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"She has published eight novels...as well as numerous collections of poetry, essays, and short stories and several children's books" ("Alice Walker." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture).

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Biography Note: Directed Audience (Quote)

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Biography Note: Directed Audience (Quote)

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"Still, throughout these essays she provides a space for white feminists to discover the commonalities of women's oppression by emphasizing her belief that we are all part of one larger life story" ("Alice Walker." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture).

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Biography Note: Controversial Topics (Quote) 

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Biography Note: Controversial Topics (Quote) 

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"However, Walker juxtaposes images of rape, incest, and other forms of physical and emotional abuse with examples of love, loyalty, pleasurable and empowering sex, parental joy, and the communal bonding of men and women" ("Alice Walker." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture).

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Biography Note: Partial Blindness (Quote)

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Biography Note: Partial Blindness (Quote)

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-  "When she was just eight years old, one of her brothers accidentally shot her in the eye with a BB gun, which blinded her in that eye and left her physically and emotionally scarred".
- "...her young daughter Rebecca helped her to see herself as 'beautiful, whole and free'. She also describes how fear of losing sight in the other eye enabled her to imagine life more fully, replete with its injustices and its beauty" ("Alice Walker." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture).

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Walker was Valedictorian of her high school class and was offered a "rehabilitation scholarship" to Spelman College. After attending Spelman for 2 years, she received a scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College. Both school's were all woman with the addiction of an all black- female atmosphere at Spelman ("Alice Walker." Authors and Artists for Young Adults).

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Biography Note: Zora Neale Hurston (Quote)

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Biography Note: Zora Neale Hurston (Quote)

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- "Another strong influence of these years was the discovery of the literary work of Zora Neale Hurston, which enhanced her appreciation of her underprivileged model: a woman who had a left the South but not her heritage".
- "...Walker found a model: a woman who had left the South but not her heritage".
- "...also dealt with her characters not as stereotypes of racial inequality, but as real, whole people" ("Alice Walker." Authors and Artists for Young Adults).

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Biography Note: Personal Life - Late 1970's (Paraphrase)

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Biography Note: Personal Life - Late 1970's (Paraphrase)

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Walker divorced her husband and had joint custody of their daughter Rebecca. Around this time she won a Guggenheim Fellowship Award and moved to San Francisco. Her move to the west coast allowed her to open up, advance, and continue her work on several writings ("Alice Walker." Authors and Artists for Young Adults).

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Biography Note: Symbols and Themes in The Color Purple (Quote)

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Biography Note: Symbols and Themes in The Color Purple (Quote)

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- "One of the central symbols of the novel, the color purple, represents royalty, creativity, and even a sense of surprise and wonder at God".
- "It has also been pointed out, the symbolic color of lesbianism and this along with sexism, and racism, are vital thematic elements in the novel" ("Alice Walker." Authors and Artists for Young Adults).

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Biography Note: Awards for The Color Purple (Quote)

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Biography Note: Awards for The Color Purple (Quote)

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"Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, it won both the American Book Award and the prestigious Pulitzer Prize, making Walker the first African American woman to ever win that latter honor" ("Alice Walker." Authors and Artists for Young Adults).

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Biography Note: Three Gifts (Paraphrase) 

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Biography Note: Three Gifts (Paraphrase) 

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Throughout Alice Walker's life, her mom gave her three gifts that she kept with her. A sewing machine that she used to make her own clothes, a typewriter that she use to pursue her dreams as a writer and a suitcase that she used in all her travels ("Alice Walker." Authors and Artists for Young Adults).

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"He punch her in the stomach, she double over groaning but come up with both hands lock right under his privates" (Walker 37).

This is just one of the continuous examples of abuse throughout The Color Purple. In the specific example from Sofia and Harpo's fight, Sofia was able to defend herself unlike other abused female characters.

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Personal Note: Strength Through Prayer (Quote)

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Personal Note: Strength Through Prayer (Quote)

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"All this week I suffer. Grady and me feel so down he turn to reefer. I turn to prayer" (Walker 119).

Celie found her strength through prayer. When she was at her lowest, she would write and pray to God, hence why each letter starts "Dear God".

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"Celie, he say, you have my sympathy. Not many women let they husband and whore lay up in they house" (Walker 55).

Throughout The Color Purple, the concept of infidelity is very common. Almost every "father-figure" or major male character fails to remain faithful to their spouse.

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Personal Note: Strength in Numbers (Quote) 

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Personal Note: Strength in Numbers (Quote) 

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"I won't leave, she say, until I know Albert won't even think about beating you" (Walker 75).

The theme of  strength in numbers is displayed several times throughout the novel. Shug's protection over Celie is just one example.

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"It got to the place where every time I saw him coming with the scissors and the comb and stool, I start to cry" (Walker 112).

Celie had been beat down so many times physically that her mentality also began to wear down. walker uses abuse and its effects on characters in several ways throughout the novel.

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"...It is the most extraordinary place!...there is a 'small' rift on our side, several thousand acres large and even deeper than the great rift, which covers millions of acres" (Walker 277).

Throughout the novel there are several elements of adventure. Every character has their own story with various elements and adventure, this quote adds to Adam's adventure.

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"You a lowdown dog is what's wrong, I say. It's time to leave you and enter into the creation. And your dead body is just the welcome mat i need" (Walker 199).

Celie was not the type of character to stick up for herself but instead do what she was told to avoid any problems. Her character became more dynamic as the novel went on and she developed courage to stick up for herself and did not allow anyone to push her around.

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"Mr __ reach over to slap me. I jab my case knife in his hand" (Walker 200).
Mr __ was a big time abuser when his character was first introduced. As time goes on it seems as if he does not learn his lesson until Celie puts him in his place.

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"Took me long enough to notice you such good company, he say. And he laugh" (Walker 276).

Mr __ changes drastically throughout the novel. Are there any other characters that change in a dramatic way? If yes, is it in a good or bad way?

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"...I love him as a bodily, as a man! I love his walk, his size, his shape, his smell, the kinkiness of his hair" (Walker 238).

Each character in some way, shape, or form experiences love. Do you think Walker's own experiences with love had to do with the way she portrayed it in her writings?

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Personal Note: Cultural Differences (Quote)

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Personal Note: Cultural Differences (Quote)

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"And in England I was struck by the English people's teeth. So crooked, usually, and blackish with decay...but the Africans' teeth reminded me of horses' teeth, they are so fully formed, straight and strong" (Walker 149).

Different cultural aspects were highly valued in this novel especially with the amount of traveling that occurred. Do you think these cultural views had to do with what Walker witnessed in her lifetime?

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Criticism Note: Modern Female Responsibility (Paraphrase)

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Criticism Note: Modern Female Responsibility (Paraphrase)

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Women have decided (in more recent decades) that their success now belongs in their own hands. They do not rely on those around them, especially men, because some kind of female discrimination seems to be inevitable (Saunders).

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"The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated... A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something" (Walker 155).

The idea of gender roles was displayed in several parts throughout the novel including Celie's home life and Nettie's travels to Africa. Gender roles are a controversial topic in the novel as well as in the real world.

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"One ship lost feel like nothing, I guess. Plus, colored don't count to those people" (Walker 280).
Celie and Nettie never lost hope in each other even when they were without communication. They always had a feeling and trusted in each others company.

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Criticism Note: Hurston & Walker (Paraphrase)

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Criticism Note: Hurston & Walker (Paraphrase)

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Hurston has been/is an inspiration and major role model to Walker. Both of their writings depict the common misconception that there is an inequality between men and women. They also continually discuss women who have been taken advantage of and/or forced against their beliefs (Saunders).

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"Then us both start to moan and cry. Us totter toward one nother like us used to do when we was babies" (Walker 286).

Family is the foundation of this novel. The connection Celie and Nettie have help each other persevere during their hardest moments even if they are geographically distant.

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Personal Note: Internal Conflicts (Quote)

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Personal Note: Internal Conflicts (Quote)

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"...I told Shug it was true that I beat you cause you was you and not her" (Walker 270).

Each character deal with their own internal conflicts. Some deal with it better than others; for example, Mr __ deals with his internal conflicts through abuse.

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Criticism Note: Will-Full Womanists (Paraphrase)

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Criticism Note: Will-Full Womanists (Paraphrase)

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Walker describes “womanists” as “will-full”, because for many, especially black women, their free will seems to be taken from them but they are still hopeful and persevere to fight for their own
lives (Saunders).

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Criticism Note: Race and Social Status (Paraphrase) 

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Criticism Note: Race and Social Status (Paraphrase) 

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Race and social status is a common theme throughout The color Purple. Author, Alice Walker's , thoughts were being examined by Selzer when explaining the dynamic relationships between characters who are both different races and are in different social classes (Selzer).

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Criticism Note: Another Form of Slavery (Quote)

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Criticism Note: Another Form of Slavery (Quote)

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"...If two millions of Southern black women are not to be secured the rights of person, property, wages and children, their emancipation is but another form of slavery" (Madsen).

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Colored women have not been excluded on a race aspect but a gender scale as well. Because o their race and gender scale as well. Because of both their race and gender they have been excluded from things lie (black-male dominated) Civil Rights movement and Women's Movement (Madsen).

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Criticism Note: Women Resolve Inequality (Quote) 

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Criticism Note: Women Resolve Inequality (Quote) 

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"Further, when white women were grouped with non-white women and men, employers found that they could satisfy equal opportunities requirements while maintaining white supremacy by employing white women at the expense of non-whites" (Madsen).

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Criticism Note: Multiple Battles (Quote)

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Criticism Note: Multiple Battles (Quote)

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"But it is not only through Sophia's dramatic public battles with white men that her story dramatizes issues of race and class" (Selzer).

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Criticism Note: Theme of Abuse and Manual Labor (Quote)

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Criticism Note: Theme of Abuse and Manual Labor (Quote)

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"Sophia is brutally beaten by the mayor and six policemen and s then imprisoned. Forced to do the jail's laundry and driven to the brink or madness" (Selzer).

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Criticism Note: Racial Dependence (Paraphrase)

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Criticism Note: Racial Dependence (Paraphrase)

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The misconception of blacks depending on whites is very common, especially during slavery. The Color Purple does a good job of criticizing this idea. It is not blacks who depend on whites to feed, clothe, and support them but it is whites who depend on blacks to do the tasks they are incapable of doing or even taking the time to learn how to do (Selzer).

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"Celie appreciates Shug's presence in the house, because Albert treats her better when Shug is around. Albert later in life softens and Celie takes him in as a helper in her business" (Napierkowski).

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Criticism Note: Race and Social Status (Paraphrase)

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Criticism Note: Race and Social Status (Paraphrase)

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Race and social status is a common theme throughout The color Purple. Author, Alice Walker's , thoughts were being examined by Selzer when explaining the dynamic relationships between characters who are both different races and are in different social classes (Selzer). 

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Criticism Note: Male "Privilege" (Quote)

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Criticism Note: Male "Privilege" (Quote)

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"As long as black men seek to imitate the power structure that crushes them … and as long as black women submit … then the morbid relationship of Celie, the oppressed, and Mr., the oppressed oppressor, will continue to be played out in homes all across America" (Napierkowski).

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Criticism Note: Finding a Voice & Making a Change

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Criticism Note: Finding a Voice & Making a Change

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- "Albert thought it scandalous for his wife to wear pants; Celie defied him and destroyed the power of his attitude over her." - - "Since men have been her most cruel oppressors, it is ironically appropriate that she take something traditionally assigned to them in shaking off the power they have over her." - "And not only does she shake off that power; she turns it against them by getting them to like the pants she sews" (Napierkowski.