Different Colors in the Color Purple

  14 October 2017

Different Colors

Alice Walker uses colors as a significant representation of self in many characters. Colors are used to depict individualism, empowerment, and even the struggles of race. Every female character uses colors to empower themselves. The colors Celie associates with herself and others reflect Celie’s development as an individual. As Celie begins to develop into a more independent and individual person, the colors she notices become more bright and frequent. Through colors, Celie is able to express herself, her sexuality, and her battle for self-acceptance and happiness. 

When Celie is first married off to Mr., his control over her, and her lack of joy from the situation, is depicted by his restrictions on her clothing choices. When Mr.”s cousin, Katie, comes to visit she takes Celie shopping for new clothes. By saying, “She need clothes?” (21), Mr. is acting as though Celie is less than a person. When Katie convinces Mr. to buy Celie new clothes, Celie is restricted to gloomy colors. When Celie asks for purple or red, Katie tells Celie, “Naw, he won’t want to pay for red. Too happy lookin. We got choice of brown, maroon or navy blue.” (22) Celie picks blue, a color representing sadness. Mr. is preventing Celie from choosing colors that show joy, or confidence, representing how he keeps her from happiness in life. 

In contrast to Mr., Shug enables Celie to find joy and individualism. When Celie is with Shug, she dresses in brighter, happier colors. In these clothes, Celie is able to feel like her real self, and gain the confidence to appreciate herself. When describing herself in these new clothes, Celie says she, ““feels different. Look different. Got on some dark blue pants and a white silk shirt that look righteous. Little red flat-heel slippers, and a flower in my hair.” I pass Mr. _____ house and him sitting up on the porch and he didn’t even know who I was.”(224) Her clothing represents how she has grown into her own person, different than who she was with Mr.. Through the colors of her clothing, Celie is able to express not only her new self but her newfound love.  “So me and Shug dress up in our new blue flower pants that match and big floppy Easter hats that match too, cept her roses red, mine yellow”(246) By dressing alike, Celie and Shug are expressing a newfound, mutual love for each other. 

Through her relationship with Shug, Celie is able to learn to be more independent. She expresses her independence with the colors she uses to decorate her own room.“Everything in [Celie’s] room purple and red cept the floor, that painted bright yellow.” (262) The purple represents the growth Celie has had based on the influences of other people. Celie was able to blend features of other characters’ personalities with her own in order to create a newer version of herself. She blends the strength of Sofia and the confidence of Shug with her own personality, and this is represented by the color purple in her bedroom. The red represents Celie’s finally achieved happiness. When she was held back by Mr., she was unable to wear red because it was too happy of a color. Now that she has gained independence, she is able to find happiness.

Celie is able to express her views of others through colors as well. With each pair of pants, Celie dissects her views of the person the pants are made for. Celie spends countless hours dreaming up the perfect pair of pants to represent each character. The color of the pants is something Celie takes into careful consideration when making them for each person. For Sofia, “One leg be purple, one leg be red. I dream Sofia wearing these pants, one day she was jumping over the moon.” (223) She sees Sofia in bold colors that represent Sofia’s bold personality and strength of character. In this, Celie is able to express what she feels she’s gained from Sofia. For Shug's pants, Celie depicts Shug’s confidence and sexuality by making them with a feminine cut and “dark blue jersey with teeny patches of red.” (219) The red represents the confidence Shug has and has shown Celie. 

The colors Celie identifies with herself become more bold and joyful as she develops. The contrast between the colors Celie wears while restricted by Mr. and while on her own depicts how she evolved into an independent, confident person. She is able to express her personality and growth through the color of the clothes she wears and surrounds herself with. Celie is able to express herself with colors in a multitude of ways. Through the color of the pants she makes, Celie is able to express her views of other people, and what she has gained from them. Celie’s growth as an individual is largely represented by the colors she acknowledges.