An Analysis Of Alice Walker's The Color Purple

Initially, you get the impression of Celie as a shadow in the background- the kind of person that you wouldn’t notice even if she was right in front of you. She was utterly silent in her life, never getting in anyone’s way or saying what was on her mind; until she discovered the healing power of writing a series of letters, addressed to God first, and then her sister. Through her writing, she discovers her true nature and the woman that she was supposed to be in her own life. Alice Walker writes her story, The Color Purple, as an epistolary novel. An epistolary novel is a book that is in the form of letters, written by the main character. In this case, it is written by Celie, the main character who is living in Georgia in the 1930’s.
She finds a way to rebel (no matter how small), by writing all of her stories, so that in turn, all of her readers can “pass on the tradition” of her life. With her persistence in writing to God with everything she sees and hears and feels, she is unconsciously telling herself that she deserves to be heard; even if it’s just through her writing that no one is going to see but God and her sister. Also, With this letter form, you get a complete understanding of the main character; Their hopes, dreams, loves, and hates. They feel no need to hide who they are or what they think, because they are writing in a private journal that no one else would see. This is an important aspect in The Color Purple, for the main character has no voice of her own. If it was written in another way, it would've changed the whole story. For example, if it was written in the third person, we would've never gotten the insight of celie's character, but In this form of writing, it shows her most private thoughts,
At first it is to God, because she feels that he is the only one who will listen, (and she even doubts he listens), but, he is her salvation for most of the book. About halfway through the book, she realizes that she has a problem with God. She starts to question him, with the help of Shug. If he listened to her, then why was she still suffering? Was he just like all the other men in her life? Shug offers an important lesson to Celie: That God was not just one being- an old white man with a beard and a listening problem- but in everything; The stars, the sky, and the color purple. “I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it.” After this conversation with Shug, she finds letters from Nettie, and decides to write to her instead of God. This is important because 1. She has stopped depending on a spiritual being who obviously was not going to do anything for her, and 2. She has now found hope and love in Nettie’s letters; the only person who was ever kind to her besides Shug. This is a very important part of the book because of those reasons; being hopeless with God, but being able to have hope and speak out with Nettie as her “guide”. In conclusion, Most people do not realize what goes into an epistolary novel; not only the protagonist’s point of view, but also the authors. This is the style of writing that is most influenced by the authors beliefs and thoughts