In contrast, Samuel loves his wife and children and vows to take care of them and be faithful to them. He ends up falling in love with Nettie after his wife dies, and they are completely in love. The novel also exemplifies Odessa's husband, Jack, as someone who treated his wife and children with love and respect. The novel paints a gruesome picture of many African American men in this time period; however, I found it interesting to note it shows both types of men in this novel--not merely the terrible ones. It also shows how people can change; for example, Mr. _______, who we learn is Albert, ends up being a decent man in the end.
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Men in this novel 6
The first example of a male figure in this novel is Celie's "father," and his character and integrity are immediately shown through his actions. He mistreats his children, rapes his daughters, and attempts to marry his daughters off for his own selfish purposes. When Celie is married to Mr. ______, he mistreats her-- verbally and physically abusing her. His son, Harpo, has a horrible example to live by watching his father, and attempts to treat his wife the same way, before feisty and spirited Sofia leaves him. Shug's husband, Grady, is unfaithful and ends up leaving Shug (which she was ultimately happy about) with Harpo's girlfriend, Mary Agnes.
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I found the book to be very cyclical. Resolving. Along the same lines of Mr. ______, we see him the same as Celie's father. He is cruel, harsh, unloving and hateful to everyone but himself. In the end, he changes into a clean, caring man. It was almost too late for restitution between he and Celie. Celie began as a submissive little girl who never fought back. With the help of Shug, she turned into a woman of power, fearless and independent. Mr._____ tells Celie toward the end of the book that she looks great. Different. But I wonder if she really changed that much outwardly. Perhaps the true change was that he was actually seeing her for the first time. He finally had eyes for others rather than himself.
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