A Banned Book: The Color Purple

Welcome back to my Blog! I'm back with an essay about a banned book called The Color Purple. For the past couple weeks, we've been learning how to construct essays well. Before doing this AP (Action Project,) which is a project that ropes together all of the stuff we've learned in the past few weeks, we read two books. One is literally about this subject, Fahreinheit 451. The other was a coming-of-age book called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. They were both pretty interesting books to read. The Color Purple is a book that is banned in multiple places, mostly highschools and libraries. My essay is my stance on whether or whether not it should be banned. 

    The Color Purple: why was this novel challenged by schools and libraries everywhere? The Color Purple takes place in rural Georgia in the 1930s where the protagonist, a 14 year old African-American woman named Celie lived with her father, Alphonso, and her little sister, Nettie. She was sexually and physically abused by her father, and what he did to her caused her to have two children that her father took into the woods and she never saw again. Later, Celie gets married away, living in a man named Mr. _____’s, where she helped take care of his children and do all the work around the house. Mr. _____ also physically and sexually abuses Celie. Throughout this novel, she goes from a fearful and nervous woman, to being assertive and confident. She also gets reunited with the two children that her father took from her later in the novel. This novel discusses many topics that people do not like to talk about, such as sexual assault and physical abuse. This novel shouldn’t be banned because Alice Walker shows us the truth about a lot of African-American women’s lives in the 1930s.

    In an interview, Alice Walker, the author of this novel, says: “I think I'm kind of everyone! I really do of course love Shug, and of course Celie, of course Sophia, and I really do love Mister. When I see the play it is truly Mister that I hug the longest and deepest. In some ways he has been the most abused because it took him so long to free himself.” Because Alice Walker relates with most of the characters in her book, banning the book means banning Alice. 

    This novel was banned in multiple places because of the strong content. The parents of some students attending Oakland High School in California gave their reasons as to why they felt that this novel should not be in the library of the school their kids attend: "sexual and social explicitness" and it’s "troubling ideas about race relations, man's relationship to God, African history, and human sexuality.” (Banned Library)

    What’s so bad about this novel? Why has it been banned in so many places? These are 3 quotes from the novel that give some insight as to why this novel was banned from schools and libraries all over the world. The first example is Celie writes to God in a letter about what is happening to her in her father’s home. “He [Pa] 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 gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy. When that hurt, I cry. He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it” (Walker 8). This quote is controversial because it tells us about an experience that a lot of men and women go through in real life. Another example is, “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens” (Walker 12). Her father physically assaulted her because she winked at a boy in church, but she writes to God that she doesn’t even look at men, let alone wink at them.  Finally, “‘Sinners have more good times,’ I say. ‘You know why?’ she ast. ‘Cause you ain’t all the time worrying bout God,’ I say. ‘Naw, that ain’t it, she say. Us worry bout God a lot. But once us feel loved by God, us do the best us can to please him with what us like.’ ‘You telling me God love you, and you ain’t never done nothing for him? I mean, not go to church, sing in the choir, feed the preacher and all like that?’ ‘But if God love me, Celie, I don’t have to do all that. Unless I want to. There’s a lot of other things I can do that I speck God likes’” (Walker  97). This quote challenges the belief and understanding of God, the concept of Christianity and religion. It could be controversial and offensive to those who are religious. 

    The Color Purple should not be banned because all of the content that the novel discusses (racism, violence, physical abuse and inappropriate language) can be accessible by the internet or social media. Another reason this novel should not be banned is it shows the truth about what life was (and is) for African-Americans. The book was also banned because because parents said it “went against God, due to the lesbian relationship Celie develops with the character Shug.” (Marshall) Parents said that the detail in Celie and Shug’s scenes together was “obscene and unnecessary.”

    The Color Purple was challenged for its difficult content, like physical and sexual abuse, racism, and the religious aspect. The reason why books are banned is because people have a hard time reading difficult content. I think this novel should not be banned because everything that happens in this book can also be found on the Internet. It also shows a good example of a life of an African-American woman who lived in the 1930s. I respect parents that don’t want their children to be reading such vulgar and inappropriate things in their books, but The Color Purple is a pretty educational and interesting book to read.

Links: 

Banned Library. “The Color Purple by Alice Walker.” Banned Library, Banned Library, 6 Mar. 2018, www.bannedlibrary.com/podcast/2016/7/10/banned-63-the-color-purple-by-alice-walker. 

Marshall, Demi. “Banned Books Week: 'The Color Purple'.” The Torch, 6 Oct. 2017, www.valpotorch.com/arts_and_entertainment/article_f4529d82-aadc-11e7-87b1-f7674f921188.html. 

Norman, Kaytie. “Revisiting 'The Color Purple': A Discussion with Alice Walker.” Earlybirdbooks.com, 11 Feb. 2020, earlybirdbooks.com/the-color-purple-alice-walker-discussion.