1.Give the title of the book and the name of the author.
The title of the book is ‘The Color Purple\' and it\'s written by Alice Walker.

2a. When was it first published?
The book was first published in 1982 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, New York

b. What edition did you read, by what publishing house?
I read the edition published in 1986 by The Women\'s Press Fiction.

3a. Explain the title of the book.
The color purple stands for independence, for the liberation of one\'s mind and feeling. It\'s an important symbol in the book.


b. How is the title linked to the contents of the book? Please illustrate.
The color purple plays a very important part in the life of the main character Celie. When Celie is allowed to choose a new dress for the first time in her life, she chooses a purple dress. The room that she owns in a house, is all purple. And when Celie\'s friend Shug explains how important it is to free yourself from traditional male and white domination and be able to enjoy life, she says: \"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don\'t notice it.\"

4. What literary genre does the book belong to?
I think the book belongs to the genre psychological novel, because the story exists of letters that Celie writes to God and later to her sister Netty. In the letters she writes about the things that happen to her and how she feels about that, she writes about how she feels and thinks a lot. But I think the book also belongs to another genre, to the genre historical novel, because the book tells a lot about the situation of black people in the USA and Africa in the beginning of the 20th century.

5a. Where is the scene laid?
The book takes place in the South of America on a farm near a little village, where people were black and very poor. Celie lives on that farm the biggest part of her live, later on she moves to Memphis together with Shug. Another part of the book is about Celie\'s sister Netie. Than the story is set in the village of the Olinka in the African jungle.

b. In what period of time? How do you know?
The story takes place in the beginning of the 20th century. The book describes about 40 years of Celie\'s life, so it ends half 20th century. When Celie starts telling the story, she\'s 14, at the end of the book she\'s about 55 and the Second World War has begun.


6a. Who are the main characters?
I think the main character of the book is Celie. Another important character is her sister Nettie. Some less important characters are Mr__ (Albert), Shug Avery, Sofia, Harpo and Squeak.

b. Describe their personalities.
- Celie: In the beginning of the story Celie is still a young black girl. She\'s uncertain, shy and silent, because people are telling her that she\'s ugly all the time. After her mother died, her father raped her and made her pregnant, he took away the children and forced her to live with a man, Mr. __ who doesn\'t love her, but beats her. She is very sweet and still a softy, because she never protests against anything, when people are telling her what to do. By writing letters to God and later on to Nettie, she tries to deal with her bad life. When she meets Shug, her whole life changes. Shug teaches her things about life and at the ending Celie has grown into a strong, independent woman, who stands up for herself.
- Nettie: Netie is Celie\'s younger sister. They used to be very close, but because their father sold Celie, they got separated. Nettie is prettier and better educated than Celie. She ends up a lot better than her older sister, she falls in love with Samuel, the stephfather of the children of Celie, after Samuel\'s wife died. Eventually they got married. She also got the chance to go to Afica to be a missionary and took care of Celie\'s children. Nettie loves Celie very much and wrote her a lot of letters, which Celie got very late, because Mr --- hid them from her.
- Mr. ---: His first name is Albert. He\'s an handsome young widower, who wanted to marry Nettie, but eventually had to marry Celie. He\'s a cruel man, he beats and rapes her quite often. He doesn\'t love her at all, he\'s in love with Shug. After Celie has left him he changes completely. He starts to work, takes good care of himself and starts to believe in God. That\'s when he and Celie become friends.

- Shug Avery: She\'s a famous blues singer. You can consider Shug as the hero of the story, because she changes Celie from an insecure woman into a strong woman, which changes Celie\'s life forever. Shug loves Celie and teaches her how to be her own person. Shug is an attractive, independent woman, who knows exactly what she wants. She has her own philosophy based on her experiences in life. Shug used to be in love with Mr. __, but because Mr. __ ‘s father didn\'t allow them to date each other, she married Grady, but she doesn\'t really love him. At the end of the story she takes off with a 19-year old.
- Harpo: Mr. —‘ son. He doesn\'t know if he should beat up his wife (Sofia) or not, for saying what she wants to say. His father tells him to slap her, so he does. But he gets beat up, because Sofia is much stronger then him. When Sofia left him, he started his own bar, which got a big success when Shug sung in it. In the end of the book he and Sofia get back together, because Squeak, Harpo\'s second wife also left him to live with Shug and Celie in Memphis.

7. Give a summary of the plot of the story.
Celie, a 14 year-old girl lives with her stepfather and sister Nettie. She and her sister care a lot about each other. Celie, the oldest of the two, has been raped by her father several times and she has two children from him. Both children are taken away from her and she thinks her father killed them. Celie is not allowed to go to school, that\'s why she is very low educated.
One day Mr __ comes to ask for Nettie\'s hand. He is a widower with four children. Pa refuses, but promises him a cow if he marries Celie. Mr -- accepts the offer and marries Celie. At first Mr.__ ‘s children don\'t accept Celie. His son Harpo even throws a stones at her.
Some years later, when Celie is in town, she thinks she sees her daughter. On that same day she saw a picture of Shug Avery, which impressed her very much.
After some time Nettie runs away from home and comes to live with Celie. But then Mr __ tries to seduce her and Nettie decides to go. She promises Celie that she will write her, but Celie doesn\'t receive any letters and thinks that Nettie is dead.
Shug Avery and her band come to town. Shug is Mr -- ‘s love of his life. When she falls ill, Mr. __ takes her in and has Celie takes care of her. First Shug treats Celie very bad, but after some time they become best friends and Celie learns a lot from Shug.

When Shug has become all better again, she goes back to Memphis where she gets married to a guy named Grady. But after a while she comes back to visit Celie and Mr. –. She brings Grady with her. Both Celie and Mr. __ are shocked and hurt that Shug has found a new lover. Mr __ and Grady go away for a few days and Shug sleeps with Celie to keep her company. They become very close. Celie still tells Shug everything about Nettie and with Shug\'s help Celie finds the letters that Nettie did send her over all those years. Mr __ had been keeping the letters from Celie. The letters tell that Nettie lives with a black missionary family and moved to Africa with them. This family is a couple that has two adopted children. These children appear to be Celie\'s children, Olivia and Adam.
Also these people tell Nettie about her real father. When Celie reads all the letters, she becomes very disappointed in God and she stops addressing her letters to God. From now on she writes to Nettie.
Celie leaves Mr__ and goes to Memphis with Shug and Grady. She sets up a shop in pants and makes a good living out of it.
Pa (Celie\'s stepfather) dies and he leaves all his property to Celie and Nettie. Celie goes to live in the house that her stepfather had just build on the property and continues making pants.
One day a telegram from the US Department of Defence arrives, telling Celie that the ship Nettie was on has sunk. That same day all the letters Celie wrote to Nettie come back unopened. Celie starts doubting if life is even worth living, but still doesn\'t give up hope that Nettie is still alive.
Mr__ turns out to be a real comfort for Celie. He has really changed. They talk about Shug, about Celie\'s children and how their ideas have changed zout the role of men and women, of blacks and whites. They become real good friends.
Shug comes back to Celie and now Celie, Shug and Mr__ all live together in Celie\'s house. One evenings when the three of them are sitting on the proch after dinner, a car stops. Nettie and her family have arrived. Celie and Nettie are so happy to see each other again that they knock each other down. This family reunion is celebrated by having a big family dinner on Independance Day. For the first time in her life Celie feels completely happy.


8a. What is the theme of this book?
The struggle of a woman to become free from male dominance. But not by using violence. In the book appears that violence will get you nowhere. The world will turn against those who use violence and treat others bad.

b. Do you think the author wanted to achieve more than plain entertainment with her book? Explain you answer.
I think that the author wants to tell the readers that you should never let go of what you believe in, don\'t let people make you think you are something you aren\'t. But I think Alice Walker also wrote the book to show how people lived in that period. How the people had to live, and how mean they were treated. The author tells a story about slavery, love and the differences between black and white.

9. Why did you choose this book?
My friend Sanne Cottaar has read this book too. She told me that she liked it very much and that it was special. So I borrowed it from her and started to read it myself.

10. What\'s your opinion after having read the story? Please motivate this.
At fist I really didn\'t like the story, because it was hard to read, because of the language which was used in the book. Celie\'s language is very limited, it was written in old English and with a lot of grammar mistakes. But this was to make the story more realistic, because Celie didn\'t enjoy any education. At first I found it a bit irritating, but later I got used to the writing style and I even started to think it was funny. Another thing what makes the story very realistic is that the events are conveyed in the form of letters. In the book there are a lot of characters, who all have a relation with each other. It makes the book interesting, but sometimes also a bit difficult, because I had to search and think about who that character was and what his/her relation was with another person. The story itself was also very fascinating and beautiful. Though I thought, the ending was a bit too beautiful, because Mr __ and Celie became friends again, I thought that was a bit unrealistic. If I was the author I would\'ve given the book a less happy end. The book made me realize what terrible things happened in South America in the beginning of the 20th century. I was very shocked, the story really touched me. I think you really should read this book, because it gives you a good impression of the situation in South America in the beginning of the 20th century.