The Color Purple

When reading the Color Purple by Alice Walker, I realized that there was a lot of abuse, both mentally and physically to the main character, named Celie. The abuse becomes worse as she gets older and believes that she is not capable of defending herself. Celie tells her story and tries to become her own person by doing several things for herself. In the Color Purple many literary devices are used, some include; situational irony, symbolism and many metaphors.
Situational irony is a big part of the Color Purple, while reading I noticed a lot of it used. When Mr. and Celie go visit Shug, they both seemingly fall in love with her, even though she's initally Mr.'s lover. She teaches Celie to love herself and she teaches her how to become a proud seductive woman. Celie learns these rules of confidence from a woman that is lovers with her husband. Another part of situational irony I found was the fact that Nettie, Celie's sister, was kicked out of her house and ended up going to live in Africa and finding Celie's kids, who she's been looking for since they were born. Another part of situational irony I found was the fact that Shug's father was a pastor while Shug made her life being a seductive singer, singing in clubs and had no sense of right and wrong. She later makes a good relationship with her father and he forgives her.

The book also uses symbolism in the fact that Shug represents Celie becoming an independent woman. Shug really teaches Celie to love herself. In the whole book, Shug teaches Celie how to become a woman because all her life she is a treated like a dog who has a certain owner and she does whatever she is told. When Shug comes into Celie's life, she realizes what it means to be a strong independent woman. When Celie was young, she was sexually abused by the man she thought was her father, he bared two of her children and she grew up with a certain hatred for him because he took away both children. When he dies, he leaves Celie his house where she lives and waits for her family to be together for once. Mr.'s oldest son, Harpo marries a woman named Sofia and she is the exact opposite of Celie, Sofia always stands up for herself and won't take things from anyone. Celie and Mr's relationship is the exact opposite of the relationship of Harpo and Sofia. Celie is treated like an obedient dog, while Mr is the boss, and Harpo is the obedient one in the relationship and Sofa is more of the boss.

The book involves metaphors, such as the metaphor of Shug making Celie a woman because she is not the woman who is seen in the end of the book. Another metaphor used in the book is the letters that are sent back in forth in the book. There are constant letters sent to Celie from Nettie, her sister who was kicked out of her house by Mr, and moved to Africa where she found Celie's two kids. Things that are sewn are also big metaphors in the books, because it shows how thngs are being put together and in the end, it's a big thing that can be put together and goes well together, in the end everyone gets what they deserved. Celie ends up with both of her kids and her sister.

The overall theme of the book is that Celie overcame both physical and mental abuse. Whether Celie having to go through sexual abuse with her father or physical abuse with Mr. She overcomes everything when she realize's what she can accomplish on her own.