Everyone Wants to be Loved
A wife is being beaten by her abusive husband. While this is something that would be looked down upon in today’s age, during the time that “The Color Purple” is set during, this is the norm and is even encouraged by others. This mistreatment of females is passed down from each generation that is shown. These traditions of violence created separation and caused strain to be placed on the relationships that existed. The struggle to be loved by each character in The Color Purple is shown through the cycle of relationships of Albert and his father, Celie and Albert, and Harpo and Sophia.
Albert has an estranged relationship with his father during the duration of the film. The entire time he is attempting to find satisfaction…
With this theme continuing from Albert’s relationship with his father, Celie shares the same desire from Albert as Albert does from his father. Throughout the film, Celie is mistreated by every man she encounters, but the man that abuses her the most is her husband, Albert. Although Celie tries her very best to please Albert by cleaning the house spotless, taking care of the kids, and tending to Albert’s every need, it is still not good enough for him. He expresses his unnecessary rage by slapping Celie, even though she has done absolutely nothing wrong. It is possible that Albert’s actions towards Celie are represented this way because it is only way Albert has been exposed to. Since Celie has grown used to being treated so poorly, when Shug Avery comes into the picture, it is a pleasant surprise the amount of appreciation she expresses towards Celie. Ever since Celie and her sister, Nettie, parted, Celie had been deprived of friendship, but Shug came in to remind Celie what it feels like to be really loved. Similarly, Shug was in an uncomfortable position with her father ever since she broke away from her family and went into the music industry. The situation was not as severe as Celie and Albert, but Shug’s father refused to speak to her and accept her back into his life. The only thing Celie and Shug really want is to be loved, and towards the end of the film,…
Similar to Celie, Sophia lived her younger years being mistreated by men except she promised herself she was not going to allow her husband to treat her the same. When meeting Harpo, she knew he was the man she was going to marry because he treated her with the respect she desired. They lived happily for a while until Harpo couldn’t stand the fact of always being pushed around by Sophia, so he asked Celie for advice. There is irony in Celie’s response because she tells Harpo to beat Sophia, which is strange seeing how Celie advises him to do the same actions that Albert does to her. This may be because Celie does not want to be the only woman mistreated in the family and she is jealous of Harpo and Sophia’s relationship. However, Harpo beating Sophia does not have the same effect as Albert beating Celie does. Unlike Celie, Sophia will not tolerate her husband beating her, so she simply leaves Harpo, taking their kids with her. They are separated for many years, but decades later, Harpo and Sophia meet again, rekindling the feelings they once had for one another. It seems as though they gradually make peace with the conflicts from the past, and realize that what truly matters is their love for each other, which makes them both undeniably…
