Comparative Analysis

Presentation

The Color Purple By: Alice Walker

Beloved By: Toni Morrison

Sara BeardENG. 121

Professor Adam ColtonDecember 9, 2013

The Color Purple• Background

• Author: Alice Walker

• Published: 1982

• Setting: 1910-1940, Rural Georgia

• Main Characters: Celie & Nettie

• Symbols: Sewing and Quilts= Relationships to God

• Themes Present: Strong relationships between women, Racism, Sexism, Gender Roles, Oppression and Freedom

• Reproduction: Movie- 1985

Beloved • Background

• Author: Toni Morrison

• Published: 1987

• Setting: 1850’s (flashbacks)-1873: Cincinnati, Ohio, Sweet Home Plantation Kentucky, A prison in Alfred, Georgia

• Main Characters: Sethe (Momma), Denver, Beloved, Paul D

• Symbols: The color red=vitality and mortality , the trees= healing, comfort, and life, The tin tobacco box= Paul D’s heart

• Themes Present: Power of community, Destruction of identity, The power and limitations of language, Oppression and Freedom

• Reproduction: Movie- 1998

Historical Background

• The Color Purple caused a number heated debates in the African- American community. The topics of these debates were old stereotypes, sexism, and racism. On the contrary several African- American women and Caucasian women praised the novel as a feminist work.

• The Color Purple won Pulitzer Prize Award for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983.

• Alice Walker published her famous book The Color Purple in 1982, and three short years later acclaimed film maker Steven Spielberg turned the novel into a film.

Historical Background

• Beloved was written by Toni Morrison to give a voice back to the African-Americans who had been forced into silence and submission for hundreds of years.

• Beloved won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988.

• Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved was published in 1987, and eleven years later was produced as a film.

Plot

• The Color Purple is about a woman named Celie who is frequently raped by her stepfather. This rape results in the birth of two children, whom Celie is told are killed. Celie is married off to an abusive man whose name is not given, and takes her younger sister, Nettie, to live with her. After her sister is kicked out she meets her husband’s mistress who enlightens her to the fact that her sister has been sending letters all along. After reading Nettie’s letters Celie is empowered to leave her husband, and eventually she is reunited with her sister. Nettie happens to have found Celie’s two children and brings the children back to live with them.

Plot

• Beloved is the story of a former slave, Sethe who lives with her daughter, Denver, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The story features flashbacks to the times with Sethe was a slave on Sweet Home Plantation. In these flashbacks we see the events that lead Sethe to not only run away from the plantation, but also to kill one of her daughters when her former owners try to recapture them. The story then goes back to Sethe’s present where she is joined by a friend, Paul D, from the time when she was a slave. Paul D finds them living in a house haunted by the spirit of the daughter that Sethe killed, events progress and this abusive spirit, Beloved, becomes corporeal and drives away Sethe’s true family. The story climaxes when Sethe tries to kill a man that she mistakes for her old owner; after this event Beloved disappears and Sethe retires to her deathbed, but Paul D returns to share a moment with Sethe before the story ends.

Comparisons

• Both Beloved and The Color Purple share an African American background, a theme of oppression versus freedom, a strong African American woman protagonist, and women finding strength in each other.

• Both books won awards and were made into movies.

• These stories both deal with some extremely sensitive elements of society including racism, sexism, and infanticide.

Thesis

• The Color Purple and Beloved are two stories that share several common elements including racism, sexism, and infanticide; however the true theme that they share is the contrast between oppression and freedom.