The Color Purple and The Keepers of the House

E. The Color Purple and The Keepers of the House

On analyzing the whole content of the story, it will be important to also include the summary of both literary works used in the analysis.

successful novel and it received Pulitzer Prize in 1985. This novel receives a lot of praise and in the same time, criticism for its controversial theme. One reason is how Alice Walker's depiction of negative black males in the novel; makes it as if black man hater novel. While others criticized the way she portrays black males, many praised her for her powerful portraits of black women. According to a review in http://www.novelexplorer.com/ , ―reviewers praised her for her use of the epistolary form, in which written correspondence between characters comprises the content of the book, and her ability to use black folk English‖ (1999, para. 1). In the novel Alice Walker focuses how black women suffer from double discrimination, the white community and from black males.

The Color Purple focuses on the story of Celie, made on letter style —a letter Celie wrote for God. She starts writing her letter to God because she is abused sexually and physically by her own father, and she can not tell anybody about this. She has two kids from her own father, a girl and a boy, whom she never meets after she gives birth to them. After her mother passes away, her father —Alphonso— remarries, but he keeps abusing Celie. One day, a man (commonly mentioned as Mr. ___) wants to marry Nettie, but Alphonso rejects Mr. ___ and offers Celie as his bride. Mr. ____ agrees to marry Celie where she actually becomes a servant, rather than being a wife, for her new husband and kids. Later in the story Celie meets Shug Avery —a blues singer—and they become friends. She also meets Sofia, Harpo's wife, The Color Purple focuses on the story of Celie, made on letter style —a letter Celie wrote for God. She starts writing her letter to God because she is abused sexually and physically by her own father, and she can not tell anybody about this. She has two kids from her own father, a girl and a boy, whom she never meets after she gives birth to them. After her mother passes away, her father —Alphonso— remarries, but he keeps abusing Celie. One day, a man (commonly mentioned as Mr. ___) wants to marry Nettie, but Alphonso rejects Mr. ___ and offers Celie as his bride. Mr. ____ agrees to marry Celie where she actually becomes a servant, rather than being a wife, for her new husband and kids. Later in the story Celie meets Shug Avery —a blues singer—and they become friends. She also meets Sofia, Harpo's wife,

2. The Keepers of the House

The Keepers of the House is Shirley Ann Grau's fourth novel and receives a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for Fiction. This novel is accounted as Grau's best work to date. The story focuses on the Howlands, mainly on Will and Abigail. Abigail is the main narrator of the novel and the focus on the fourth chapter. The first chapter is the prolog from Abigail Howland —Will Howland‘s granddaughter. The second chapter tells about the life of Will Howland, from his youth until he goes back to Madison City bringing a wife with him. His wife passes away not long after she gives birth to Abigail. When his daughter gets married to an Englishman and moves away from the Howlands Estate, Will goes to his adventure where he coincidentally meets Margaret Carmichael.

The third part focuses on Margaret ‘s life which tells her historical background. She lives with her grandfather after her mother left her. She is a mulatto, and never feels fit upon living within her own family. Not once she hopes that her white blood will show someday, which never happens. After the death of her grandmother, she is sure that she is a white woman, saying that she buries her black blood along with her grandmother. When she is given the chance to work at the Howland Estate, she immediately leaves her home to work there. Upon arriving at the Howland Estate, she feels that she is familiar with the house. The chapter ends at the point where Margaret

and her mother come to stay at her grandfather ‘s house. She is aware of the black woman as the housekeeper and she sees the intimacy in their relationship. She also realizes that Margaret ‘s children are also her grandfather‘s. Unknowingly, Will marries Margaret —the African American housekeeper. At that time interracial marriage is prohibited in some Southern countries, and they go to Cleveland to legalize the marriage. When the news reaches the press, this angers the people of Madison City and ruins John Tolliver ‘s—Abigail‘s husband—political career and his marriage. The rage of the townspeople makes them attack the Howland estate, although it is long after the death of Will and Margaret. Abigail succeeds on defending her land, and she decides to avenge on what the townspeople have done to her family.

This novel brings out the racism issue in the South, which at that time being the most crucial issue. Grau writes about the racist Southerners, which is in the novel portrayed as John Tolliver who is a racist and mostly gives a racist speech against the blacks.