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Alice Walker states that The Colour Purple remains for her the theological work examining the journey from the religious back to the spiritual. How successful is she in revealing her purpose to the reader? In the preface to the Colour Purple Walker identifies her religious development as the inspiration for her novel and labels religion and spirituality as the principle themes in the book. There are a number of principle characters who complete this journey however in many instances the religious element of the novel is overshadowed by other prominent themes such as personal development, female relationships and racial issues. These must be taken into consideration when assessing Walkers success in delivering her theological message to her readers. Religion is an extremely broad term, in the context of The Colour Purple, Walkers idea of religion is church based Christianity in which God is presented through the bible as a white man.
Although the church is placed in a black community, the teachings of the church are derived from the teachings of white people. Celie discovers throughout the novel that she, like Shug, can not find God in this kind of church that is based on patriarchal religion but searches for him elsewhere. Walkers personal concept of spirituality is pantheism, the idea that God is in all living things within nature including people. Celie learns from Shug and through her own development that God is within her and she benefits far more from her own spirituality than from the structured religion within the community. Celie is not the only character to undergo a change in her religious outlook and complete the journey from the religious to the spiritual. Nettie also is brought up as a devout believer in the Christian church however throughout her time in Africa and with the help of the Olinka people she discovers a new more internal form of religion similar to Celie's new found spirituality.
The journey from the religious back to the spiritual is reflected in the distance between the white missionaries in Britain and America and the African tribes. The missionaries represent the formal white church and the Olinka fulfilling the idea of pantheist spirituality. This is a journey Nettie makes physically and spiritually. Shug and Mr. s views on religion also change during the novel, and as Walker intends, all make this journey with courage and the help of others. At the beginning of the book Celie announces her dependence on God by recognising that she can tell nobody but God about the abuse she is receiving from her stepfather.
Celie is a weak girl whose self esteem has been shattered by her step father and her husband who have denied her an education and parted her from the only happiness in her life, her sister Nettie. Celie is degraded by Albert when he says You black, you pore, you ugly, you a woman he attaches a stigma to all these things insinuating Celie is a lesser person because of these qualities. Her life is so unhappy before Shug arrives because she is dependent on a God that she cant communicate with. Celie admits that her image of God is big and old and tall and graybeard ed and white. He wear white robes and go barefooted. Despite feeling isolated and rejected from the church whilst pregnant and whilst married to Mr.
by the women at church who stare at her, Celie stills goes to church and conforms with the communities idea of religion and Christian worship. Celie does not develop or receive any of the help she asks for in her letters whilst conforming to this way of worship. The preacher and church goers watch her struggle with Mr. s children trying to keep em quiet there the same ones used to be here both times I was big. The church is supposedly a place of sanctity but not for Celie. As Shug explains to her the church is somewhere people go to share God, not to find God.
According to Shug, it is not surprising Celie felt isolated as she had not yet found God within herself so made it impossible for her to share Him with any one else. Shug, who was a dominant factor in her personal development, helped Celie's desperate situation. This personal development gave Celie the courage Walker refers to in her preface, to bring alive her dormant spirituality and abandon the prescribed form of church based Christianity. Shug builds Celie's confidence and in turn helps her to break away from her oppressive lifestyle including Mr. , her household duties and the repressive church community. She provides her with a home and the money to start her own business making pants. Shug replaces Nettie as Celie's immediate source of strength and hope, although Nettie's presence returns later when Celie discovers the letters.
Again this may not have happened without Shug's help, as she was the one who gave Celie access to her sisters letters. We observe Celie's gradual spiritual development throughout the book from the point when Shug arrives to the very end when Celie first addresses her letters Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear everything. Dear God. Her journey can be tracked according to the addresses of her letters.
At the very beginning Celie addresses only God but when her situation does not improve and she finds out that her stepfather is not her true father she enters a state of confusion. Celie begins to doubt the God she has learnt about at church and closes letter sixty-eight with You must be asleep. Celie is accepting that God is not hearing her and that her communication attempts are failing. Shortly after this, she declares in letter seventy-three to Nettie, I dont write to god no more, I write to you. This is a significant point in Celie's spiritual development as she abandons God, as she knows Him, in favour of her sister who has always been a source of comfort to her. Celie is beginning to turn away from the religious and locating the areas of spirituality in her life, which are namely Shug and Nettie.
The final turning point in her development away from structured religion is when Shug explains her journey from the religious to the spiritual and how she arrived at her spiritual state. This discussion takes place in letter seventy-three and we find out with Celie that Shug had also at one point believed in a conventional stereotyped God but had developed a pantheist belief. This is a tremendous reassurance to Celie and gives her a focus to her journey. Both women had similar backgrounds and experiences with the Christian church, in that both felt like isolated outcasts. It is Shug's personal experience that enables her to offer this solution to Celie. The language she uses to describe her feelings towards God are very informal and colloquial, contrasting greatly with the structured language used within the church and bible.
This emphasises that pantheism is a familiar form of religion intended for all people to come from within not to be administered only to those who can follow and understand Sunday sermons. Although Nettie and Celie are parted at a fairly young age, they both were brought up with the same religious background. Nettie was the more privileged of the two sisters as she was educated to an older age, and this certainly comes across in the part she plays later on in the book. As she embarks on her voyage to Africa, she talks in her letters in an almost evangelical way about the missionary work. This is highlighted in letter fifty-five when reporting back to Celie about her children Adam and Olivia, God sent them Olivia and Adam It is a miracle, isnt it? Nettie's education in theology gives her again a prescribed notion of what Christianity is.
She admires the work of the British missionary society she visits in London and marvels at the reported success they have had out in Africa however this is a nave opinion which changes dramatically when she encounters the Olinka and their form of Christianity. By living alongside the Olinka tribe she is introduced to the harsh reality of the damage that the white men from Britain and America can do. Nettie discovers that the white missionaries are often used by the British and American governments in their plans for colonisation. Nettie, like Celie, is introduced to the idea of oppressive patriarchal religion and as a truly spiritual person is able to adopt the ways of the Olinka who also believe God can be found in nature, in particular in their roof leaf. Nettie tells Celie, God is different to us now, after all these years in Africa.
More spirit than ever before, and more internal.
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Research essay sample on The Colour Purple Spirituality Religion
