“Love and Sex in The Color Purple” In the novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker, the ignorance, the disregard of, and the necessity of love are all introduced as the main character Celie tells her life story and memories. "Love" is a word, a signifier, tied to many meanings, all different in context, cultures, and ideologies. Loving yourself involves the physical, mental and emotional aspects of an individual. Celie’s wounds center around sex and her sexuality, trying to find someone to love her, and occur on physical, psychological and spiritual levels. Her trauma engenders self-destructive madness and alienation from her own body, her self-trust, and her community. Celie has many misconceptions of herself and her world. Due to her upbringing of pain and mistreatment, and her ignorance of a better world, Celie’s image of herself and her own potential is very different from reality. Her sexuality and reproductive organs are controlled by men, her children are taken from her, and her submission is enforced through violence. Through all these traumatizing events, Celie lost respect for herself and forgot how to love. Her life was full of darkness without a single trace of light. However, Celie met a woman named Shug who gave her the courage to fight for what she believed in. Shug taught her how to laugh, play and most importantly how to love; Shug showed Celie a whole new perspective of life. It is through Celie's awareness of her right to the passion, creativity, and satisfaction possible in life that she empowers herself. In fact, Celie nearly struggled for her happiness her entire life. When she was only a little girl, her stepfather sexually abused her:He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t…He start to choke me, saying You better shut up and git used to it. But I don’t never get used to it. (Walker 3) We also learn that Celie’...
