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B.A. Thesis Chapter 2 Double Oppression on the Black Women in The Color Purple

his dignity when he lowered himself before the white men. Thus Sofia was put into prison by the police because she did not want to be the maid of the mayor?s wife and fought back when the mayor beat her. Although at that time, Sofia had already left Harpo and lived with her sister, all the members of Mr.Johnson?s family, including Mr. Johnson and Harpo, still tried to help and look after her. When Celie saw Sofia in prison finally, she could not believe her eyes. “When I see Sofia I don?t know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs. They tear her nose loose on one side. They blind her in one eye. She swole from head to foot. Her tongue the size of my arm, it stick out between her teef like a piece of rubber. She can?t talk. And she just about the color of egg plant”. (Walker 1982, 91-92)So much hurt, Sofia had to work in the prison laundry and became the best convict in the prison. As she told Celie, “Every time they ast me to do something, Miss Celie, I act like I?m you. I jump right up and do just what they say” (Walker1982, 93). But deeper in her heart, Sofia did not completely become an obedient black woman. “I dream of murder, she say. I dream of murder sleep or wake”(Walker 1982, 94). If the black men treated the black women not as human beings, then the white people treated the black women even not as alive creatures. Then they tried to get Sofia out of prison. At last, Sofia still had to work as the maid for the mayor. She fought and was put into prison because she did not want to be maid for the white people.

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B.A. Thesis Chapter 2 Double Oppression on the Black Women in The Color Purple

However, after all the sufferings, everything went back to the former state. Sofia, a black woman, became the maid of the white people no matter willing or not. “Three years after she beat she out of the wash house, got her color and her weight back, look like her old self, just all the time think about killing somebody” (Walker 1982, 105). However, what Sofia had undergone had already damaged her soul, which would linger in her heart forever. In one of Nettie?s letters, she also mentioned that she saw Sofia on the street and talked with her one day. Sofia?s reaction surprised Nettie very much. She wrote, “Celie, one minute I was saying howdy to a living woman. The next minute nothing living was there. Only its shape” (Walker 1982, 137).

Then where is the way out for those poor black women from the sexual oppression of men? Where is the way out for all the black people from the racial oppression of the white people?

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B.A. Thesis Chapter 3 Black women?s approach to emancipation

Chapter 3

Black Women’s Approach to Emancipation

3.1 Sisterhood and Its Role in Celie’s Emancipation Process

In The Color Purple, women bonding and sisterhood play an important role in Celie?s emancipation process. Ranging from her sister Nettie to her daughter-in-law Sofia and to her husband?s mistress Shug, Celie is able to transform her life and free herself both physically and spiritually with the help of these women. 3.1.1 The Role of Nettie

In the novel, we have many examples of sisterhood that link women with each other. The very first signs of sisterhood can be seen in Celie and Nettie. The two sisters live within a family where affection is totally absent. With a violent rapist father and a sick mother, Nettie is able to provide Celie with moral comfort. When Nettie notices that Celie is frequently beaten by her husband, she urges her to fight him. She also urges her to fight against Mr.Johnson?s children by showing them a good lesson and letting them know ―who is the upper hand. (Walker 25)

To Celie Nettie has always been like a teacher. She helps her sister with reading, spelling and everything she thinks Celie needs to know. No matter in what kind of situation, Nettie never gives up any opportunity to inform Celie what is going on in the world. In the short period of staying

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B.A. Thesis Chapter 3 Black women?s approach to emancipation

in Albert?s house with Celie, Nettie witnesses his benighted brutality and knows clearly that Celie is hopeless if she keeps her submissiveness. So she tries hard to exert every possible way to teach and enlighten Celie. For example, she writes words on some cards and sticks the cards to the corresponding places in order to keep Celie from being an illiterate. This ability to read and write taught by Nettie enables Celie to pour out her bitterness to the absent God. However, to Celie, the most important and exciting news from Nettie is about her two children. From Nettie?s letter, Celie gets to know for the first time that her two children, who she has lost when they are just born, now stay with Nettie in Africa, and that they are living a happy life with Nettie and are receiving good education. The good news of the two children provides Celie, a poor mother, with a strong spiritual strength and sustains her to survive in the especially hard time. When the two sisters are later separated from each other, this affectionate sisterhood continues to bond them and give them a hope of survival during the harshest living moments of their existence. 3.1.2 The Role of Sofia

Sofia Butler, Celie?s step-son?s wife, is another woman who becomes a good model for Celie. She is a fat woman with big legs. She grows up in a family of men and learns that only by fighting can she survive. “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 and my uncles. A girl child ain?t

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B.A. Thesis Chapter 3 Black women?s approach to emancipation

safe in a family of men.” (Walker 38) Unlike Sofia, Celie does not fight and keeps silent when she suffers from family violence. She even takes it for granted that men are superior to women. However, Sofia refuses to accept this unfair social rule.

Celie?s first meeting with Sofia happens when Sofia comes to ask Albert?s permission of her marriage to Harpo. At first sight, Celie is surprised by Sofia?s strong and confident appearance: ―She not quite as tall as Harpo but much bigger, and strong and ruddy looking, like her mama brought her up on pork. (Walker 30) When Albert astonished, Sofia does not submit to him. She says to Harpo: ―Naw, Harpo stay here. When you free, me and the baby be waiting (Walker 38) Sofia?s bravery moves Celie greatly. Sofia is an alien who is absolutely contradictory to the woman image Celie is familiar with. Sofia gets married to Harpo regardless of their parents? objection. After Sofia learns that Celie always keeps silent but to tell to God about her suffering, Sofia gives her a suggestion: ―to bash Mr.Johnson head open, Think about heaven later. (Walker 39) So after an honest exchange of viewpoints between them, misapprehension is dispelled and the similar experiences from their families bring them closer. Since then, Celie and Sofia become friends who rely on and help each other throughout the rest of the novel. Sofia makes Celie realize that women can be independent, strong and courageous, which saves Celie from her humiliating position and paves

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