Power, Influence and Decision Making in The Color Purple by Alice Walker

‘The Color Purple’ is an epistolary novel written by Alice Walker, which raises many issues important for understanding of African-American lifestyle in the beginning of the 20th century. This essay is devoted to such themes as power, influence, decision making, and organizational culture discussed in the book. This is an analysis of a novel ‘The Color Purple’, which analyzes the major characters of the book with the reference to primary topics.

The novel raises such a significant theme as the low position of the black women in the U.S. society. The situation of the black women was really hard because of their gender and color. In the paper special attention is paid to social norms in the society described by author.

The main character of the novel ‘The Color Purple’ written by Alice Walker is Celie. She is a young woman who has been abused at the age of 14 by her own father. Later, she finds out that he is not her father but he is her stepfather who forces her to marry a man who also abuses her. Alice Walker has organized the book as a series of narrations to God written by the central character Celie. The book ‘The Color Purple’ begins with the words of Celie addressed to God. Celie is a young black girl who lives in Georgia. Although she is uneducated and her letters to God are written in a dialect, she is a strong character.

In her letters she tells God that she is a good girl and has always been a good girl. Celie wants to know her future asking God to give her a sign. She describes the painful and morbid events in her life associated with her stepfather. Throughout the entire first part of the novel Celie’s stepfather is called ‘He’. She writes: ‘He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don't never git used to it. And now I feels sick every time I be the one to cook.’ (Walker, 2003, p. 11)

Celie is a strong personality who despite all the pain tries to move on and live. Her letters are evidence of her inner strength and power; they are evidence of her aspiration to live on and to make her own decisions in the life.

Celie’s stepfather who is called ‘He’ in the first part of the book ‘The Color Purple’ has the power in the society because he is a man. He uses his power to humiliate women as they are powerless in the early 20th century. Celie’s stepfather rapes her to show he is the main person in the house and can do whatever he wants. ‘He’ makes decisions by himself and nobody can teach him what to do. ‘He’ influences the life of Celie, her sister and other women living deep scars on their souls.

Celie’s stepfather wants to get rid of her saying she is old and ugly. ‘He’ wants Mr. __ to marry her. ‘He’ says: ‘Well, next time you come you can look at her. She ugly. Don't even look like she kin to Nettie. But she'll make the better wife. She aint smart either, and I'll just be fair, you have to watch her or she'll give away everything you own. But she can work like a man.’ (Walker, 2003, p. 18)

After all the humiliation and suffering Celie becomes stronger emotionally. She has a solid instinct for survival realizing she is a victim in the current situation. Celie does not understand the reasons of her current pitiful state. She does not complain but she simply asks God the reason of all the hardships in her life. Celie feels worthless and has low self-esteem because she has had a rough time. Even after the marriage she stays a slave to her husband who treats her the same way Celie’s stepfather did. Mr. __ shows his attitude towards women in general. He says: ‘Well how you spect to make her mind? Wives is like children. You have to let 'em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating’ (Walker, 1996, p. 42). Mr.     , Celie’s husband does not respect her wife abusing her.