Alice Walker, The Color Purple. Students' contributions

The following two contributions refer to an entry in Celie's journal where Celie writes about her sexual experience and her steps towards her sexual emancipation, assisted by Shug Avery. See pp. 68-70. The contributions were written as a homework in the Leistungskurs of the first term in 2001.

Being a wife and the mother of two children, Celie is supposed to be aware of sexual intercourse. But all Celie knows and believes is that sex is pain, humiliation and has nothing to do with her feelings. When she is beaten by Mr. ___ she "makes herself to wood", a thing, without any ambitions, feelings or thoughts. So she does when Mr.___ is "getting on her".

Neither the father of her children nor Mr.___ have ever been caring about Celie´s urges, therefore Celie even does not have the idea of sex being something which she is meant to be enjoying. Celie is neglecting herself and her body, being ashamed of herself. Whereas Shug is a person who freely talks about sex and the joy it brings her. For her, a woman is a "virgin" until she enjoys sex, not until she sleeps with a man for the first time. Shug´s absolute openness and her honesty are among the things that encourage Celie to "risk a look" at herself.

Studying her body for the first time in her life, Celie dares the first step to learn to know and to accept herself. She dares a step towards emancipation. She is happy about the beauty she discovers and about the fact that she is pretty. But, in the first place, dealing with her body helps Celie to go on and to realise and to live her feelings.

The incidents of this letter show that Celie is not well-acquainted with the facts of life. She never had a very close relationship with a person who could tell her about intimate things.

It has been taboo speaking about sex with all its background until Shug Avery, whom Celie admires, enters in her life. With Shug one thing after another seems to change in Celie's knowledge about life and about relations between men and women.

The first thing Celie gets to know after Shug Avery's appearance is the fact of non-inferiority of women towards men. Women have the same value and a personality of their own. Shug Avery is the best example of that. She is living her life just the way she wants, not letting anyone suppress her. That is why Celie admires Shug.

In this letter Celie is making a totally new experience, for the second time. It is a rather new situation to her, for she learns that a woman can also have good feelings while having sex with a man. But Celie never ever had good feelings while having sex. To her it feels like the man is just doing his business and then getting off, not interested in what she is feeling or thinking. And that is why Shug is calling Celie psychologically still a virgin. Celie never enjoyed having sex. Shug is the first person Celie dares to talk to about intimate things. Shug is giving her a kind of sex education and suggests that Celie have a sexual exploration of her body.

When Shug passes Celie the mirror to look at her vulva, Celie is ashamed. It is an embarrassing situation for her. Celie never looked at her body before and when Albert and Harpo interrupt them, she feels like having done something wrong. Celie has to learn to be a woman and rather than a thing that is misused by a man. And the incidents of this letter are the first steps towards Celie's liberation, towards becoming and feeling herself.

The last sentence shows how desperate Celie is. When she hears Shug and Mr. __ having sex, she pulls the quilt over her head and fingers her "little button and titties" and cries. (s. p. 70) She wants to know how it would feel having sex with emotions. Celie wants to experience the good and beautiful side of life, not to be stuck in all these horrible situations she is going through. Celie wants to live.