The Color Purple by Alice Walker - Essay Example

1 THE COLOR PURPLE BY ALICE WALKER Poverty, lack of education, youth and innocence, color of the skin, lack of family support, tradition and patriarchy are the main ingredients why a woman is at a very high-risk for criminal victimization. In the movie The Color Purple, directed by the eminent Steven Spielberg and written by Alice Walker, Celie (magnificently portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg) in the span of 30 years was horrendously subjected to criminal victimization of different nature ranging from incestuous rape, selling to the highest bidder, physical abuse, virtual slavery, repeated rapes and all sorts of humiliation not fit and apt for a human being. Celie’s husband, who obtained her in exchange of a cow succinctly stated the causes why Celie and her ilk are at a disproportionate risk for such criminal victimization i.e., “Look at you. You’re black, you’re poor, you’re ugly, you’re a woman, you’re nothing at all”. This ‘nothingness’ gives anyone the license to do anything his whims and caprices dictate him. Poverty ranks first in the list of causes that render women so vulnerable to victimization. According to Mawby and Walklate, “the poor and socially vulnerable often find themselves trapped on environments where their risk is increased and in ways they are powerless to prevent (53). In Celie’s case because they were so dirt-poor and her own mother was so uncaring to the point of being oblivious to her existence and because she has nowhere to run to, she had to bear the incestuous rape perpetrated on her by her ‘father’, who later turned out to be her stepfather, the pain of seeing her children being snatched from her grasp to be given to strangers and the ignominy of being bartered in lieu of a cow to a man much older than she. This impoverished man mistreated her, beat her, habitually raped her and forced her to take the role of a surrogate mother, at the age of 14, to 4 unruly kids. Because of poverty she became a virtual slave, a 2 workhorse and a sex object. The incestuous rape was so destructive to Celie’s psyche that for years she can’t even smile nor talk and her only outlet for communication is her letters to God and the subsequent letters to her sister Nettie, the only being who ever loved her. These letters were being used by author Alice Walker to present the bitter odyssey of Celie’s life from a 14-year old two-time mother sold in marriage to a cruel husband (portrayed by Danny Glover) to her release from a despicable, ignominious life. This pattern of sexual abuse , first perpetrated by the father Alphonso and later by the husband Albert, whom he calls ‘Mister’ was bound to happen. According to Russell, children who are victims of incestuous rape by their fathers are “prone to sexual abuse by husbands and others….perhaps because they tended to be frightened by men and sexually skewed” (159). In the movie, Albert wanted to marry the more attractive sister Nettie but was given Celie instead. This frustration mixed with the fact that Celie had no means to defend herself further bolstered Albert’s resolve to punish his wife. Ignorance and lack of education were also factors to the vulnerability of Celie to criminal victimization. According to Schurink, the wife’s poverty and ignorance contribute to the wife’s dependency on the husband and the setting up of a “relationship of superior and subordinate…..this dependency results from low self-esteem, a lack of self-worth and feelings of guilt. The women actually feel that they deserve such treatment” (237). Celie was hopelessly mired in this situation until Nettie taught her how to read and write and educated her to some degree. Sofia’s (played by Oprah Winfrey) spirited fighting stance and refusal to be cowed and victimized by men, black or white, further opened her mind to the possibility of liberation and independence. Finally the advent of Shug Avery (played by Margaret Avery), a jazz singer who was Albert’s real love completed Celie’s intellectual liberation for Shug taught her self-respect, self-worth and inculcated in her mind that she is a person with pride and dignity. Shug even 3 taught her how to love although the movie, unlike the novel, downplayed this lesbian relationship. Celie was able to rise up, pick up the pieces and erase all the decades of trauma from child molestation, incestuous rape and spouse abuse because these three women stood as her core group of support. According to Schurink, this support is essential for a woman “to enable her to work successfully through the trauma caused by the crime” (474). There have been studies carried to pinpoint the victim’s role in the commission of the crime. There is a theory of victim precipitation which means that the victim could be a contributing factor to her successive victimization (Von Hentig). While Celie did nothing to precipitate the physical, sexual and emotional abuse perpetrated against her and thus qualify her as a “completely innocent victm” (Mendelsohn), still Celie’s ignorance, naivete and simplicity invited abuse from her husband because such placed her on the level of a doormat. This latter concept is called Mendelsohn’s “victim with minor guilt”(Hunter 165). Close to this theory is Sellin and Wolfgang’s Crime Event Theory in which a victim is selected for victimization based on her personal attributes. This is called ‘primary victimization’. In the film, Celie’s ‘nothingness’ i.e ugliness and dirt-poor status fits her to Albert’s victim profile. Secondary victimization, on the other hand, occurs because the victim happens to be “in the wrong place at the wrong time” (Hunter & Dantzker 166). Celie fits perfectly in this situation. There are many factors that precipitate spouse abuse. Some that are enumerated include social stress, assertion of power by the batterer, marital dependency, the influence of alcohol, and common-law tradition that permitted a husband to discipline his wife” (Wallace 196). Because Celie was bartered, it brought her to the status of a chattel and thus from the outset , all rights properly belonging to her as a human being were extirpated. It also encouraged the husband to take liberty in doing what he pleases to the bartered property. 4 Child abuse or child maltreatment is also one societal problem tackled in this film. Because Celie’s parents are themselves ignorant, they belong to those espousing the traditional view in early 1900’s that children are properties of parents, whom they can use and punish as much as they want to. Since Celie was described as ugly and unlovable that even her mother was stoical to her, she was a natural magnet for child abuse and this went on when she married that ogre of a husband, Albert, who continually beats her on the pretext that she is not the one he wanted for a wife but Nettie. This beating, raping and abusing had become a habit for Albert. Thus, Doerner and Lab calls Celie’s situation as victim recidivism or repeat victimization (13). The victimization tackled in this film was not only confined to incestuous rape, sexual assault and spouse abuse but also to mental torture as well as emotional rejection of Celie’s person. By selling her, Celie’s father rejected her and marked a deep wound in her mind. By kicking her beloved sister out of the household and secreting Nettie’s letters, Albert inflicted her emotional pain and by beating her because she is neither Shug nor Nettie and by bringing his former mistress into the house and forever flaunting his undying love for Shug, the emotional torture which strikes directly the ego, if there is one left, is even more painful than the physical abuse. The movie will not be triumphant if it doesn’t show the heroine overcoming her suffering and her adversities despite all the odds. To come out whole and unscathed from the trying experience despite the harshest conditions speaks of Celie’s inner strength, courage and mental toughness. The fact that she endured up to the end illustrated that good triumphs over evil. That she raged and vowed revenge against Albert and even called him “a low down dirty dog” and fumed “and your dead body be just the welcome mat I need” (Walker) is an expected first 5 reaction from victims of unspeakable crimes against one’s person and honor As Doerner and Lab emphasized, such victim must go through a “necessary catharsis which helps her avoid subsequent movement to a chronically vengeful state” (105). This is a difficult stage because “child sexual abuse may be the most disturbing and damaging form of child maltreatment” (Doerner and Lab 40). The wounds are acutely deep and thus difficult to heal. But Celie did heal and even forgave his abuser in the end. Celie then learned that she inherited a house from her real father. She then went on to open a haberdashery business, was reunited to her sister Nettie and her two estranged children who were reared by a missionary couple in Africa. Meanwhile Albert’s fortunes dipped to its lowest ebb as his color-purple fields languished while he became a dipsomaniac. This is Celie’s version of Doerner’s concept of ‘restorative justice’ (623). While she might not be monetarily compensated for what she suffered yet the events that transpired illustrated that the force of karma ensured she is justly compensated. Other than poverty, ignorance and lack of family support, there are forces that predestine young women like Celie to suffer the way she did. These are societal customs, traditions and patriarchy. It was in 1909 in Georgia and in the whole black south that racial segregation was legally mandated and black disenfranchisement and denial of economic opportunities were encouraged by the government as decided in the 1896 case of Plessy v Ferguson (163 US 537). Black women, particularly the ignorant and poor, were in worse straits as they experience prejudice and discrimination not only by whites but also by black men. Walker terms this as “double repression of black women in the American experience” (Walker 1). Walker contends that black men “impose the double standard of white society on black women” (Walker 1). 6 Herein lies the source of criticism against Walker’s novel mainly by males. They contend that Walker propagates racial stereotyping i.e. that all black men are brutal and evil and black women are oppressed and are at the mercy of men as well as primed for victimization by men, white or black. They were particularly piqued by the inclusion of Nettie’s description of the Olinkas in Africa as “people who do not believe in educating their girls, as they believe a woman only becomes something through her husband” (Walker). Walker held on to the belief that customs of society and tradition of that era were repressive, oppressive and discriminatory against black women. If Patriarchy is despised by almost all women feminists, it is doubly scorned by black feminists. Patriarchy is hated because it is the root cause of the ‘cold war’ between men and women. And its pernicious effects are so evident in this film. Patriarchy is defined as “literally rule by the father but generally it refers to a social situation where men are dominant over women in wealth status and in all other aspects” (Drislane & Parkinson 1). In the film, it is Patriarchy that gave the father, Alphonso, the license to do anything he wishes to her daughters and implicitly included is the power to use their bodies to gratify his lust Similarly, it gave to Albert the right to dominate his wife Celie. In Patriarcy, the father or patriarch is allowed to use “every form of domination and subordination” (Clarkson 1). Thus, I am of the opinion that Doerner and Lab’s work on Victimology is incomplete because it failed to put into the equation one major factor for criminal victimization, which is Patriarchy. The Color Purple will stand as one of the most memorable films of all time because it pierces the heart and because of its strong message of prevailing and enduring under the worst conditions possible and despite all odds including victim recidivism. The movie is a monument to a black woman’s fortitude and courage. 7 REFERENCES Clarkson, Shannon. Conflict and Community in the Corinthian Church. qbqm.umc.org/umw/corinthians/church-glossary.stm. Doerner, William & Lab, Steven. Victimology, 2nd ed. Cincinnati: Anderson . Drislane, Robert & Parkinson, Gary. Online Dictionary of Social Sciences. ICAAP. 2005. Hunter, Ronald & Dantzker, Mark. Crime and Criminality: Causes and Consequences. Criminal Justice Press. 2005. Mawby, RI & Walklate, Sandra. Critical Victimology: International Perspectives. Sage. 1994. Mendelsohn, B. A New Branch of Bio-psychological Science: La Victimology. Revue Internationale de Criminologie et de Police Technique, no.2. 1956. Plessy v Ferguson, 163 US 537. Russell, Diana. The Secret Trauma: Incest In The Lives of Girls and Women. Basic Books. 1987. Schurink, W.J. & Human Sciences Research Council. Victimization: Nature and Trends. HSRC Press. 1992. Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Research and Education Association. 1996. Walker, Alice. The Color Purple Study Guide: Themes Study Guide. www.enotes.com/color-purple-17k. Wallace, H. Victimology: Legal, Psychological and Social Perspectives. Boston: Allen & Bacon. 1998. Von Hentig. The Criminal and His Victim. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1992. Read More