The Color Purple
...ritual reassessment, and also of moral reconciliation. Celie finds the path to redemption in two key female role models: Sophia, an independent woman who refuses to be taken advantage of by her husband or any man, and Shug, a sassy, independent singer whom Albert loves. It is Shug who first offers Celie love, friendship, and a radically new way of looking at life: “Man corrupt everything, say Shug. He on your box of grits, in your head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere. Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God. But he ain’t. Whenever you trying to pray, and man plop himself on the other end of it, tell him to git lost, say Shug. Conjure up flowers, wind, water, a big rock.” (Walker, 179) This new approach introduced to Celie allowed her to be able to break free from all the constraints that held her down and follow her own desires and discover her own talents and abilities. “Not being tied to what God looks like, frees us,” (Walker, 169) and as the novel closes, it does so in celebration. Celie is reunited with her sister and the demonic Albert (Mr.____) gets a shot at redemption. When Celie learned that Mr.____ had been keeping her sister's letters from her, the rage she felt , “You a low down dog is what’s wrong. It’s time to leave you and enter into the creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need” (Walker, 207), coupled with the great example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, “For the first time in my life, I feel just right” (Walker, 61), pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self. These examples of spiritual reassessment and the app...