The Colour Purple - Spirituality & Religion :: essays research papers

Alice pushchair states that The Colour purple remains for her the theological work examining the journey from the religious back to the weird. How successful is she in revealing her purpose to the reader?In the bring in to the Colour Purple Walker identifies her religious development as the ingestion for her novel and labels religion and otherworldliness as the principle themes in the book. on that point atomic number 18 a number of principle characters who complete this journey save in many instances the religious element of the novel is overshadowed by otherwise prominent themes such as personal development, female relationships and racial issues. These mustiness be taken into consideration when assessing Walkers success in delivering her theological message to her readers.Religion is an extremely broad term, in the context of The Colour Purple, Walkers idea of religion is church base Christianity in which God is presented through the bible as a vacuous man. Although the church is placed in a black community, the teachings of the church are derived from the teachings of white people. Celie discovers throughout the novel that she, like Shug, can not materialize God in this kind of church that is based on immemorial religion but searches for him elsewhere. Walkers personal concept of spirituality is pantheism, the idea that God is in all living things within nature including people. Celie learns from Shug and through her own development that God is within her and she benefits far to a greater extent from her own spirituality than from the structured religion within the community.Celie is not the yet character to undergo a change in her religious prospect and complete the journey from the religious to the spiritual. Nettie also is brought up as a devout believer in the Christian church until now throughout her time in Africa and with the help of the Olinka people she discovers a stark naked more internal form of religion similar to Celies tonic found spirituality. The journey from the religious back to the spiritual is reflected in the outdistance between the white missionaries in Britain and America and the African tribes. The missionaries represent the imposing white church and the Olinka fulfilling the idea of pantheist spirituality. This is a journey Nettie makes physically and spiritually. Shug and Mr.s views on religion also change during the novel, and as Walker intends, all make this journey with courage and the help of others.At the set out of the book Celie announces her dependence on God by recognising that she can break nobody but God about the abuse she is receiving from her stepfather.