Chapter One Comparative Study on Gender Issues in the Two Texts of The Color Purple
1.1 Consistency in Gender Issues in the Two Texts
1.1.1 Depiction of Patriarchal Oppression
Through employing different artistic techniques, both the novel and the cinematic version fully reflect the inhumanity and mercilessness of the patriarchal oppression.
In the novel, Alice Walker intensely criticizes the oppressive patriarchy through depicting many male characters including Alphonso, Mr._, Harpo and the men in Olinkaland.
Alphonso, Celie’s stepfather, regards women just as the tool satisfying his sexual desire. He changes his sexual partner repeatedly and shows no respect for any of them. Alphonso asks his wife, Celie’s mother, to have sex with him many times when she is in bad health. Being refused by his wife, Alphonso turns to force Celie to do the thing what her mother could no longer do when Celie is just fourteen years old. Alphonso rapes Celie repeatedly to seek fulfillment of his own sexual desire without any consideration of the dreadful effect it would have on Celie. His sexual abuse is so harmful to Celie that she loses chance to get pregnant any more. Celie is quite naive at that time and she can not even completely understand what happened to her. “A girl at church say you git big if you bleed every month. I don’t bleed no more” (Walker 2003:5). Celie’s innocent words contrasts sharply with the cruelty of Alphonso. However, Alphonso never feels regretful about his maltreatment to Celie. On the contrary, he continues to show his patriarchal power as he likes. When he introduces Celie to Mr._, Alphonso says “God done fixed her. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain’t gonna make you feed it or clothe it” (Walker 2003:8). In Alphonso’s eyes, Celie is just the tool to meet male’s needs and her value just depends on whether she can fulfill male’s requirements. Having caused Celie’s physical and mental suffering, Alphonso turns to be interested in Celie’s sister, Nettie. In order to get rid of Alphonso, Nettie has to escape from home and starts to fight for life at a very young age. Many years later, Celie visits her stepfather, Alphonso and finds that he has just married Daisy as his new wife and when Celie asks the reason why his ex-wife leaves, Alphonso laughs and says “Got too old for me” (Walker 2003:182). Judging from what he has done these years, Alphonso remains extremely selfish and to him woman is just the tool for sex.
1.2 Inconsistency in Gender Issues in the Two Texts
Although both the printed text and the cinematic text show the ruthlessness of the patriarchal oppression and women’s rebellious spirit against the patriarchy, there still exists a big difference between these two versions on gender issues. In the novel, Alice Walker advocates gender equality and the harmony between men and women. Spielberg’s version, however, tries to deny the possibility of realizing the real sexual equality and gender harmony.
In the novel, after Celie leaves home, Mr._ starts to collect shells, which symbolizes listening. “He collect shells. All kinds of shells. Tarrapin, snail and all kinds of shells from the sea.” (Walker 2003:257) Various kinds of shells indicate that Mr._ pays more attention to listen to different voice. In the past, as an archetypal patriarch, Mr._ looks down on women and seldom cares about their words and thoughts. When Sofia declares that her baby’s father is Harpo, Mr._ doesn’t trust her and says: “Young womens no good these days ... Got they legs open to every Tom, Dick and Harry” (Walker 2003:31). When Shug asks Mr.__ not to beat Celie any more, Mr._ Says to Shug: “You don't love old dumb Celie... She ugly and skinny and can’t hold a candle to you. She can’t even screw” (Walker 2003:275). From the letters Celie writes to Nettie, we know that Mr._’s remarks about Celie are pure nonsense and his words can show his self-righteousness and prejudice. Mr._, however, changes a lot after Celie leaves him. He tries to listen to women and communicate with women sincerely. The shells attract Celie to enter Mr._’s room again. “Matter of fact, that’s how he got me up to the house again. He was telling Sofia bout some new shell he had that made a loud sea sound when you put it to your ear. Us went up to see it” (Walker 2003:257). The shells manifest a fact that Mr._ would like to listen. When Mr._ knows that Celie regards males as frogs, he carves a little purple frog for her. This purple frog reveals that Mr_ starts to care about Celie’s thoughts and feelings.
Chapter Two Comparative Study on Religious Views in the Two Texts of The Color Purple
2.1 Consistency in Religious Views in the Two Texts
Both of the novel and the movie adaption of The Color Purple have the scenes which can show the characters’ great piety towards Christianity.
In the novel, Celie is a very devout Christian at first and writing letters to God is her vital spiritual sustenance. Because of godliness, Celie chooses every word she writes to God very carefully. In the first letter, Celie crosses off “I am” and changes it into “I have always been” because Celie can not make sure that whether she still can be regarded as a good girl after having been maliciously maltreated by his stepfather. The selection of words and tenses can clearly show that Celie has great piety towards Christianity.
When Celie gives birth to her first child, she tells her mother that her daughter’s father is God, because Celie “don’t know no other man or what else to say”. Celie relies on God deeply and she nearly rests all her faith in God and Christianity. The marriage between Mr._ and Celie is a total tragedy to the latter and Celie has to live under Mr._’s cruel patriarchal oppression. Celie, however, never loses hope for life, because she believes “long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along” (Walker 2003:18) and “This life soon be over,...,Heaven last all ways”.
What’s more, Celie often helps preacher do chores in the church. “I do a right smart for the preacher. Clean the floor and windows, make the wine, wash the alter linen. Make sure there's wood for the stove in wintertime” (Walker 2003:43). Celie’s attitude of devotion is highly appreciated by the preacher and he says to Celie, “You faithful as the day is long” (Walker 2003:43).
2.2 Inconsistency in Religious Views in the Two Texts
Although both the novel and the cinematic version show the scenes revealing the characters’ Christian faith, these two versions express different attitudes towards the Christian culture. In the novel, inspired by Shug, Celie changes from a devout Christian to a pantheist. Nettie also starts to doubt her belief in Christianity after leaving Africa.Both Shug and Sofia in the novel treat Christianity with indifference. The cinematic version, however, does not show the negative attitude towards Christianity expressed by Alice Walker in the book. Instead, all of the characters in the movie are almost faithful Christians and never change their religious view. What’s more, the director even changes and adds many contents to highlight the Christian culture.
2.2.1 Celie’s Religious View
Unlike Celie in the cinematic version who sticks to her Christian faith, Celie in the novel changes her religious view. With the self-consciousness awakening, Celie becomes not as faithful to Christianity as she used to be. When she realizes that it is Mr._ who has hidden her letters from Nettie for so many years, which makes her live in hopelessness and loneliness, Celies turns to be extremely indignant and claims to kill Mr._. In order to prevent Celie from executing her crazy plan, Shug tries to persuade her with the quote from the Christian Bible, that is, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” (Walker 2003:144). The Christ’s warning, however, can not help to change Celie’s mind this time. Celie says to Shug: “But Mr._ not Christ. I’m not Chirst”. Celie’s disobedience to Christian doctrine reveals that the cruel reality has made her less pious Christian.
Chapter Three Comparative Study on the Black Culture in the Two Texts of The Color Purple ............. 43
3.1 Consistency in the Black Culture in the Two Texts .............. 43
3.2 Inconsistency in the Black Culture in the Two Texts ................. 43
3.2.1 Patchwork Quilt-making ............. 44
Conclusion ........................ 54
Chapter Three Comparative Study on the Black Culture in the Two Texts of The Color Purple
3.1 Consistency in the Black Culture in the Two Texts
The elements of African culture can be found both in the cinematic version and the novel, such as scarification ritual, black English, Blues and so on. The scarification ritual appears in both versions. Many characters in the two versions speak in black English. They frequently use the double negation constructions which is a distinguishing characteristic of black English. In the cinematic version, for example, when Mr._ decides to expel Nettie from his house, he yells at Nettie: “You ain’t never coming back here!”. In the first letter Celie writes to God in the novel, when she expresses her misery of being raped by Alphonso, Celie says “I don’t never git used to it” (Walker 2003:1). Besides, blues as an important feature of African culture, recurs in both versions. Shug shows her charm as an excellent blues singer in these two versions.
What’s more, both the novel and the film unfold the beautiful landscape in Africa. With some fascinating shots, the Spielberg’s version shows the charming giraffes, beautiful zebras and vast plain in Africa. Through Nettie’s letters to Celie in the novel, readers can also enjoy the great scenery in Africa.
Conclusion
Alice Walker advocates gender harmony, expresses her religious view and shows the profound meaning of African culture in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple. Although the movie adaption of The Color Purple seems to be loyal to the original book, the cinematic version does not really convey the key idea Alice Walker tries to express in the novel. The reason why Spielberg’s version differs from the novel in many aspects is not because movie and novel belong to different art forms. Most of the contents of the novel which are not offensive to the westerners have been presented in the cinematic text successfully, which proves that Spielberg, as a talented director, has the ability to show what Alice Walker wants to express in the novel. The true cause of these differences between the two versions is that the main movie-goers in the western society are white males, the cinematic version must ensure that the contents in the movie will not discomfort them. For the sake of box-office success, the cinematic version chooses to cater to the mainstream audience, when there are conflicts between the audience’s value system and the author’s real intention.
In the aspect of gender issues, although both the printed and the cinematic version fully reveal the ruthlessness of the patriarchal oppression and show the women’s rebellious spirit against the patriarchy, there still exists a considerable difference between these two versions. In the novel, with her thoughts of womanism, Alice Walker tries to resolve the conflicts between the sexes with the view to advocate gender reconciliation and the harmonious coexistence of women and men. Spielberg’s version, however, gives a negative response to the gender reconciliation. Influenced by the Women Rights’ Movement, the scenes reflecting the inhumanity of the patriarchal oppression and women’s rebellious spirit against patriarchy are still in acceptable range and will not be offensive to white males.
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