37 order to see how Celie rebels against society, it is necessary to understand what
kind of expectations society wants from Celie. To understand society‘s expectations during Celie‘s time, an analysis of society during Celie‘s time is
needed. The analysis of society during Celie‘s time is done using Walby‘s
description of patriarchy.
1. Society’s Expectation
Walby‘s description of patriarchy in her book Theorizing Patriarchy 1991 describes six aspects of society where signs of patriarchy can be found
– paid employment, household production, culture, sexuality, violence, and state.
This section will describe only two aspects in Celie‘s society – culture and violence
– due to the fact that only those two aspects are explicitly mentioned in the novel.
a. Culture Society expects Celie to be dependent of her husband and to dedicate her
time for her family only. If looked thoroughly, readers of The Color Purple can see the signs of Celie dedicating her entire time to Mr. ____ and his children.
Throughout the novel, Celie spends most of her time in the house, taking care of the children‘s needs p. 12. Celie is also the one who helps Harpo at solving his
problem with his wife instead of Mr. ___ p. 36 – 37. When Avery Shug arrives
home , Celie becomes Avery Shug‘s caretaker. In fact, most of the events Celie
goes through happens in her house, showing the fact that Celie barely steps out from the house unless there are urgent needs.
38 Those who are around Celie regard such thing as normal. This can be seen
with Kate‘s reaction when she visits Mr. ___. Kate, Mr. ___‘s sister, claims that a married woman should be able to keep a house clean all the time, along with a
clean family p. 20. Such tasks can be easy or hard depending on the person, but those tasks cannot undeniably be done in a short amount of time and requires hard
work from the person. Celie does everything but never says a thing about it. A wife is supposed to obey the husband, jus
t like Harpo‘s complaint when Sofie refuses to listen to him: ―…The wife spose to mind‖ p. 64.
Though Celie‘s society looks like a normal society, it is in accordance with Walby‘s description of patriarchal society through the lens of culture. Walby
claims that the ideal description of feminine ladies in the middle class is about those who are willing to dedicate their entire time to the family without
complaining self-sacrifice. Women are also defined as feminine ladies if they have the tendency to be dependent on their husbands Walby 1991, p. 104.
From the evidence given above, it can be seen that society expects the wives to be obedient to their husbands. Hippo‘s statement p. 64 is a proof of
such culture. Moreover, women are expected to stay at home all the time and to do all the household chores. This can be seen from Kate‘s statement about married
women p. 20 and Celie‘s role as Avery Shug‘s caretaker and the problem-solver
of the house. Women are supposed to be obedient wives whose role is only related to home and household chores.
b. Violence PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
39 In The Color Purple, Celie goes through lots of violent moments, and she
accepts those moments without any retort. The earliest violence Celie has experienced is done by her father when his father has sexually assaulted her,
which results in both of her pregnancies p. 1. Another indication of violence Celie goes through can be seen in an accident where Harpo asks Mr. ____ why he
beats Celie. Mr. ____ retorts that he beats her because Celie is his wife and that she is stubborn p. 23. He continues by saying that ―all women are good for –
― p. 23 then stops talking right away, showing how little the value Celie and women are in his eyes.
According to Walby 1991, male violence is a normal occurrence for some society. She states that violence done by men is something that is common, and
such thing is another symbol of male dominance p. 143. From the evidence given, it can be concluded that violence is a normal thing from the society in this
novel, and women are expected to receive it. Hippo nonchalantly asks the reason why Mr. ___ beats Celie is an indication that Mr. ____ beats Celie regularly. Mr.
___‘s answer for Harpo‘s question p. 23 shows that women are treated below men. Moreover,
Hippo follows his father‘s footsteps and tries to beat Sophie pp. 62
– 64, showing the fact that violence is a tradition passed along in the family. From this, it can be seen that violence is a normal thing, and women are expected
to receive it. There are also parts of the story describing how the men dominate the
women. Although there are not blatantly said by the men in The Color Purple, men
‘s superiority can be seen through their words, actions, gestures, and voiced PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
40 opinions regarding women. Women are only allowed to do house works, and they
are supposed to respect men no matter how the men are, or else something bad will befall women. After all, Harpo claims
that ―it is bad luck for women to laugh at men.‖ p. 203
2. Celie’s Rebellion against Society through Lesbian-Feminism
This sub- section focuses on how Celie rebels against society‘s
expectations to obey her husband through her relationship with Avery Shug. Based on
Camus‘ definition of rebellion and its basic requirements – rejection of oppression, solidarity, primacy of concrete relationship, and valuing of imminence
– listed by Bartlett 2004 in her book, it is possible to dig up the relationship between Avery Shug and Celie as a basis
of Celie‘s rebellion against society. Most of Celie‘s acts of rebellion are done implicitly through her actions, thoughts,
and speech, but they are remarkable enough to make big changes in her life. Her relationship with Avery Shug plays a big role as her relationship with Avery Shug
is what p ushes Celie to rebel against society‘s expectations. This section lists four
things which contribute to Celie‘s rebellion and how Celie‘s relationship with Avery Shug plays a big role in those four things.
1 Rejecting of Oppression and Affirmation of Human Dignity Celie has been oppressed by men all her life, but the arrival of Avery Shug
changes it all. Mr. ___ gives her less domestic abuses ever since Avery arrives, and Avery teaches Celie how to slowly regain her love in humanity. Avery
becomes the turning point for Celie, as Celie is starting to explore new things because of Avery Shug. Moreover, Avery Shug is the reason for Celie to be able
