feel by Shug, who indicates that God is a part of everything. Thus the color purple should be noticed and enjoyed because it exists. It is possible to identify Celie with the color purple by realizing that she has gone unnoticed and is finally being noticed as she asserts her existence. "You have to marbel at the color purples". And, God now notices Celie. At least, Celie feels that way. God is not some old man with a beard. He is everywhere. And this is the purpose of Shug's explanation. God is not merely in a church. God is nature. He is in every piece of dirt, stick, stone, rock, field, plant, animal, and, of course in all human beings- no matter what their skin color, age, or position in life. he color purple. Celie's new awareness of life is that life is something to be marveled at. This interpretation makes her more aware of her own existence. Thus, if the color purple should be noticed, then so should she. This becomes manifest in the final words that Celie writes, "I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I'm here." Thus Celie is now fully aware that she is a person who deserves to be looked at as a person. This in a sense helps empower her to break away from Albert and the men who cannot ever look at her as a person. The color purple can also relate to believing that God as being a part of everything. Celie finally seems to realize the universality" of God. And, maybe this is part of the reason she finally leaves Albert. She has grown strong through her letters to God, and she finally realizes she has to be her own woman. Nobody will do things for her. She has to strike out on her own. Celie comments several times that the words are not her own but that, "it seem to come to me from the trees." She even tells Albert that the air itself is creating the words in her mouth, and that, "A dust devil flew up on the porch between us, fill my mouth with dirt. The dirt say, 'Anything you do to me, already done to you.'"

By identifying God in nature, this passage allows us to identify God himself speaking to Albert through Celie. She is now aware of her own existence within the world, a world in which Shug has shown her God. Thus she is able to curse Albert in the most dramatic way imaginable by speaking directly from nature. Shug realizes this when she sees Celie and immediately tells Albert to shut up so as not to make things worse.

This book is about black women being dominated by black men. It is also about how Shug, not really a church-going woman, teaches Celie about God's being everywhere, and that if she only realized the fact that she is as good as any of the men who treat her so badly, she will come to see God in a different light.

How do I reconcile what these black people feel about "their" God with my own views? First of all, we need to come to some agreement that while there is a universal God, everyone has his own personal view, and his own personal "God". Celie, for one, in her letters to God is talking to her God, not Shug's, not Harpo's or Nettie's or Shug's, but her own. She expects Him to listen, if nothing more. It is like a journal entry at the end of the day. She tells God, figuring He was too busy to stop in and see what she did and said and thought in person. Sug sees God in everything. Celie uses God in place of a mother and a father she never had to help her grow. Does this match my own personal view? Not really, because I am far more blessed, in terms of family and creature comforts. I tend not to pray to God to ASK for something, or to suggest He change something or mend a broken heart or a poor grade in school. But, if there is something to be learned from "The Color Purple" it is that everyone needs a version of God. Godless is not just soulless, but meaningless. Life, harsh at it has been for Celie, among others, is eased a bit merely by her opening up to her God.

Do I recommend this book to readers? I really hesitate to do that, despite all the prizes and awards the book has garnered, and the movie Steven Spielberg made from it. The reason for my hesitation is that there are too many people who do not see God in these pages, but only the second-citizen status of America's blacks (and, later in the book, Africa's natives). There are too many stereotypes that will have some readers nodding. There arte the shiftless lazy Negroes in the book, the poorly uneducated ones, those who drink too much, or do too much dope, and the criminal element is there, too. I am concerned that the message some readers will take away is that, rather than the uplifting one that there is a God for everyone. I also hesitate to recommend the book, because it also tends to show the male dominance of black men- at least at this time of the Twentieth Century and in this particular location. Feminists will have to wait until near the end of the book to be satisfied that Celie awakens and Nettie has achieved more than most.