Literature Analysis

1.      Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read.

·         Celie is the main character/protagonist who is telling the story through letters to God at first, then to her sisiter Nettie. Throughout the novel, we see Celie grow from an insecure fourteen year old girl into a woman, who in the end doesn’t let anyone step on her. While Celie overcomes her husdand and all those who looked down on her, Nettie also tells her story through letter to Celie. She tells her of her mission with God and all that follows. The story closes with Celie and Nettie seeing each other after years of separation.  

2.       Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

·         The main theme would be realizing your inner strength. In The Color Purple, not only Celie but most of the characters find and learn of their inner strength to do things they never thought possible. Celie found the strength to stand up for herself and her beliefs with much confidence. Another great example would actually be Mr. ____. As impossible as it may seem, in the end Mr. ____ found his own way of accepting Celie as a woman and not some slave. He accepted her as a human being. 

3.      Describe the author's tone.  Include three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).

·         The tone of The Color Purple is a mixture innocence and disgust and hatred, but there isn’t much happiness… until the end that is. Innocence is portrayed in the beginning of the story very strongly by Celie. She tells God she does not see the male gender in “that” way (the way her father accuses her of).  Hatred is seen in all the characters throughout the story, main and minor. Celie expresses it toward Mr. ____. Sofia expresses is while in jail. Shug expresses it in general, sometimes toward Mr. ____ when she finds out how he treats Celie. 

4.      Describe five literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the theme and/or your sense of the tone.  Include three excerpts that will help your reader understand each one.

·         A literary device used in the story is the use of motifs. The letters are strong motifs used because they express the hope that Celie and Nettie keep between each other.

·         There is also another motif, which would be the colors. When insecure, Celie uses colors such as brown, maroon, and navy blue. These, to me, are safe colors. They do not stand out. When Celie talks about finding her religion she mentions with great strength the color purple. When Mr.  _____ goes through his transformation; the color white is used to describe his neew way of seeing life.

·         The diction is a very major part of the story. Walker uses the diction to indirectly tell us about her protagonist, Celie. When I first began to read the letters Celie wrote to God, I realized that she was a person of low education and was very innocent.    

·         The imagery of the story is described in the letters to each sister or God. For example, in the letter of Nettie to Celie; Nettie describes journey as a missionary. To describe this she had to tell us of the condition of Africa.

·         The plot was a mixture of the past, the present and the future. As I read the letters sent I not only learned of the present of the story, but of the future and how it was being formed. The past was mixed in. I realized this when the story ended with the past.