Response to Discussion Question - Sabeana Uthayakumaran

I chose to respond to Kawalya’s discussion question.

4 ) In your opinion, what do you think Alice Walker’s motive was for this novel? What message to do think she was trying to convey?

I personally believe that Alice walker was trying to convey multiple themes throughout the novel. One of the obvious and major motives Walker had decided to display was feminism, as she shows the protagonist Celie conquers this issue.

Walker throughout the novel demonstrates the inequality between men and women. Men hold the superiority over women drastically in Celie’s life. Celie dealt with sexist men in her life including her father and husband. Celie has been treated unfair all her life, as she is forced to take care of her husband’s children and other commands from Mr.____ and her father without question. Celie is also forced to accept Mr.____ sleeping with Shug Avery while Celie is still married to him. Mr.____ also had said, “Men s’pose to wear the pants”, indicating that women are inferior and are told to obey the men while the men order them what to do.

 Early in the novel, Shug Avery had an illness most likely due to a sexually transmitted disease. The community/society they live in refer to the illness as “a women disease,” although men also are capable of getting the illness as well. They had also judged her and commented about her different lifestyle. However, the men are allowed to do the same without being taunted. Mr.____ and Alphonso both abused Celie inappropriately and are not talked down about as Shug was, because they are men. Walker portrayed that men being the superior one in the relationship was common in the early 20^th century. It is clearly evident how powerful the discrimination was from when Celie is forced to be silent about rape because she believes that that is the only way she can be alive. Fortunately, the author showcased how you can fight through the male dominance just as Celie did when she broke away due to Shug Avery’s assistance. Although Walker had written this novel back in 1982, the context us still relevant to present time.

          

            By the end of the novel everything started to change for the better and discrimination was slowly starting to fade away from Celie’s life. The women stood by each other to fight for themselves and each other for the better. In this novel, Alice Walker showcases how equality is essential for everyone to live life full of happiness. Even though you could be facing hardships due to inequality, Walker demonstrated how if you stand up for yourself, there is always hope and life gets better.