Life And DeathEssay Preview: Life And DeathReport this essayWhat It Takes to Overcome SufferingWhen dealing with hardship in ones life, people deal with it in diverse ways. One may overcome suffering through their own thoughts and ventilation, or by through their relationships with themselves, other people, or even a higher being. Alice Walker, an African American writer, narrows the scope of suffering to a single, courageous woman in her novel, The Color Purple. Through this remarkable woman, Celie, Walker illustrates that even when life cant get any worse, one can overcome impossible odds. Alice Walker illustrates through Celies triumph over Mr. _____, one overcomes suffering through the presence of strong positive relationships. The obstacles that Celie overcomes are indicative of the relationships that she acquires. Through the relationships that Celie forms with God, Sofia, Nettie, Shug, and the ultimate relationship she develops with herself, she is able to overcome the abuse and hardship that is present in her life and her past.
Celies upbringing was not one, that which someone would call typical. She must care for her brothers and sisters, and is already burdened with the cooking and cleaning of the household because of her mothers deteriorating health. And if that is not a harsh struggle enough, Celie is being continuously raped by the man she knows to be her father. Celie gives birth to two of her fathers children, whom he sells after Celie gives birth. She is tormented with the thoughts of her two born children, and why these horrible things happen to her. Celie is mistreated and abused day to day, and accepts this as the norm childhood. Not only is the young, innocent Celie raped
Ventura 2again and again, she is beat by this man, when she does something he does not approve of. “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church” (Walker 5). She is victimized by this
man repeatedly and cannot help but only wonder why. She is thought of as nothing but a sexual object, and is taken advantage of over and over. She is stepped on repeatedly by her stepfather and is threatened not to say anything. “You better not never tell nobody but God. Its kill your mammy” (Walker 1). She is silenced not to tell anyone about her explicit rapes because she knows it would kill her mother, and therefore only expresses her hardship to God. This poor young girl deals with hardship most adults do not even encounter, but handles it with her own prerogative. Because of harsh circumstances and an inability to speak up, Celie begins the struggle of her life at such a young age.
Celies struggle comes to no conclusion, but continues in the same way with her marriage to Mr.____. “Celie is a woman who is victimized physically and psychologically by both her stepfather and her husband” (“Alice Walker” 422). The man she is sold to, known as Mr.____, is set up by her stepfather Fonso, not to be necessarily his wife, but his sex slave with no consequence. The actions of both her step father as well as her husband parallel each other in the way that they treat Celie with zero respect or dignity. “Mr._____sayAll women do good for–he dont finish…Remind me of Pa”(Cutter 5). She is reliving the horrors of her childhood in the same way her husband as she did her father. Albert, Celies estranged husband, treats her as though she was an object, not a person; an object that was only to be used by him and no one else. Albert had wished to marry another woman, but was given Celie, and therefore dissatisfied with the way things turned out. He takes out his dissatisfaction on his innocent wife, who knows nothing better than to do exactly as he tells her. Celie is manipulated physically and emotionally
Ventura 3by her husband, and leads an abusive life, which she accepts to be the normal. Celie comes to the conclusion that “a girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something”
(Walker 155). She comes to feel that she can never be her own person; she must live the life her husband gives her to live. A traumatic life and past can only mold one into who they will become.
Celies life is full of traumatic events and circumstances, and she struggles to no end. Celie is completely stepped on by everyone around her, and fails to do anything about it. She sits back and is continuously raped, and beaten by the men in her life. She goes through such heartache as a child, and relives that same pain as an adult. She often contemplates why this happens to her, but lets it happen. She acknowledges the facts, that these horrible things are indeed happening to her, but she disregards what she knows, and dwells on what she is told. She completely disregards what she knows to be true in her heart, but lives her life according to the way her husband wants her to live. She knows nothing better than this harsh, abusive life that tormented her soul as a child, and lets it happen once again in her adulthood. And that in turn leaves Celie with a harsh way of life, and is left with nothing, but her desires and deepest thoughts.
Celie begins to write letters filled with her deepest thoughts. Thoughts on how she is abused, how she feels about herself, and a plea for an answer on why this is happening to her. Her letters are addressed to God. “Because she must survive against impossible odds, because she has no one to talk to, she writes about her life in the guise of letters to God” (Steinem 424). Celie confides to God all the misfortunes and horrors that she has been dealt with at such a young age. She has no one to disclose her emotions to, no one to trust or have faith in, which is
Ventura 4why she turns to God. “…she must tell someone the truth and confirm her existence…” (Steinem 424). Celie pleas to God for a sign on why she suffers, and trusts God to hopefully give her some sort of explanation. Although Celie confides to the fullest extent in God, she becomes restless and cannot handle being in the dark about her suffering. Celie soon discovers that her husband, Mr. _____, has been hiding the letters that her sister, Nettie, has been writing to Celie for months. After becoming aware of this horrifying knowledge, Celie blames God for allowing Mr._____ to do such a horrible thing. She is completely discouraged, for the person she held the utmost trust in “betrayed” her in a way that is unforgivable. She begins to feel apathetic towards God and blames him for the troubles she has been given. “Yeah, I say, and he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mama, a low down dog of a step pa, and a sister I probably wont ever see again” (Walker
‟”” she may eventually find solace in some time with a real family), but she has no hope to live her whole life, especially in terms of the past and present. She also is not comfortable dealing with the consequences of her marriage to the man she has become so close to, even though she once had the courage and skill to accept that the man she loved was going to commit a massive sin for having a affair with her ex-husband. She ends up with his ghost (and another) instead, one that eventually ends the rest of this family. Though Celie is able to find comfort and understanding in that world and can accept the guilt for things that are so incredibly out of her control, she is still very much a victim of demons, demons that are always out of the question. She suffers from a sense that she’s always been a “goddess” for others because the whole point of being a “godly” woman is to protect others. She feels that her “life’s work” is her life’s work, and she feels that it comes very late for her, a loss that is much more than she can bear to acknowledge. She is one of many sinners because she was born with a sin, which is something she can finally accept and understand. As for her guilt, a lot of people are so quick to claim her as a “whore,” and then accuse her of being greedy and greedy, and that she would have been a whore without her sin. The other main difference is, those in the Hells who go through the years of living with demons are mostly people who experience sexual abuse, and that does not include in the hells. The human race is no different than the animals or plants in their own ways, and as such, human beings can easily become monsters on their own when they find out about demons and have a very hard time accepting it. When asked about demons, most likely the most “normal” people tend to talk about the devil and his demons, but don’t mention him to Celie very often. Celie is also not that personable for “real” people. When asked that this is why she had a ghost, of course, she says, “Why that’s the case. That would be too dangerous for me to do.” Celie is almost completely unaware of the fact that she is the only person in the Hells who can be certain the demons exist, and even if she does, she is extremely fearful that when that fails, all those who care about her life, or those who love her must know that she is responsible for her life and her soul forever. She has never been “herded” into hell, and she thinks that this is simply because she is ashamed of her sins and her past. And that is just wishful thinking. In fact, many of those who call herself “demonic” are very afraid of demons as well. They think that this is just one of those stupid feelings that women give that can be totally ignored if they feel such guilt. In the Hells though, most folks assume that they can and will always be an honest ass, that they are “sinner’s sinners” (even if they feel good about it). What about you? Let us see how you are coping with being an outsider in real life vs. the outside world. If this is the case for you, what did you do in the past? Would you have a better life there? Would you like to find a way out of it and get off the ground with your soul instead? Are you feeling great about yourself now and it was much better living somewhere else