The Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding

Copyright: Martina Diehl June 2012 The Color Purple: Consolation in Female Bonding Celie’s road to trusting and loving herself Abstract This essay is about the love affair in The Color Purple, a novel by Alice Walker in which, thoughts on racism, incest, rape, love and family affairs are provoked. The reader learns about these subjects through the letters that Celie, an uneducated black woman, writes to God and through the letters that her sister Nettie and Celie write to each other.I would like to discuss how Walker raises the issue of love between females, which involves trust and understanding, two aspects that the men in the novel don’t possess. The reader witnesses how the women are being oppressed and abused in this men’s world, Celie and Shug find comfort and security in each other and then become less afraid to stand up for themselves. I will touch on the comparisons of the awareness hierarchy in Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison and The Color Purple.Furth ermore, Walker guides us through the rise of this sisterhood and female love affair, which helps them find the otherness in God, the colour purple. This novel tells us of sexual racism, incest, oppression and abuse which leads to what walker refers to as womanist, which is to feminism what the colour purple is to lavender (Abbandato 1113). The text implies that Celie and Shug find their love for each other through traumatic events where African-American females are lowest in rank, causing sexual racism, rape and abuse by the dominating male. The Beginning of Celie and Shug Nature said, you two folks, hook up, cause you a good example of how it sposed to go. †(105) Celie has been abused by men all her life and still she does what they tell her to out of fear until she meets Shug, who stands up for Celie and shows her many beautiful things life carries with her. ‘Pa’ has abused Celie and she has become pregnant, twice. Incest and abuse seems to be the life she knows and therefore she is afraid of all men including God because she fears getting beaten and doing something wrong. She is not afraid to write to God because she thinks that He, â€Å"as a white male istener, is ill-equipped to hear what she has to say† (Tucker 82), and because her stepfather has made her afraid to tell anybody else, as is shown in the first line of the novel: â€Å"You better not tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy. † (3) She has always feared men, and when she sees Shug Avery for the first time she is amazed to see that a female has power over Mr. ____. At first Shug treats Celie as a servant because Shug is supposed to be with Mr. ____ and not Celie. She finally accepts this is reality and finds out that the man she used to know as Albert is not the same anymore.Celie’s traumatic sexual events and incest may have caused Celie to dive into this female love affair with Shug. Shug hears Celie’s stories about the raping, and how Celie lets Albert take advantage of her because abuse is the life she has always lead, the life she is used to. Shug helps Celie see the beautiful things that God has given them. Walker uses the letters Celie writes as a political statement, reminding the reader that Celie can only write her feelings about herself and objective information in writing. She continues to do this in the novel even though she can tell her feelings to Shug.She still feels the need to write to God or Nettie (Christian 424). When talking to Shug, Celie finds â€Å"lesbian continuum† (Abbandato: 1108): the concept of love, friendship and sisterly solidarity, in a world where heterosexuality is compulsory and women are supposed to be no more than objects to men, they are â€Å"the second sex† (Chaber 213), women with no rights or power. A fight against society Walker shows the reader how black woman are trying to rise above the conditions of their society. Sofia and Shug are the two characters that fight against masculine domination.In Song of Solomon, Morrison focuses on the oppression of women and ridicules the men, showing the reader what men consider to be right while emphasizing the abuse of women. These two novels are set in the same time period and both take place in the South of the United States, both novels show the sexual and racial abuse of women as a second sex between 1910 and 1963. Women in white society were gaining power while black women still had none. During the twentieth century black women began to travel more and saw more of the world and therefore this change in dominance in society.They would no longer tolerate the power that men had over them. The oppression that Celie was part of. Celie does not write of her husband by name, he is part of the system joining God and her father in â€Å"an unholy trinity of power than displaces her identity. † (Abbandato 1111) Fear of standing up to the dominant sex Celie is afraid to stand up to her husban d. She does not want to get a beating and is traumatised by the events she went through before she left home to be with Mr. ____. Her mother passed away and she is left with a stepfather who raped her and whom she thought dumped her babies in the woods.Celie is continually silenced by her stepfather and Mr. ____ and has no choice in the marriage. She is only an object to the men and is required work around the house and care for them. She does not like to write down or talk about the names of the men who she knows, she prefers to call them Mr. ___ or ‘Pa’ and refers to them as ‘Him’, like God, these men have more power over her than she has over herself. (Tucker 84) She does not know the man who she calls ‘Pa’ is not her real father until much later when she hears the story from Nettie.Her children whom she thought were gone are with Nettie and Celie learns that white people hanged her father. Comparing Walker to Morrison Walker addresses the i ntersectionality of black women in a white society. As she guides the reader through the novel, the reader discovers the class differences in South America. Not only are white women less powerful than white men, beneath that are the African Americans, in which the African American female seems to be the lowest class. Toni Morrison presents the reader with a similar view where the ‘coloured’ people are in search of the self, trying to fight for a better future.Both novels show the oppression within society that bellows for the African Americans. Walker seems to concentrate on showing the reader all aspects of oppression by highlighting Celie’s sexual preference, and the sexism and racism which is present not only between a white and black society but also within the African American society. Walker lets the reader find the different levels of discrimination within classes of society. In The Color Purple as well as in Song of Solomon, these different levels of disc rimination arise. Macon Dead and the arrator in Song of Solomon show the reader these different levels of discrimination in the following excerpt: â€Å"â€Å"Why can’t you dress like a woman? † He was standing by the stove. What’s that sailor’s cap doing on your head? Don’t you have stockings? What are you trying to make me look like in this town? † He trembled with the thought of the white men in the bank – the men who helped him buy mortgage houses – discovering that this raggedy bootlegger was his sister. † (20) Macon Dead dreads what the white men might think of his family, as they are impressed with this ‘Negro’ who handles business so well.Besides that, Ruth dresses in a masculine manner, which could be argued is a way of proving that she is not lower in class than the men around her. Here in this excerpt, she might be compared to Shug Avery in some respect; she provokes the men around her to show her meaning in society. Throughout both texts a lot of similarities can be found in regard to womanism. The women in the texts tend to be either dependent on their husbands on independent women with principles and an ideal to grow, and be accepted as equals in society.Walker critiques the black community here by insinuating that women have the right to take responsibility for themselves (Christian 424). Celie’s trust and distrust Celie, as apposed to Shug, begins hardly any particular views of her own, and only does what she thinks is right: caring for her husband. She holds onto the morals she has learnt from her stepfather, although she realises that her life could be less abusive, she does not seem to feel that she has the power to change that. She thinks that her stepfather, who raped her, has killed her children and therefore she does not trust him.The incest that happens allows distrust towards her family, and so she turns to God is not allowed to tell anybody about the rap e and abuse. Celie struggles through life as an uneducated young woman who seems to have a great responsibility of looking after an entire household, she is at the bottom of the chain in her family. When Celie meets Shug Avery she seems fascinated by this black woman who is able to stand up to Mr. ____, she even calls him by his first name. Shug is surprised with the way in which Celie lets herself be treated, and the way Albert has changed.Shug finds herself interested in Celie’s life, and Celie finally finds somebody whom she will trust to tell her stories to. By putting her trust in Shug, does not Celie again depend on somebody, as she has done all along? She depends on her sister to write about what life is like, she depends on the ways she is treated and the consolation she finds in writing to God. She does not seem to be able to survive without a husband for who would care for her? Now Shug is willing to care for her, by letting Celie becoming dependent yet again.Nevert heless, due to the influence of Shug, Celie is able to trust herself again (Christian 424). A love affair: Celie and Shug The love between Celie and Shug is found through the traumatic events that especially Celie suffers from, and her previous inability to stand up for herself and to speak, as she would only write to God. African-American females in The Color Purple suffer from their dependence on a husband and being low in the hierarchical setting of the southern states. Celie finds trust and consolation in being able to speak to Shug, who does not abuse her, but merely touches her.This trust turns into a love affair, a lesbian continuum. They find a connection in being on this low hierarchical scale and both find love, which they had been missing. Celie learns to love herself, to trust her own thoughts gains trust in herself and in Shug, she learns to love herself because Shug loves her. Arguably, because she trusts herself she is able to speak up for herself and know when she do es not want something; Albert no longer abuses her because of Shug’s resentment towards Albert’s change.Celie earns a place in society by leaving her place as the uneducated woman who is part of ‘the second sex’ and becoming less dependent on the dominant male force within the African-American society. Walker shows that through trusting and loving the self, barriers can be broken and any type of love is possible. Primary Literature Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Great Britain: The Women’s Press, 1983. Print. Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon. USA: Plume Fiction. 1987. reprint. On racism in the African-American society.Secondary Literature Abbandonato, Linda. â€Å"A view from ‘Elsewhere’: Subversive Sexuality and the rewriting of the heroine’s story in The Color Purple†. PMLA vol. 106. (1991): P. 1106-1115 Christian, Barbara T. â€Å"We are the ones that we have been waiting for†: Political content in Alice’s Walker’s novels. Women’s studies International Forum vol. 9. (1986): P. 421-426 Idem Tucker, Lindsey. â€Å"Alice Walker’s The Color Purple†: Emergent Woman, Emergent Text. Black American literature forum. (1988): Vol. 22. P. 81-95

A Comparative Study on Main Characters Mean of Self-Expression in Novels This Boys Life and Into the Forest

A Comparative Study on Main Characters' Mean of Self-Expression in Novels This Boy's Life and Into the Forest Recreation In the novels This Boy’s Life and Into the Forest, both protagonists similarly utilize self expression as method to recreate themselves and escape a worse alternative. Throughout the novel, Tobias and the two sisters are plunged into harsh conditions where they must care for themselves. To keep themselves sane, they force a hobby or mentality in order to keep a goal in front of them, rather than accepting their current situation, almost to say that they are unaccepting of their current substandard condition. Tobias indulges within the Jack London novels to the extent that he idolizes their heroic figures and changes his name to Jack, so to set standards of himself in order to become something greater. â€Å"I was subject to fits of feeling myself unworthy†¦ It didn’t take much to bring this sensation to life, along with the certainty that everybody but my mother saw through me and did not like what they saw.† Eva, in contrast, expresses herself through ballet, seemingly to distract herself from the decrepit and deprived life she loosely maintains in the isolated shack with her family. As the power goes out and she does not have the resources to play music or attend the dance school, she subjects to dancing to the tick of the metronome, even if her opportunity to perform on stage has long since expired. â€Å"I need to dance, Nell. I have to dance to music. Just for a few minutes. To give me courage.† Her everyday practice provides a sense of cathartic release to relinquish her pains and keep her mind isolated from the chaos around her. Both characters engage in an activity which in turn provide mental stability, for they set a goal to work for, no matter how unrealistic, to serve as a more meaningful reason to live in their spiteful situation. Nell, unlike Tobias, had much direction in life, yet was unable to carry out her future because of the chaotic way society is maintaining itself, for Tobias aspired to transition from the weak boy into the men living in the stories he reads, in other words, and pseudo-inspiration. â€Å"When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rightsand that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that wehave a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hegland 286). Here, Tobias shows his maturity in reflecting upon his life, explaining that our ambitions are very much a concrete part of our personality, that every dream we have will come to reality. However, it soon becomes apparent that life does not go as he planned it. He over glamorizes his life to his pen pal Alice, who he tries to describe the life he’d like to live, dreaming of transforming himself into the charmed young man he so desires to be. This contrasts heavily with Nell’s hopes, for she was had the skill, strive, and connections to perfect herself as a dancer, making her goal much more realistic. Yet, her days of dancing were put to an end due sudden poverty stricken condition of the the town. Nell, in comparison, had the opportunity to live out her dream as a dancer, whereas Tobias’s dreams are short lived, using the heroic figure to compensate for the lowly person he was at the time, making no attempt at realizing his fantasies. In both stories, the characters both struggle for their own sense of survival through independence. â€Å"It’s a physical urge, stronger than thirst or sex. Halfway back on the left side of my head there is a spot that longs for the jolt of a bullet, that years for that fire, that final empty rip. I want to be let out of this cavern, to open up myself up to the ease of not-living. I am tired of sorrow and struggle and worry. I am tired of my sad sister. I want to turn out the last light.† (Hegland 248) Nell explains that the laborious extent it takes just to choose to live on is much more struggle than it is to choose to die. The simple life she was familiar with as a child in a family was easy; no need to plan for the food or shelter the day or the next. Tobias concedes with this, stating, â€Å"But our failure was ordained, because the real family we set out to imitate does not exist in nature.† As he grows up, he starts to see that his family aren’t the people to take care of him; he has to do that himself. Though his mother searches for a significant other for most of the story, he realizes that no matter how many times she may remarry, there will never exist a perfect family. In the end of it all, he will never be able to depend on someone else, his survival would be solely his responsibility. As the plots of both stories develop, it becomes evident that they are both bothered by their past, and struggle to alleviate the pain inflicted as they grow up. â€Å"So my sister dances and the dead house burns, and i scrawl these last few words by the light of its burning. I know I should toss this story, too, on those flames. But I am still too much a storyteller -or at least a storykeeper still too much of my father’s daughter to burn these pages.†. Nell and her sister dance on the ground her memories and childhood were built around in this moment of catharsis, so to rid themselves of the grief and pains the past has brought them. As Tobias grows up, he attempts to find new opportunities to recreate himself, to find reason to look forward instead of looking back. He marvels at the freedom of starting anew, yet is unable to find the sanctuary he longs for. As both Tobias and his mother eventually move away, he chooses to join the army to rid of his past, to finally become the hero he has imagined from the novels. Though both characters attempt at forgetting their grievances, they both deal with it in different ways, nell does it through catharsis while tobias tries to completely reorganize his life and persona, thus mitigating their growing pains.

Human Resource Management at the organization Term Paper

Human Resource Management at the organization - Term Paper Example There are environmental protection laws that govern the operations of every organization in the country. These regulations offer guidelines on how organization should take care for the environment in respect to aspects such as the air pollution, land and soil conservations or even care of water recourses. These laws tend to protect the well-being and the needs of the larger community, who also rely on these resources. There is also the overall duty to protect the interests of the future generations (Armstrong, 2008). Employees are quite sensitive and are protected by employees’ laws enacted by the legislative and other workers unions. These rules and regulations protect the workers from exploitation or mistreatment in the work place. The compliance officer continually reviews the relationship of the management and the employees to ensure that the workers are treated fairly. The employees have their set of responsibility towards the organization. Complying with the laws ensure there is decreased conflicts within the organization thus increasing employees motivation and consequently improved productivity. The organization will also be extra-vigilant on the chances of laws regulating the type of activities the company engages and its major products as well. Compliance officer would always be interested in the safety of the organization activities and the products do not harm the larger public. The focus is protection of the customers who require safe and quality goods for their consumption. The existence of the organization could be at stake in case these laws were violated within the organization. Monitoring the changes affecting such areas ensure that the company is kept clear of any illegal issue with government law or other regulators (Pate, 2012). HR Job Description The Human Resource department entails the management of day-to-day operations of employees’ procedures, programs, and policies. The major areas of responsibilities entail such functi onal areas as departmental development, training and development, compensation, employee relation, Human Resource Information System, organizational developments and employment (Robert & Mathias, 2011). The job entails a number of roles that needs to be performed for the HR department to remain effective in meeting its objectives and the overall organization goals as well. These include: Making plans of recruitment, human resource development, and trainings. Building of professional development programs that aim to benefit all employees in company. Formulating the promotion policies and replacement of personnel. Overseeing the making of personnel budget. Planning human resource for business, production, and corporate strategy. Establishing of bonus and wage by laws, stimulant policies, and incentive along with employees’ preferences to work. Organizing and implementing functions of administrative and its tasks according to Board of Directors requirements. Engage in building o f regulations and making plans related to the use of equipment and property of the company. Making of plans and supervision of compliance with various laws governing the organization. Sometimes the responsibilities assigned to employees may not match the job description provided during recruitment. If this situation is not controlled, it can lead to increased claims that can harm the company. In case they do occur, it is safe that the HR department be ready to deal with

Strategy illustration on External Analysis Essay

Strategy illustration on External Analysis - Essay Example The direct investments in Facebook have valued the company up to $50 billion. The company raised this money for making a further bolster its cash reserves. By this move, the company aimed to strengthen its reserves and surplus thereby increasing financial stability and limiting any liquidity risk by the company in the short term. The company also took care about the limited dilution factor of its shareholders. Macro Environment The investment thereby generated many questions among the shareholders of the company and the investor class as it was against their speculations. The company disclosed no immediate plans to invest the money rose by them and clarified that the money was raised to strengthen the cash position of the company. By this move, the company aimed to strengthen its reserves and surplus thereby increasing financial stability and limiting any liquidity risk by the company in the short term. The company also took care about the limited dilution factor of its shareholders. The company disclosed that under the transaction terms, it had option to accept between $375 million and $1.5 billion to receive from Goldman Sachs by the way of overseas offering. ... Facebook is incorporated in US through Macro-Economic forces in the country have a little impact of the company. Facebook is social networking build on a global platform where factors like inflation rates, interest rate and current exchange rates in bear some impact, but such impact can’t be considered influential. As the interest rates are slashed as a result of recession in the economy, the company could borrow money at a cheaper interest rate. Same is the case with changes in current exchange rates. Global Forces Barriers of trade and information sharing impact the company’s business in a primary way. Removal of such barriers helps the company to expand its operations in other countries. These also help in raising funds globally thereby giving advantage of cheaper funds. Growth in countries like India and China are posing increased opportunities of doing business in these countries. Technological Forces Being a social network company, technological forces impacts the company in a big way. Technology sector in the US includes more than 140,000 companies with combined annual revenue of about $900 billion. AT&T, IBM, Intel, Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft are the major companies (US Technolgy Sector Analysis, 2010). â€Å"Industry concentration is high in many segments with the largest 50 participants generating more than 60% of the segment revenue† (US Technolgy Sector Analysis, 2010). Scientific discoveries and new product developments form the basis of profitability in this industry. Both large and small companies can compete successfully – the mammoths have access to capital and marketing and the miniatures have domain-specific expertise. In the period Aug-10 to Jan-11, the Application Software industry has been on a bullish trend before being thrust

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Do Aliens Exist - Essay Example However these findings have yet not provided a solid proof regarding the existence of the aliens. Brockwell on this issue provides with rather interesting information regarding the existence of aliens. According to Brockwell in 1966 a space shuttle was sent to generate electricity by the earth’s magnetic field. This shuttle was launched in the orbit and the mission was known as the STS-75 Space Shuttle mission. But the experiment failed as the shuttle broke down in the orbit and electricity could not be generated. It was reported that when the shuttle broke down many unusual UFOs were sighted at the site. But this claim was brought down the officials who considered the unusual UFOs to be space debris. However an interesting claim has been made now in which a scientist examined the pictures taken from that site. The scientist using different techniques clarified the picture taken on that day and put forward the claim that the unusual UFOs were actually spacecrafts run by the al iens themselves. The pictures clearly show the electronic circuits which are a sign that it might not be debris but possibly some electronic transport which is run by aliens. Relying upon this claim by the scientist one can clearly deduce that there is some power outside this world which is living in the galaxy. The images provided by the scientists also are a sign that aliens may possibly exist but are not really showing up themselves (Brockwell 2008). The proponents of the belief that aliens exist come forward with different arguments which are related to the events that have occurred in real life. It has been found that memos of a secret agent show that an extra terrestrial space ship crashed into the US town of Roswell which was then covered up by the American government. An FBI... Many individuals come forward with the claim that there is no such thing as aliens existing in this world. According to these individuals aliens are just a perception of people and they do not exist in the galaxy. The unusual happenings in this world are just a mere coincidence and not any activity done by individuals other than the human beings. To conduct a study on the existence of aliens many studies have been conducted and one of the studies was made public. It clearly states that there is no such sign of alien existence in this world. The famous report clearly suggests that there is no such thing as alien existence in this world and all the unusual activities happening in this world are just out of mere natural forces. The report criticizes all the events reported by people who have sighted UFOs in their vicinities. The report further states using the techniques of astronomy, that all these unusual UFOs are related to the stars and meteors in the space. It puts forward the clai m that most of the happenings in the surrounding of this world which seem to be unusual are related to the electrical chemical and magnetic phenomenon occurring in the layers of the earth. Because these phenomenons are so rare in this world, they are thought to be related to forces existing outside this world.

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