Rhetorical Strategies

The Color Purple Blog Number One: Rhetorical Strategies• “My mama dead… She cuss at me. I’m big. I can’t move fast enough.”(2)• “She scared. But I say I’ll take care of you. With God help.”(3)• “She say Mr. But that ain’t my daddy name. Mr.? I say. Who he?”(13)Walker uses short, staccato sentences throughout the novel. They are used not to make specific points exactly, but to show Celie’s insecurities and her primitive thought processes. She does not want to formulate long thoughts or ideas. Celie says what is on the top of her mind and does not go into deep thought about it, even with things like her mother dieing or Mr. • “Dear God,”Walker starts most of Celie’s entries this way. It shows Celie’s belief in a god, but she does not go into detail about her religious beliefs. Many bad things happen to Celie and a belief in God could help her through these things. It does seem like; however, that she blindly follows religion by what she is told by society.

Syntax

The Color Purple Blog Number Three: Syntax• “Pa git up and follow ‘em. The rest of the week I vomit and dress wild game.”(10)• “I seen my baby girl. I knowed it was her.”(13)• “Your skin. Your hair. Your teefs. Everyday it something else to make miration over.”(17)Walker demonstrates the ignorance of the people of the 1930s South in the novel using syntax. The first quote used here shows Celie’s ignorance of grammar and of life and sex. She is referring to pregnancy in the quote. The way that the sentence is written, the reader can infer that Celie does not fully understand what is going on. It invokes a sad, sympathetic tone in the novel.The second quote once again uses poor sentence structure to demonstrate ignorance. However, Celie is sure about something. It shows some confidence and intelligence. The passage creates a hopeful, but once again sympathetic tone. The third quote uses poor syntax. This is an effective way for Walker to demonstrate ignorance. It can show poor education and a lower standard of living.

Text-To-Text Connection

The Color Purple Blog Number Four: Text ConnectionA text-to-text connection can be made between The Color Purple and the anonymously authored Go Ask Alice. This is the story of a young girl who starts using and is eventually destroyed by drugs. The reason I think of it is because it is about a young, troubled girl and written in diary form. The girl’s struggle with drugs could be compared to Celie’s struggle with the men in her life. It is written in common language, often using slang and poor grammar. However, in Alice, the main character dies in the end, while Celie does not. Before she dies, though, she feels like she has changed such that Celie did.

Personal Review

The Color Purple Blog Number Five: Personal Review This novel was really interesting. I haven’t read anything like it before. Its really like a normal AP lang. book that we would read because of the social importance and the rhetorical strategies and everything, but it feels modern and almost like a movie because of some of the content. Very raw… Some of the scenes depicted, with word choice and all, are not some that you would see in such a respected and culturally revered novel. The diary format is slightly unique, it is not completely unseen, but still more unseen than not. I liked that about the novel. I think that it made it an easier read and more interesting to follow. It also has the effect of portraying certain feelings of rawness (if that’s a word..) and also uncertain immaturity. A diary is something commonly thought of as a little girl’s and this is reflected in Celie’s character. The novel did get confusing sometimes, though; sometimes in what was trying to be said and sometimes in the actual plot. I feel like I would mix up the characters sometimes, especially the male characters. The omission of Mr.’s name was confusing and, I feel, gets in the way of the plot and the message of the novel. I think that it could have been just as effective if Walker had included a name.

Diction

The Color Purple Blog Number Two: Diction• “I am I have always been a good girl” (1)• “’What you setting here laughing like a fool fer?’”(15) “Who ain’t? I ast.”(14) “He walk stiff and say his teef hurt.”(35)• “Let’s make quilt pieces out of these messed up curtains, she say… I sleeps like a baby now.”(40)The first quote is one of the first lines from the novel. It introduces the main character Celie. By crossing out “I am”, Walker demonstrates Celie’s uncertainties about life and about herself. Celie does not know what she is. This creates an uncertain or even uneasy tone in the beginning of the novel. The second group of quotes are from different places in the novel. The diction that Walker uses can demonstrate the people’s ignorance and poor education. The characters in the novel use slang and improper grammar. Walker shows the social conditions and the context of the novel when she writes these things into her novel. The third quote is perhaps the most thematic. The characters take something representing desolation and hardship, “messed up curtains”, and do something productive and pleasant with them, “make quilt pieces”. With the good that comes from the bad, Celie “sleeps like a baby”. The characters make a good thing from a bad thing, and use it to have better life. Walker is showing some hope in the characters. She makes a hopeful, if only slightly, tone.