The Color Purple

The novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker was a good read because it showed womanhood and how to find the beauty in one's self. The book shows through the protagonist, Celie, and many other characters throughout the novel. Womanhood, to me, is about being confidence in how looks and feels and having some independence. When the book first started, it showed the sexually and mental abuse Celie goes through at the age of fourteen and how it caused her to allow others control and to find little worth in herself. The book develops as she ages and finds herself bit by bit. The book starts this with the arrival of Shug Avery it then teaches her about womanhood through Shug as she teaches her about love, pleasure, and having confidence in one's self. The book then has her find Nettie's letters to see that independence does not get you killed or hurt and that it can lead to happiness and it also uses it to awaken Celie's anger and have it burst at Mr. . A big step was she when finally released a the anger she had suppressed at Mr. and his family and leaves with Shug and Mary to the city because it shows she was tired being controlled and that she has finally found the independence she desperately needed. This goes on until at the end Celie has found the true womanhood and inner beauty she was missing.