GRE阅读考生回忆：the color people

　　general intro：

　　The Color Purple is a 1982 eistolary novel 书信小说 writtenby American author Alice Walker that won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fictionandthe National Book Award for Fiction.

　　Taking place mostly in rural Georgia， the storyfocuses on female black life in the 1930s in thesouthern United States， addressingnumerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American socialculture.

　　Plot summary

　　The Color Purple spans the years 1909 to 1949， relatingthe life of Celie， a Southern black woman virtually sold into a life of servitude toher brutal husband， sharecropper Albert. Celie， the protagonist and narrator of The Color Purple， is a poor， uneducated， fourteen-year-old blackgirl living in rural Georgia.

　　Celie starts writing letters to God because her stepfather， Alphonso， beats andrapes her. Celie pours out her innermost thoughts in letter form to her sisterNettie， but Albert has been hiding the letters Nettie writes back， allowingCelie to assume that Nettie is dead.

　　Letters Alice Walker highlights the power of communication throughthe characters letter writing form.

　　The letters that Celie writes to God， and later to hersister Nettie， symbolize a certain voice that only Celie has and one that she isonly able to express in her letters.

　　She is able to express her true desires only in her letter.

　　These letters allow her to display any emotion， and theyare very personal to her as well.

　　In the beginning， when she was writing letters only to God， the letterswere very private and Celie would not have wanted anyone to see them.

　　The letters are the only way she can represent her true feelings anddespair as she is abused.

　　Later， the letters she gets from Nettie give her hope that she will bereunited with her sister again.

　　Celie writes to God for a lack of someone else to write to. She writesto her sister because she gets mad at God because of her past and the peoplewho have been hurt because of it.

　　She asks God Why? which is a question that cannot beanswered.

　　The last letter she writes is to everyone， includingGod showing that she has forgiven Him， and that her storyhas gone through a full circle of maturation.

　　theme：

　　In the short story The Color Purple， author Alice Walker describes the life of Celie， a blackwoman growing up in the South. She must overcome racism and poverty to establish herself as anindependent person. The novel also follows the maturation of her sister Nettie and thelives of Shug， Albert， and much of his extended family.

　　A motif in The Color Purple is the recurring concept of roundness.

　　The concept of roundness relates to the shape of the human body， andespecially the female body.

　　The letters are also another motif in the novel.

　　The letters play an important role in conveying Celies thoughtsand emotions throughout her life.

　　Walker suggests that oppressed people can unite with solidarity toovercome their oppressors.

　　A sub theme of The Color Purple is the harm inflicted on the Black community， both by theirown cycle of violence and the racially motivated hatred of Negroes in the South.

　　Symbol：

　　The title of the book is an important symbol.

　　Celie goes through life having a hard time noticing the beautifulaspects and appreciating them.

　　She had a difficult life and was abused as an adolescent.

　　The color purple is continually equated with suffering andpain.

　　Sofias swollen， beaten face is described as the color of eggplant.

　　Purple is the color of Celies private parts， the site ofher sexual violation.

　　However， later Shug points out to her that life must be enjoyed. When theyare in a field of purple flowers， Shug tells Celie to look at the flowers and embrace their beauty. Youmust look at all the good and acknowledge them because God placed them all onearth. After learning this， Celie has a better respect for life and everything it has to offer.