Discuss setting in “The Color Purple” and
In Twentieth century American literature, the settings are often have great relevance to, not only the plot of the novel, but also to changes in the character’s and their situations, and the themes of the novel. The main settings surrounding Celie, in “The Color Purple”, are the houses she lives in through her life, which represent the stages of her development as an individual and a confident person. The house where she grew up was clearly one of terrible memories of rape by her step-father, isolation from the society (since she is taken out of school) and humiliation – “You too dumb to keep going to school.” Her terrible memories of her youth are reflected by the pathetic fallacy of her memories of the house (that is, the setting reflects the mood at the place), which is something that is often done in literature. For example, “The Radley Place” in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee, had “darkened to the colour of the slate-grey yard around it” with “Rain-rotted shingles [that] drooped over the eaves of the verandah”. Here the darkness and squalor emphasises the sadness that the children see there, and their fear to go near the house. Similarly, Celie’s memory of her childhood house is that “E
The optimism in the picture of the setting reflects the optimism that, by this time, the reader feels for Celie’s future. Now, instead of the house flooding, “the sun seem to stand a little longer over our heads” which is cheerful and shows Celie’s serenity within herself. Therefore, the setting here is a way to introduce the dreadful, desecrating effect of the white oppression in Africa and black America. This is very important when the fundamental theme of the novel is that of racial prejudice, discrimination and slavery, as it is in “Beloved”, “The Color Purple” and many other relatively recent American novels.
Some topics in this essay:
Color Purple”,
Morrison Sethe,
Sweet Home,
Baby Suggs,
Bluestone Road,
Similarly Celie’s,
River Sethe,
Purple” American,
Harper Lee,
,
“the color,
“the color purple”,
color purple”,
sweet home,
section “124,
baby suggs,
setting reflects,
american literature,
childhood house,
terrible memories,
mr__’s house,
juxtaposition beauty horror,
celie’s memory childhood,
memory childhood house,
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Approximate Word count = 1799
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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