Alice Walker s The Color Purple - 1460 Words

Elements of Alice Walker’s Life Portrayed in The Color Purple An artist stands in the studio before a blank canvas on an easel, with a palette of colors in hand. Not knowing which to choose from, the artist looks over the variety of shades thinking about the different possibilities, willing to create something extraordinary. With an open mind, the artist ponders the idea of creating something entirely original that goes against the artistic styles practiced before. All on his own Pablo Picasso created a different style of art, and practiced painting things his own way. He believed in redefining and reinventing past techniques in order to make them more original; no matter what the preconceived notion society had at the time of what style†¦show more content†¦She was born in 1944, the youngest out of eight siblings in the small town of Eaton, Georgia. According to White, when Alice Walker was eight years old, she was shot in the eye with a BB gun. It caused scar tissue that was eventually removed after six years once it happened, but this traumatic experience caused her to feel a great deal of insecurity about her identity as well as embarrassment from when her classmates used to tease her (40). Even though at the time she perceived the accident as a negative and harrowing experience, had it not happened, Walker may not have realized or developed her love of writing stories. The disfigurement of her eye after the accident scarred her both physically as well as emotionally and in order to cope with the damage, writing stories became a way she could express herself for an emotional release (Ross 475). Alice Walker characterizes the main character Celie in The Color Purple as a male-dominated and abused woman that struggles with feelings of insecurity and pain. Therefore, when Walker was creating the characterization of Celie, it is evident that she was influenced by that personal experience. Evelyn C. White quotes Alice Walker when she reveals â€Å"The unhappy truth is that I was left feeling a great deal of pain and loss and forced to think I had somehow brought it on myself.† Celie tells her story through the letters she writes to God and her sister Nettie. In love and