Masculinity In The Color Purple

Men feel the need to incite a sense of dominance over submissive women. Alice Walker utilises Albert and Harpo to depict abusive and indecisive qualities displayed by men in her highly acclaimed novel, The Color Purple.
Albert is initially introduced as this mysterious man who has taken interest in the protagonist Celie’s, little sister Nettie. He is initially referred to as “Mr ___” (4) throughout most of the novel to symbolise Celie’s indifference towards him and her refusal to accept their marriage. Albert uses physicality to assert his dominance over Celie via beatings or intercourse. Their first night together Celie does not even pay attention to Mr___ because she “lay there thinking bout Nettie while he on top” her only concern being
He asks Celie, an oppressed woman, how to treat his disobedient free willed wife. Celie tells Harpo to beat her because she wanted to be her and take the same liberties a has (40). In this moment Sofia explains her amazonian-esque physique explaining that “all my life I had to fight.I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins” (40) Sofia and Celie essentially have a heart to heart and Celie realises how strong Sofia really is, and the unfortunate reality that she could never acquire the level of strength and independence that Sofia possessed. Harpo’s failed attempt to control Sofia caused her to be arrested because if he would have just accepted that his wife was self-sufficient enough that she did not have to obey his every command she would have stayed with him rather than going off with the prize fighter and she would not have gotten involved with the Mayor and Miss Millie and they would not have had to send in Squeak to convince the warden that “Sofia not being punish enough” and that “she laugh at the fool she make of the guards” (93). Due to her lack of prison sentence, Sofia would have been able to raise her children rather than having to be “some white woman maid” (95). Sofia is not the only woman Harpo’s indecisive nature drove away either. Mary Agnes, who was initially introduced as “Squeak” (82) leaves with Shug, Grady, and Celie and ends up becoming a reincarnation of Shug Avery with “a lot of new songs” that she “not too knocked out to sing” (287) referring to the large amount of reefer she used to smoke with Grady (219) before she decided to just live with her mother in Memphis to tend to her budding singing career.
The constant desire for power and authority causes men to oppress subservient women. This concept is depicted in Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, where she uses Albert and Harpo to depict abusive and indecisive nature displayed by men within