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The Nature vs Nurture debate has always been important to the growth of one’s personality and character. In this essay, we will focus more on the nurture aspect. Here, we will analyze the impact of the male characters in the growth and development of Celie’s personality from the novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
One of the most prominent factors in Celie’s interaction with male characters is the blatant physical, verbal, and emotional abuse she faces. This history or pattern of abuse has had several negative implications. It led to the suppression of her sexuality, forming a negative self-image, alienation, and developing an overall meek personality. So much so that she loses her sense of identity and purpose in life. There are hints of sexual jealousy as well. However, not all the characters create a negative effect. Towards the end of the novel, we see the positive effect men have on her life.
History/pattern of abuse
The abuse faced by Celie has been one of the most prominent elements throughout her life. It started with her relationship with Alphonso. Alphonso was introduced to us as Celie’s father. From the very start of the novel, the abusive nature of the relationship is evident.
“He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First, he put his thing up against my hip and sort of wiggled around. Then he grabs hold of my titties. Then he pushes his thing inside my pussy. When that hurts, I cry. He started to choke me, saying You better shut up and get used to it.” (The Color Purple, Alice walker, Pg. 3).
The first time he raped her, she was 14 years old. This went on till she was 20 years old. She even had two of his children. They were taken away from her right after their birth and she had no clue about their whereabouts till much later in her life. After this, she was married off to Albert______. This marriage exerted not only physical but emotional trauma as well. Albert had taken Celie as his wife primarily to take care of his Children and household. There was no love between the two and he kept her around to satisfy his sexual needs/wants. “Celie’s narration of her moments of marital sexual involvement with Albert is similarly dehumanizing, in which the conjugal act assumes the form of rape” (insert citation). Furthermore, both Albert and Alphonso repeatedly tell Celie that she’s ugly and good for nothing. Even Harpo in his childhood mistreated Celie. He smashed her head on the day of her wedding and no one seemed to care about it.
“Mr. __come git me to take care of his rotten children. He never ast me nothing bout myself. He clam on top of me and fuck and fuck, even when my head bandaged. Nobody ever love me. I say.” (The Color Purple, Alice Walker, Pg. 23)
“She ugly. He say. But she ain’t no stranger to hard work. And she cleans. And God done fixed her. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain’t gonna make you feed it or clothe it.” (The Color Purple, Alice Walker, Pg. 10)
Negative implications of abuse faced
Loss of identity and formation of a negative self-image
The emotional and physical abuse that Celie was subjected to resulted in her losing her identity and individuality. Being told repeatedly that she’s ugly and worthless led Celie to form a negative image of herself and accept the dominance of her oppressors.
“He beat me like he beat the children. Because he doesn’t hardly beat them. He says, Celie, git the belt. The children are outside the room peeking through the cracks. It’s all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you tree.” (The Color Purple, Alice Walker, Pg. 23)
The fact that she has to dissociate from her physical body to cope with the trauma is evidence of her loss of identity and individuality. This is also a way of dehumanizing herself and is indicative of her negative self-image.
These problems paved the way for low self-esteem, submissive behavior, and a complete lack of self-respect. A great part of her life was controlled by the men in her life. It seemed as though her marriage to Albert meant nothing more than her being abused by him instead of her father.
“The patriarchal society gives the right to a husband that he can use his wife as he wants and he can abuse her in any way he wishes. This is seen in Mr. __‘s answers “cause she my wife‟ to his son Harpo’s question why he beats Celie.” (insert citation)
Instances of her submissive and meek personality can be seen all over her interactions with both male and female characters. Her interactions with Sophia are an example of the same. Sophia even went so far as to express sympathy for Celie. Even her initial interactions with Shug show her submissive nature. Celie ended up taking care of her with no protest even when she had no obligation to.
Suppression of Sexuality
Another side effect of the abuse was the suppression of Celie’s sexuality. Being raped at an early age combined with how often it used to happen meant Celie had never experienced any sexual awakening. To her, sex was something that the men enjoyed. This idea was formed as such because through all her encounters with sex, none of them were very consensual nor did she derive any pleasure from the experience. The entire concept of seeing men as sexual creatures eluded her because of her past. She barely saw herself as a sexual being. Before she met Shug, she hadn’t even seen her own body properly.
Alienation
We can also identify a subtle hint of alienation from the text. Celie was isolated from the people she loved. This was also because of Alphonso and Albert. Because of her marriage, she was separated from Nettie, Celie’s sister. Nettie was quite possibly the only person Celie loved apart from Shug. (Insert Citation) To make matters worse, Albert kept making advances on Nettie. Upon being refused, Albert made sure there was no communication between the two sisters. He did so by hiding all the letters Nettie wrote to Celie.
Celie was also unable to confide in anyone about the abuse she faced by Alphonso. “You better tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.” (The Color Purple, Alice Walker, Pg. 3). Celie couldn’t tell her mother because she was very ill and any further distress could lead to her death. Nettie was still young and innocent and Celie didn’t want her to lose her innocence. Her only solace was the letters she wrote to God.
Sexual Jealousy
Although she had no interest in men, Germaine still instilled sexual jealousy in her. Germaine, a 19-year-old musician, was Shug’s ‘fling’. At the time, Celie was deeply in love with Shug. Shug wanted to have this one last thrill before she could settle down with Celie again. This led to Celie questioning her self-worth and beauty yet again.
The Positive influence of men in Celie’s life
When Shug was away with Germaine, Celie felt lonelier than she ever left before. To make matters worse, she heard that the ship Nettie and her family were on had sunk. She started questioning her reasons for staying alive. It was during this time we see the character arc of Albert come to light. He had become a changed man after Celie and Shug leaned for Memphis. He provided much-needed comfort and support. “He ain’t shug but he begins to be somebody I can talk to.” (The Color Purple, Alice Walker, Pg. 235). This was instrumental in Celie finding some degree of contentment in her life. “If she comes, I happy. If she doesn’t, I content. And then I figure, this was the lesson I was supposed to learn.”(The Color Purple, Alice Walker, Pg. 257)
Celie always seemed grateful to characters like Jack, Odessa’s husband, and Samuel, Nettie’s husband. They never seemed to mistreat their wives (people Celie cared about) and always helped whenever they could.
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