Monday, April 18, 2011
Sexuality 8
I found the aspect of sexuality to be sad and twisted in this novel. The ideas of rape, incest, lesbian sexual relationships, infidelity and fornication to be openly displayed and written about. The main character, Celie is on one side of the spectrum, while it seems Nettie is on the opposite. In some ways, it seems Nettie was shielded from a lot of the crap Celie experienced as a young girl. She even escaped being married into a loveless relationship, when Mr. _______ already had a significant amount of children she would have been expected to raise and care for. Celie tells Harpo: "Mr. ______ marry me to take care of his children. I marry him cause my daddy made me. I don't love Mr. _____ and he don't love me." Celie lost her innocence from a young age, when her stepfather raped her, lied about it to her mother, and took her children once she gave birth. Since she was a young girl, Celie's view of sex was tainted and corrupted by the acts of her stepfather. She found little to no enjoyment and no love, thus, she was scarred by men. She was again taken advantage of by her own husband, Albert, who barely saw her, except for how she could be useful to him. The only love Celie feels is the love she has for her sister Nettie, and the love she begins to feel for Shug-- both are obviously, women. Celie tells Sophia, "Mr. _______ clam on top of me, do his business, in ten minutes us both sleep. Only time I feel something stirring down there is when I think bout Shug...You know the worst part? The worst part is I don't think he notice. he git up there and enjoy himself just the same. No matter what I'm thinking. No matter what I feel. It just him. Heartfeeling don't even seem to enter into it. The fact he can do it like that make me want to kill him." Sadly, Celie's feelings connected to men and sexuality have always been negative and painful, and she becomes completely numb to it eventually.
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I think that Celie chooses her lesbian relationship with Shug simply because no man has ever treated her with anything resembling kindness. As far as Celie is concerned, men only want to make women work for them, take care of the children, and have sex with them, whether the woman wants to or not. This treatment makes it easy for Celie to justify her relationship with Shug; why should she be with a man who rapes her when there's a woman who treats her like an equal and with kindness? So yes, Celie's sexuality is twisted, but I can see why.
ReplyDeletei definitely agree with kristen.. i a mean look at what she has went through? i believe that people will go to where they receive love. it is sad that she had to go through this and it isnt fair but i would say that there is a definite reason why she is a lesbian. i think it adds to the book instead of taking away because its real life. so many people do this all the time when they dont get the love that we were meant to have
ReplyDeleteI agree as well....after aall the horribles things she had to deal with when it comes to men I can see why she had that type of relationship with Shug. I don't think it was OK, but as twisted as it was it helped to heal her from her past.
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