Link to the work: http://www.slideshare.net/mistatys/the-color-purple-alice-walker
Link to a theatre performance of the play version by an academy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No9zyJvUqPk
I think The Color Purple should be included because you get a different point of view. It could be a good alternative reading for Week Six's assignment: Reading from Diverse Positions.
The main character has a different tone of voice and the writing is written in the way she speaks so just from the writing alone, you can tell that the main character is not educated. You don't always see stories told in a series of short sentences unless it is a children's book. If someone nowadays were to turn that book in to a publisher, they might reject it due to the style it is written. People want vivid descriptions and lots of feelings but because of the narrator's personality, we do not get that. Instead, we just hear the story told by her.
Once you get past the language, you then have to tackle the subject matter. Color Purple is not the happiest book ever and everything that happens in that book will not be relatable to everyone. There is rape, arranged marriage, abuse, and separation from family. It is a little harder to relate to the experiences when you have not experienced those things first hand but it is relatable in a sense of how she handles it and regains her independence.
The questions that we had to answer about Jamaica Kincaid's story "Girl" can be applied to this story due to its themes. You can easily talk about the operations of the patriarchy here in the story, powers of the sexes, and sisterhood since there are some female relationships the main character develops.
Reading your description about the play entices me to spend some time and watch it. It is true that the subject matters (such as rape, abuse, arranged marriage, etc) may not be favorable to many people. However, I do think that it is not necessarily unrelatable. It might be difficult to relate to the story in a personal level but I suspect, since the subject matters are really strong, it would be rather possible for one to relate to it from a bystander point of view. However, again, I have not seen the play. I will watch it and share what I think about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see The Color Purple as a well recommended option for the Literature and Media course. Though at times difficult to read through its more traumatic events, it holds a blunt realism that forces the reader to face the issues that have/currently exist in this world. The subject matters bring awareness to matters of racism, abusive relationships, and the challenging of traditional gender roles.
ReplyDeleteIt strongly reminds me of A Thousand Splendid Suns, a novel which finds a young girl facing similar abuse through her life, though from the standpoint of an out of wedlock child. Like Celie, the main character later stand up for herself against fear of masculine dominance and finds comfort in her strong friendship with women.
Good choice