When reading The Color Purple, the initial perception of the main character, Celia Harris, is that she is a timid and traumatized girl who turns to God for comfort in her times of turmoil. Although this is true at the beginning of the novel, it soon progresses into a wild story that displays a unique and refreshing perspective on religious and spiritual identity that the main character slowly pieces together to find peace within the world around her and within herself that leaves the readers thinking, “What’s next?” In a world of conformity and expectations, the unique take on a spiritual and religious identity that goes directly against society’s expectations is exactly what Alice Walker wants to emphasize in her novel The Color Purple to express the freedom individuals have in their lives to appreciate the things around them in their own way, even when it is not conventional.
When we are introduced to the first page of the book it reads, “Dear God,” written by the main character, Celia. She seeks the comfort of God during a time of great difficulty and continues to write to him from the first page onwards. The act of seeking comfort from God who people can identify as “all-knowing” or of a higher power is nothing new and is normalized in the setting the novel takes place in. That is, until page 177 when she begins to address her letters to her sister, Nettie, instead of God. This is very abnormal for the period the novel takes place in because you are seen as a sinner or an oddity if you renounce God. Which in a way, Celia did. This was because of another character that became close to Celia, named Shug.
Shug is a woman in the novel whose entire character is the definition of wild and free. She made a living for herself as a singer and does whatever she wants. Shug speaks her mind and lets it be known what she thinks. Her influence on Celia is what made Celia change her view on religion and how she doesn’t need to conform to a set religion or practice. Together, the two women piece together their perception of religious beliefs and speak about the freedom that life gives them. Instead of the traditional religious beliefs of believing in a god, Celia and Shug decided that life became much easier to appreciate when they believed the earth itself is its own type of universe.
Many in the novel, including the readers and Celia, may find it hard to reject a traditional religious practice to form their own opinions and perceptions of the world. In the book, Celia is appalled by Shug’s view on religion and has a hard time imagining being able to think that way. Since Celia was raised in a harsh, judgemental environment – much like many people in real life – she has a hard time questioning what she was raised with, especially when it comes to religious practice. Just like today, it is expected for people to go to church and worship a specific god. This makes it difficult for people to form their own ideas. Despite this, this is exactly what Shug and Celia do and what the author encourages.
Although many people can find it scary to leave familiar things behind – in this case, a specific religion – the author of the novel, Walker, seems to encourage this. Society deems what is ordinary or not, and with her two out-of-the-ordinary characters – she encourages exploration instead of only being stuck with the options that society presents you with. Celia is noticeably more at peace when she accepts that she isn’t required to believe in what is presented to her – that being Christianity – and finding peace within her exploration of religion with Shug leads to her believing in the beauty of Earth itself. This peace that the main character receives from her questioning and exploration is a vassal of the author’s wish for the reader to think about doing the same.
As the reader finishes reading the novel, he or she is left with a realization that nothing we do is set in stone. That we can — and should — explore new paths around us to find what is right for ourselves. The novel The Color Purple wants the reader to think about their freedom in multiple different ways, but the encouragement of freedom of religious identity and practice is one of the most emphasized concepts throughout the book. We don’t have to be stuck with the options handed to us -– we can forge our own paths and find our own unique ideas.
