The Color Purple

The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
read: 2014
Guardian 1000 Novels, Pulitzer Prize

The Color Purple is written in letter format. In the first chunk of the book, each letter is addressed to God. Later, Celie begins addressing her letters to her sister Nettie.

DEAR NETTIE,

I don't write to God no more. I write to you.

What happen to God? ast Shug. 

Who that? I say.

The novel doesn't have an atheist perspective, but more of a spiritualist one. The final chapter is addressed "DEAR GOD. DEAR STARS, DEAR TREES, DEAR SKY, DEAR PEOPLES. DEAR EVERYTHING. DEAR GOD." Celie's faith essentially carries her through periods of her life where very little good happens to her, whether that's faith in God, faith in Nettie, faith in her friend (and sometime lover) Shug, or just an irrational faith that things will somehow get better.

I was predisposed to dislike this novel based on Ralph Wiley's comments on it in Why Black People Tend to Shout, but I found I enjoyed it. Wiley objected to the portrayal of black men in Walker's world, but by the end of the tale some weight was given to the environmental factors that shaped Albert, Harpo, and even Alphonso. They aren't excused for their sins, but they aren't unredeemable either, and Albert in particular makes great strides to atoning for his wrongdoing.