Years Of Abuse With Shug's Help Celie example essay topic

The changes in Celie's character For people to be equal they need a chance to become equal by self-discovering themselves. As we are growing older during our childhood we depend on our environment, parents, and peers to create our self-image. It is under our surroundings in which we are always trying to develop new insights in order to identify, clarify, connect and account for our beliefs. Even the underlying cause of dysfunctional relationships lies in crucial events in our life experience. The environment in which one is raised and developed will have a large affect on the individual. Most of the people that succeed in life come from stable families, in well positioned environments.

While those that are not fortunate enough often don't have the opportunities to rise to the top or even get a chance to self-discover themselves. Self-discovery is important because it is intended to increase an individual's self-awareness, and help them to identify their own beliefs, skills, potentials, and talents. But when an individual is forced or destined to grow up in an atmosphere in which there doesn't exist a stable and firm family or environment, it will generally be hard for the individual to self-discover himself and succeeded in life. These kinds of individuals that grow up under these circumstances mainly suffer from depressions, sadness, and most importantly from low self-esteem. They suffer from low self-esteem because they were raised in low standard environments. Their personalities are excessively sensitive to social rejection, humiliation, and shame.

One of the greatest literary examples of this situation is Celie, the main character in the book The Color Purple by Alice Walker. 'Devoid of any and all respect, Celie, a persecuted African-American woman suppressed by tyrannical rule sparked from the agonizing, torturous fires of ignorance and egocentrism, prevailed against the incessant degradation of society's superiors, ... a man's world' (Klosowski 4). As a result of Celie's environment she never get's a fair opportunity to self-discover until she gets away from her surroundings. The society in which she lived forced her to act the way she did. Walker shows Celie as part of a community which shares struggles, and women are oppressed by men.

In this society, ' The white man destroyed the black man, the black man destroyed the woman (Klosowski 5). Celie is dominated and abused by the majority of the male figure in the novel including her stepfather. Her stepfather was a major influence in her life. Her stepfather raped her, causing the birth of two children whom he gave away to an old friend. The second man in her life, her husband, abused her not only physically by beating her but he also abused her verbally by calling her names. These two men left her subdued and passive.

She became emotionally dead with this suppression of her personality of who she was. she was just a person who cooked and cleaned and took care of the children without any consideration given to her. She is uneducated because her father took her out off school as a result of her pregnancies. Celie is raised in an environment where she wasn't allow to have a mind of her own because her father dominated and controlled all her actions. For example, Celie writes letters to God because she has been warned by her stepfather not to tell anyone (but God) who fathered her children. She can't trust anybody with her own problems, which is why she writes letters to God.

Another submissive example is when she says, 'He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got something in my eye but I didn't wink. I don't even look at men' (6). Celie has to do all the cleaning and cooking in the house, but even thought she does not like it she hides it from her stepfather and never complains because she doesn't think she has the rights to argue against him. For example she says, 'I don't never git used to it but I can't say nothing' (2) Her stepfather forces her to do everything in the house because she is a female and females in her stepfather's mind have to keep their men happy as well as have a lot of respect for them. 'Women are like children.

You have to let' em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating' (37). Celie is passive and obedient to all the males characters in the novel because she suffers from low self-esteem and she doesn't think she can handle a mind of her own. She thinks she is ugly and dumb, 'I know I am not pretty and smart' (10). She has always been told how ugly and stupid she was by her stepfather. 'She is ugly...

' (9). 'She ain't smart either... ' (9). 'You are too dumb to go to school' (11). Celie is also influenced by her environment in the sense that her father and husband both mistreat her, she learns to fear men. This will be a big factor in Celie's sexuality in the novel, when she decides that she would rather be with a woman than a man.

'I don't even look at men's. That's the true. I look at women, tho, cause I am not scare of them' (6). However, Celie does get the chance to discover herself when she is exposed under the presence of the other women in the novel. Celie undergoes several changes brought about by her contact with other people and a change of surrounding. Since Celie has many misconceptions of herself and her world due to her upbringing of pain and mistreatment, and her ignorance of a better world.

Her image of herself and her own potential were very low. The story of Celie's growth and self-discovery is the main theme in the novel. which she achieved through her own commitment to herself and through the help of strong women, namely Nettie, Sofia, and Shug. In her young life, the only person who took the time to care for and encourage Celie was her sister Nettie. Despite the physical, sexual, and verbal abuse Celie suffered in the hands of her stepfather and husband she was able to overcome it with the help of Nettie.

Nettie who later in the book serves as a silent confidante to Celie, taught her that education was important in developing a high self-esteem. 'helping me with spelling and everything else she think I need to know' (17)., '... try to teach me what go on in the world' (17). Sofia is the one that teaches Celie how to be stronger in order to survive the oppressive world against women at the time. But the most important moment in Celie's life will be when she meets Shug. Shug will be Celie's new guide, she becomes the healer of Celie's problems. She helps to shatter Celie's image of her inner and outer ugliness by encouraging her to explore and enjoy the beauty of her own body. Shug concludes that Celie is a virgin when she realizes that she had never experienced love or passion, but rather just rape from her father and self-serving sex from Mr...

She encourage her to look at and touch herself to learn that the purpose of her body is for herself foremost, not to serve men. 'Celie you still a virgin' (81). As she empower Celie sexually, Shug also shows that Celie is a human being with value. She is loved and appreciated, and by this she learns to love herself and develop a high self-esteem.

After years of abuse with Shug's help Celie becomes more optimistic. She has finally found love in Shug's company. 'She say I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me [Celie] on the mouth' (87).

With the help of the other women in the novel Celie broke out her shell of isolation. The women provided Celie with confidence, which she used to discover herself. Likewise, when Celie is finally exposed to a reliable environment in which she discovers herself, she turns her whole life around. Celie stops depending on men to support her and starts her own business, designing and sewing pants. Celie has now found confidence in herself and that makes her feel powerful, she shows that when she tells off Mr...

'He was a low-down dog, ... it was time to leave and enter into Creation' (207). She felt free. Respect from Sofia, Harpo, and even Mr. shocked and rattled Celie's mind. Standing up for her rights destroyed an aura of weakness and pushed her ahead to redeem a dormant spirit. Celie over comes the transition of being a slave to an individual. It was as if Celie was reborn as a different person.

A person who not only had the courage to tell Albert off, but someone who left her husband togo with Shug to Memphis to start a pant factory, with two girls working under her. The book is truly a book about self-discovery and learning to love. Celie's path is an expression of all people's quest for themselves. The novel is the story of a timid woman finding herself.

She did so with the love and support of the women in the novel who understood and loved her, under a save and secure environment. With out this untraditional love a Celie would have lived her life shadowed by fear and pain. Celie's journey through her mind, in an effort to discover her true self, is where the true greatness of this book lies. Work Cited Klosowski, John E. 'The Color Purple and Its True Color.

' Houston Chronicle. December 14, 1995: 42-44.