Celie's growth in "The Color Purple"

Celie’s growth is evident in a number of ways throughout The Color Purple. In the beginning of the novel, Celie is very much a docile and battered woman with no voice or will of her own. She is afraid to express her own opinion and lives under the reign of a man. At first she is dominated by her step-father and then by her husband. Due to the abuse and sexual assaults Celie suffers throughout her life, she is afraid and submissive. However, as the novel progresses, she becomes strong and independent. Her growth is partly due to the cruelty she is subjected to. She is emotionally hardened and strengthened because of all that she endures during her lifetime.

As a child, Celie is sexually abused by her step-father and becomes pregnant twice. Her step-father takes the children from her, and Celie assumes that he kills them both. Celie has no control over her life or her body. This lack of control causes her to become passive, silent, and hidden inside of herself. This is the way that she learns to deal with the pain of the abuse. She begins to write letters to God because he is a distant and seemingly unresponsive figure. It is her only method of expression. She will not talk to any of the people who are around her and will not defend herself.

However, a major change in Celie’s character occurs when she meets Shug Avery. Shug is strong and independent. Celie not only looks up to her, but is also attracted to her. She begins to express her feelings to Shug and is able to speak for herself. Shug gives Celie advice and makes her feel that she is worth more than how she has been treated during her life. Shug also helps Celie in that she changes her vision of who God is. Celie previously viewed God as a domineering white male figure. Shug tells Celie to look at him in a more nontraditional sense, and this greatly helps in her religious growth.

Celie’s greatest growth occurs when she becomes enraged with her husband. She discovers that he has been hiding letters from her sister and, through reading these letters, discovers many things about her husband and step-father. This new knowledge of the wrongs that the two men have committed against her pushes her over the edge. All the emotions and pain that Celie has kept inside come to the surface in the form of anger. She finally defends herself against her husband’s abuse and control. Because of this, she is finally able to free herself from the grasp of an abusive man. She learns to accept herself as an individual outside of any relationship. She is able to express her own opinions and feelings. Celie is finally able to find happiness in her independence. Celie is a round character because she experiences many different situations throughout the novel. She has many dimensions and experiences a great amount of growth. She is able to come into herself as an individual and as a woman.

Tender Buttons

“In Tender Buttons and then on and on I struggled with the ridding myself of nouns, I knew nouns must go in poetry as they had gone in prose if anything that is everything was to go on meaning something. And so I went on with this exceeding struggle of knowing really knowing what a thing was really knowing it knowing anything I was seeing anything I was feeling so that its name could be something, by its name coming to be a thing in itself as it was but would not be anything just and only as a name” (242).

This quote, by Gertrude Stein, is the embodiment of her work, Tender Buttons. Anyone who has read Tender Buttons understands that it is not an easy task to decipher the meaning behind the odd and seemingly incoherent descriptions of objects. After first reading Stein’s book of poetry, it takes deep, insightful contemplation to figure out what the purpose of the entire work is. If one goes into reading Stein’s book after reading this quote, though, they may very well have a better grasp of the material and its purpose. It is a welcomed explanation of why Stein’s poetry was written in such a strange manner. There are many places throughout the book that exemplify Stein’s quote. Her experimentation with language and discovery is obvious in each of the poems contained in Tender Buttons.
The first poem in Stein’s collection is called A Carafe, that is a Blind Glass. It is evident simply from the title of the poem that Stein is experimenting with the use of nouns and her discovery what an object really is. She describes the carafe in the first line of the poem as “a kind in glass and a cousin”. This, really, doesn’t make any obvious sense. However, if one is aware of what Stein is trying to do with her poetry, the purpose of this statement is understandable. In her quote, Stein states that she “went on with this exceeding struggle of knowing really knowing what a thing was really knowing it”. By this, she means that she was attempting to discover what “a thing” is, aside from the usual understanding of it. For instance, a carafe can be much more than a drink container. Stein pushes this idea by describing a carafe in a way that no one would ever think to describe it. She is not only experimenting with language, but also experimenting with perception.
The first line in the poem “A Long Dress” is, “what is the current that makes machinery, that makes it crackle, what is the current that presents a long line and a necessary waist”. This is definitely not the way that the average person would think to describe a dress. Once again, though, Stein goal is to tear apart the norms of poetry and use of nouns. A very important line in Stein’s quote is, “its name coming to be a thing in itself as it was but would not be anything just and only as a name”. In addition to her experimentation, Stein is also trying to destroy the idea of what a thing is. She does this by, as earlier stated, describing objects in the way that she perceives them. She is, therefore, not even really describing the objects. Rather, she is describing her thoughts about objects.
Gertrude Stein’s overall purpose in writing Tender Buttons in such a way is stated in her quote. She is not simply telling what an object is, she is telling what is could be and what she thinks of it. This is explicated throughout her book of poetry. Although it is a difficult read, and is very difficult to understand what is meant by the descriptions, it is easy to see Stein’s purpose in writing this book in such a strange style when one reads her quote.