The Color Purple Essay Sample

In the novel, the color purple by Alice Walker, the main character Cecile starts off her life in a quite depressing and distressing manner. She seems to have a limited idea of who she really is, what’s her identity, and how to live her life for herself rather than being under the foot and shadow of other characters. However, she soon finds other women that have such bold and bright personalities that she too becomes able to step out of the shadows and into her own limelight. One of these characters that help Cecile achieve this is Shug Avery, her boldness, beauty, and confidence act as a foil to Cecile's shy, quiet and unconfident personality. Having these two opposite characters interact multiple times within the story not only allows Cecile to grow as a character but also helps to display the theme of discovering self-worth and developing/accepting your own unique identity.

Cecile’s lack of confidence and pushover personality stemmed majorly from how she grew up and the type of people around her.  For example, at a young age, Cecile was traumatized by not only being raped by a family member, her stepfather Alphonso but also giving birth to two of his children and having them taken away from her. An incident such as this not only kills the spirit but also would put the idea of being worth little to nothing into the eyes of the victim of said situation. To add to this, she was deemed as not very pretty by her father and most of the male figures in the novel. Thus adding to her low self-worth and allowing Cecile to believe that she didn't truly deserve the pleasures of life since she didn’t have admirable qualities such as beauty, like Shug Avery, or intelligence, like her sister Nettie. Besides these events, she was married off to a husband who not only didn't love her but abused her for little to no reason, leaving Cecile feeling helpless but also revengeful. Cecile’s experience beat her down constantly and gave her the idea that she just had to take what she was given and live with it. Before the stronger female characters joined the storyline Cecile never had a role model to learn from and teach her about self-worth or self-confidence. So she was left to deal with all of these events and situations on her own with no one to inspire her to find a way out. However, despite her enduring all of this pain and trauma Cecile never truly gave up or gave in. She had her moments of anger or rage which if not dampened and placed elsewhere she could have expressed. Thereby proving that Cecile had the potential to discover and find self-worth but she just needed a catalyst or a role model to learn from and give her the inspiration to finally step out from the shadows of the lives of others and become the person who she was truly meant to be.

The character that brings this along is Shug Avery who appears in the middle of the novel. She is introduced immediately, as a woman of beauty, power, confidence, and high esteem. She is an old lover of Cecile's husband Albert but also has many other love interest’s as the story progresses; a well-known and loved singer of the town, and in time becomes the best friend and love interest of Cecile. Initially, when we meet her, she is rude and doesn't take any type of disrespect from any of the men in the novel. For example, Albert is at her beck and call throughout the story even as she leaves him and favors Cecile instead. Also when she hears of how horribly he has treated her in his absence she puts a stop to it immediately and instead of being beaten by Albert for such sass or backtalk, he does exactly as she asks of him without any complaint or questions. Such dominance isn't common to see in the society of the novel thus showing Cecile that not only is it possible but that she could gain such confidence as well.  We also get to meet Shug when she isn't being the shining star she is known to be. At one point people talk bad about her in town, she is ill, and she is very miserable. During that time Cecile meets her and is tasked with helping to nurse her back to health. This shows Cecile the weakness that Shug has despite her strong personality and helps to begin the start of a great friendship since Cecile not only gets to see Shug rise from such a destitute state but also learns from Shug as she recovers. As Cecile’s infatuation with Shug grows, she is able to use her as a role model and source of strength in her journey of self-worth and discovery of who she truly is.

Overall it can be understood that Cecile is the complete opposite of Shug. Where Shug is confident Cecile is not, where Shug is favored Cecile is disliked, and where Shug is beautiful Ceile sees herself as ugly. Thereby, placing these two characters together in the novel allows Shug to help Cecile by showing all the qualities that she does not see in herself. For example, whenever Cecile says she is ugly and no one loves Shug automatically disagrees. Shug loves Cecile and thinks she is cute and attractive which helps build Cecile's confidence in herself and her outward appearance. Due to the trust they have for each other, Cecile stops her previous belief in what negative opinions and comments the men of the story have on her since Shug, who holds higher value to her, provides such uplifting compliments. A major event in the story that shows how Shug being a foil for Cecile helps her to find her self-love and identity is when they try on pants.  Besides showing confidence in her interactions with the men of the story, Shug also dresses as they do at times. In one part of the story, Shug grabs a pair of pants, saying she wears them for fun at times, and invites Cecile to do the same. Cecile believes that pants are men's clothing and should not be worn by her so she declines the offer but Shug persuades her to try them on anyway. At that moment the pants symbolize strength or independence, and Shug having been a wearer of them before shows how she has independence and confidence in herself. Thereby allowing Cecile to do the same, displays how Cecile is slowly finding her own confidence and independence by being friends with Shug. To add to this, Cecile is constantly surrounded by women who are bold as well or find their strength in the novel besides Shug. For example, Sofia and Squeak are two characters who don't live in the limelight of men and rather do as they please. They are all friends with Cecile so besides having Shug as a major model to look at, she also has other women to be inspired from as well. Therefore, having such women interact with Cecile, but mainly Shug, present in the novel as foil characters and representing an image of strength, beauty, and boldness, they are able to push and inspire Cecile to find herself, her confidence, and her self-worth.

In conclusion, when Cecile is first introduced in the story she doesn't seem to have much for herself. She is a pushover, she is shy, and she is very unconfident in herself not only internally but also externally. However, upon meeting and befriending the foil character Shug Avery, as well as others, Cecile is able to use her as a model on how to truly become the person she has always wanted to be. Shug's bold, strong and beautiful personality inspires Cecile and their friendship allows Shug to influence her to push herself to achieve and do things that before meeting Shug Cecile would have never had the confidence to accomplish. Thereby allowing Cecile to become a strong, confident, and independent woman by the end of the novel. The bond and interactions between these 2 characters allowed for the theme of self-worth and the development of your own unique personality to be seen and established in the novel “The Color Purple '' by Alice Walker.