The color of purple

A dictionary defines purple as “any of a group of colors with a hue between that of violet and red” and as a “symbol of royalty or high office.” Historically, the color purple has been associated with royalty and power. At the beginning of the book, you could say that Celie has no sense of the color purple. She has such a horrible life, she’s not stopping to smell the roses, she’s just surviving. By surviving, we mean, she’s practically dead emotionally, but is physically alive. At first I thought the color purple was merely another way to refer to people that were of African American descent, but there is much more to Walker’s title. The actual color purple is a powerful color that was rare throughout history. It was the color of royalty. I believe this color can relate to the way that Celie portrays herself. She is treated as the opposite of royalty and needs to find the color of purple within herself.