"The Color Purple" Beck

When I first began the book, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, I found the narrative hard to follow. There were several reasons for this, the largest being the structure of the book is in the form of several letters written by a Southern black woman with little education living in the early 1900’s. These informal letters would often include poor grammar, spelling mistakes, and Southern jargon. I was initially overwhelmed as the letters of the main character, Celie, opposed the conventional, 21st century English I am accustomed to. Nevertheless, without the guidance of outside tools such as Sparknotes, I was able to understand the text and appreciate Walker’s writing style.

With the advent of the internet, it is extremely easy to use external summary sources, like Sparknotes, to forgo reading or supplement reading with other people’s interpretations of the book. While a powerful resource, I believe that Sparknotes should be avoided, at least for the duration of a book’s initial read. Books, like other forms of art, are meant to be a medium between the viewer and the creator. By adding the additional piece of interpretation (Sparknotes), the reader loses the ability to interpret the themes, symbols, and meanings in their own way, which is equally as valid as Sparknotes’ interpretation of the same text.

That said, Sparknotes can be a useful tool after the completion of the book. Like a book club, Sparknotes allows individuals to compare their interpretation of various elements of a book to what others agree on as the interpretation of the elements. Furthermore, the summary function can be used to assure readers that their understanding of the plot is in line with other’s.

In order to evaluate the source, and my understanding of The Color Purple, I compared my thoughts about the book’s themes, symbols, and characters to what Sparknotes thought. Before I went to the website, I jotted down some notes on a separate document, which outlined some of my interpretations. Because there is such a variety of information for me to compare, I am focusing this blog on the similarities and differences of the book’s theme and a few symbols, even though I also compared additional things such as characters, literary devices, and additional symbolism.

I thought that the largest theme of the book was the power of love and family. Throughout the majority of the book, Celie and her sister, Nettie are separated. Despite being apart for years, the sisters continued to care and write letters to each other, even though the correspondence rarely found their mark. Through the struggles of their totally different lives, the two held out hope that they would one day be reunited. Furthermore, I thought another important theme of the book regarded the power of women. For the majority of the book, Celie is abused and treated terribly by men. Her experience with men can be seen in another character, Shug Avery, expressing, “In Celie’s mind, men have a kind of meanness that women don’t possess” (Walker). Moreover, Celie’s foil, Sofia, is fiercely independent and fights back against her abusive husband instead of just taking it like Celie. The power of women the book emphasizes is seen later when Celie, fed up with the abusive, leaves her husband and starts a new, more successful life.

Sparknotes identified four major themes in the book. The power of narrative and voice, the power of strong female relationships, the cynical nature of racism and sexism, and the disruption of traditional gender roles. Sparknotes’ interpretation of narrative and voice was something I had not picked up on as significant during my read. The website says, “Walker emphasizes throughout the novel that the ability to express one’s thoughts and feelings is crucial to developing a sense of self” (Sparknotes). This articulation of the letters’ significant was interesting because it was very different from my own interpretation. I disagree with Sparknotes’ sentiment that writing letters empowered Celie to eventually leave her husband. I believe that her experiences, recorded in her letters, with strong females gave her the confidence and feeling of self worth that allowed her to resist. Aside from this, I generally agree with their analysis of the themes. The disruption of gender roles very closely resembles the theme of female power I previously articulated, while the power of strong female relationships is just a specification of my broader theme of the power of love and relationships. Lastly Sparknotes’ analysis of the cynical nature of racism and sexism added to my understanding of the book. While I was able to recognize the sexism in conversations such as the one between Harbo tells his wife, “Women work. I’m a man” (Walker), I saw it as an additional obstacle Celie had to overcome while finding meaning in her life, rather than an overarching theme of the book.

Lastly, there were a few interesting distinctions between my interpretation of symbols and Sparknotes. In the book, Shug Avery says, “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it” (Walker). I believe that the color represents freedom and independence as Celie was never able to wear purple dresses because of her husband. The Sparknote editors write, “Walker uses color to signal renewals and rebirths at several points in the novel” (Sparknotes). While I agree with their idea that it represents a new “life” for Celie, I think that Sparknotes misses the larger point that this vibrant color represents the personality and lifestyle Celie cannot have until she is independent of other’s control.

In conclusion, the Sparknotes analysis of The Color Purple was interesting and helpful as it provided me with new information and interpretations of themes and symbols that I hadn’t noticed. Using this tool, however, only solidified my belief that it should only be used post-completion. Several of their analyses I disagreed with while I also found that symbols, such as the African tribe being hyperbolic of American gender roles, missing.