The Color Purple

-
*SPOILERS AHEAD*


Everyone, or at least I, thought that the only hardships African Americans went through in America was slavery. However, it was only after reading the book The Color Purple by Alice Walker that I discovered that my assumption was totally false.

African Americans also went through so many obstacles in their personal lives. One common example is the presence of affairs. Almost everyone in the book was either cheating on someone or cheating with someone. The book never talked about the feelings of the characters when it came to affairs, but what was mentioned was the fact that Celie was not happy when Shug and Albert were spending time together. She wanted the woman she loved, her moral support, and her best friend just for herself and she couldn't bear to see her with someone awful. Celie was also involved in an affair, but it was more of rape and abuse to her. She had to go through the torture of bearing three kids with her father at the age of 14, which traumatized her. For the next few years, she lived in constant fear of whether her sold children were alive and if they were doing well.


Each character also had problems of their own. One example is when Nettie had to not reveal why Olivia and Adam looked like her. When the Olinka people even noticed it too, she chuckled softly and didn't say anything because she didn't want Corrine and Samuel to think that she was with them to take the children away. Nettie was also interrogated by Corrine later in the book. She made Samuel and Nettie swear on a bible and Corrine even checked Nettie's stomach for signs of pregnancy. Just by trying to do good for her host family, she lost the trust they had on her.

Just because people don't openly express the problems they have doesn't mean that their lives are perfect. Yes, African Americans protested about slavery so that's why we know that it bothered them. But protesting about affairs or keeping secrets is sometimes embarrassing, which is why it's not talked so much in public. But never assume a family is happy just because you aren't aware of their personal problems.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Photography in our Lives

-
Image
 Photos have been around for almost 200 years. They're used all over the world to capture significant events and re-live beautiful moments. Without photography, we wouldn't be able to hold on to important moments and cherish them forever. Why do we need photography? Photos tell us what's important to us. We take pictures of certain events, like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, because they're important and we want to hold on to those memories. Photos show our personal story and the things we love. Photos are also a part of our legacy. A picture can outlive the people in it and it can resurface anywhere many years later. Because of the picture, we can look at Grandma and Grandpa's wedding picture or Mom's first Christmas. We can also show how traditions came to be in a family. Pictures help us show the joy of celebrating the tradition and moves us to pass it down from generation to generation. Photography is a complex language. As the saying goes,  a pictu
Read more

Cultures and Rituals

-
Image
 I was reading an article when I came across this topic. There are many cultures throughout the world. With different cultures come different traditions and rituals. These rituals can be seen as practical and helpful, but they can also be weird and painful to others. For example, the Malagasy people of Madagascar celebrate Famadihana, a funerary tradition where the Malagasy people bring the bodies of their ancestors out of their crypts or dig them out of their graves and wrap them in new cloth. Families then carry the bodies through the streets and dance with them with live music. Famadihana might be a ritual that revolves around the dead, but it is actually as a joyful family gathering. The Madagascar people believed that the dead only completely joined the spirit world of their ancestors when their bodies decomposed completely. Since some bodies were not completely decomposed, they were believed to still be with the living. Some people might think this is weird or unsanitary because
Read more

1000 Piece Puzzle

-
Image
 It was during the beginning of quarantine. I was bored because school was all asynchronous, and I had finished my homework for the week, so I decided to do a puzzle that I found lying around at home. I had done this 1000 piece puzzle before many times, but it was years ago, so I decided to challenge myself and finish the puzzle without looking at the picture on the box. It was really hard, but I somehow finished it in 4 days. I started off by picking out the corner and side pieces. The only challenge with those pieces was to figure which pieces connected with which because half of them were green while the other half were blue. Then I picked out all the blue and white puzzle pieces that represented the sky and cloud and put them together. Figuring that out took more than 2 whole days, oh boy! I then sorted out the green pieces that represented the grass and put them together. This was not too bad because I could figure out where each piece went based on the sun and whether there was a
Read more