"The Color Purple" by Alice Walker has been on my reading list for a very long time. When I found a $1 copy at Powell's, I knew it was time to read it already.

There isn't a single chapter of this novel that I didn't enjoy reading. Celie's narration, her letters to God, starts off short and swift; it reveals her limitations as an uneducated girl. She is a victim who gradually learns to stand up for herself. The novel is about how love and hate affect Celie's growth, and how other female figures in her life influence her to be a stronger woman amidst the world that oppresses her.

As a child Celie is raped by her father, with whom she births two children, who are later given up for adoption. Unlike her sister Nettie, she is deprived of the education that might have given her better opportunities in life. She is forced to marry Mr. ____, who is in love with Nettie and enjoys beating Celie for no reason. Later on his old mistress Shug Avery comes to stay with them. The two women became friends, and Shug helps Celie to learn to take care of herself.

Nettie serves as the secondary narrator during a portion of the novel. After leaving Cellie, she meets a couple who take her in as a nanny, and later takes her to Africa with them. In her narrative about Africa, Nettie explores the culture of the tribe with whom she lives, and learns that its gender inequality is much like that in American culture.

The most essential aspect of this novel is the relationships between the women. Other than those previously mentioned, there are also Sofia, Squeak, Corrine. These women are very different, and they each offers a different flavor to the story from another. The novel also explores how weak some men really are; they only use violence against women because it is the only way to make them feel superior. Walker does a marvelous job at exploring the connection between race and gender, and incorporating it flawlessly into this greatly entertaining and insightful novel. "The Color Purple," with its strength and ingeniousness, is a classic and a must-read.


***SPOILER ALERT***

Celie's father turns out to not be her real father. Celie and Shug later become lovers. Corrine and Samuel is the couple that takes Nettie in. They had adopted two children, who are Celie's children with her stepfather. Nettie realizes this right away, as the children look very much like her and her sister. Samuel notices the resemblance as well, and thinks that Nettie is the real mother who had come to take care of her children. In Africa, Corrine becomes jealous, thinking that the children had been Samuel and Nettie's. After she dies of the flu, Nettie and Samuel marries. The two sisters reunite in the end, and Celie's children their mother.