References To Children Of Celie And Edna example essay topic

Both, The Color Purple and The Awakening are novels about female struggle and hardships. Physically and geographically Edna is incomparable to Celie: they are of different races, different financial conditions, different social statuses. What they have in common, however, is their fascination with gender equality, their criticism of the patriarchal system they live in, and the fact that both women realized at some point in their life how long they have been sacrificing their existences for other individuals, such as their husbands or children. In the last chapters of both books these women are in environments in which they are truly happy; for Celie this environment is her own house, surrounded by the people she loves, for Edna it is her solitude on Grand Isle. Here, however, their journeys of self-discovery take different turns: Celie feels her lifetime goal has been achieved, as a fighter she is satisfied with her efforts, whereas Edna admits her loss as a protestor, and seeing her position as pre-defined she drowns herself. The setting is very different in the endings of both books, but the atmospheres resemble each other: Celie is truly happy in her own house and with the people she cherishes, and Edna is at peace with herself and her surroundings on Grand Isle, the place where her awakening began.

It is also quite probable that Celie's house is where her awakening began, perhaps already when she was a small child and was frequently harassed by her father. The grand finale of the book Celie celebrates in presence of a crowd-it is the 4th of July soon and, as the white employers are celebrating, Celie's family is reunited, whereas Edna is completely alone. It is important to look at the women's personalities to explain this difference: all her life Celie was fighting and dreaming of seeing her sister and children again, whereas Edna only tried to distance herself from her children and people in general; she had friends, but she often preferred spending her time in seclusion to her Thursday gatherings, and this is why Grand Isle was such a paradise for her. Celie's awakening began and ended in the arms of her sister, on an ever-stretching field; Edna's awakening began in solitude on Grand Isle, in the never-ending ocean. In both final chapters of the novels there are references to children of Celie and Edna: Celie encounters her children for the first time since they were babies, she becomes closest to them she has ever been and finally feels like a mother. Edna, on the other hand, is "swimming away" from her motherly chores, she is thinking about her children as if they are antagonists, and the thought of sacrificing her spiritual self to them frightens her.

Here again it is important to look at the two women's situations: Celie, having been raped by her father at an early age and having had her children taken away from her, spends her life with Albert hoping to see them again; she not only feels motherly responsibility towards them, but there is also an urge in her to come in contact with something related to her by flesh and blood, something to which she would be hereditarily attached. To Edna, conversely, her children are part of her everyday existence; as the meaning of life for a woman of her times was to be a devoted wife and mother (like Madame Ratignolle), she feels it impossible for her to change the habits of society without changing the ways of motherhood. However, Edna loves her children, and to Madame Ratignolle she mentions her willingness to sacrifice all physical for them, as long as her inner self remains untouched. It is therefore logical that Celie moves towards her children in the end, whereas Edna floats away from them. All in all, the endings of "The color purple" and "The awakening" contain details that make the two main characters, Celie and Edna, very similar. In the last chapters of the novels both women achieve the ultimate freedom, Celie-by receiving her respect from others and her individuality from God, Edna-by showing society she would not sacrifice her spirit for her social duties to her husband and children.

The reason why the tragic ending of Edna's story is so different from Celie's happy one is that Edna, living in the early 19th century was merely one in thousands of women who openly disagreed with her position in the hierarchy of genders; for Celie the case was quite different as she, supported by Sofia, Squeak, Shut and Nettie was only another protestor in a large mass of female fighters.