By Alicia Britton

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS PRESENTATION

THE COLOR PURPLE BY ALICE WALKER

&BELOVED BY TONI

MORRISON

My thesis…

• Although the novels take place at different times and in different locations, it’s easy to find similarities in them. • I believe these novels were grouped together because they share similar themes and the characters go through somewhat similar situations.

The Color Purple Theme

• A major theme is female relationships and the role they play in the character’s lives.• Example:

• Celie and Shug: Shug helps Celie to gain the courage she needs to stand up to her husband, Mr., and helps her to realize her sexuality. Celie takes Shug in when she is sick and helps her get her life on track.

Celie and Shug from the movie

version of The Color Purple.

http://www.glogster.com/maggiefosberry/the-color-purple/g-6lkgr590jvuqb0pgqvtppa0

How is that relevant in Beloved?

• Female relationships are represented through Sethe and her daughters, Denver and Beloved.• Examples:• Sethe wants to protect her children so badly she feels the only way

to do so is to kill them. She kills Beloved, but the rest of her children survive.

• When Denver realizes Beloved is her sister, she tries desperately to keep her around.

Denver, Sethe, and Beloved from

the movie version of Beloved http://mubi.com/films/beloved

Beloved Theme

• A major theme is what slavery does to someone in terms of how they see themselves and the emotional effect it has on them.• Example:• Paul D becomes so emotionally stunted he suppresses all his

feelings and keeps them locked in his heart, which he refers to as a rusted tobacco tin.

Paul D and Sethehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/290715.stm

How is that relevant in The Color Purple?

• None of the characters were actually slaves.• Celie feels like a slave to Mr.• Example: On the day she marries Mr., Celie is made to clean herself

up after she gets a rock thrown at her head, cook dinner for Mr. and his children, and try to comb the knots out of her new daughters’ hair.

Celie and Mr.http://brotherpeacemaker.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/the-color-purple-black-and-blue/

Background on The Color Purple

• Many similarities with Walker’s life• She was born in Georgia which is where the story takes place

• She went to Uganda as an exchange student, Nettie goes to Africa to do missionary work

• Her parents were sharecroppers, their experiences influenced her work

• Published in 1982• After the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which Walker was

involved in

• After the women’s movement and gay rights activism of the 1970s

• All three of these topics come up in the novel, so it’s safe to assume that Walker was influenced by them (or at least knew about them) in some way

Background on Beloved

• Set during Reconstruction period after Civil War• During this time many slaves were gaining freedom and

former slaves were struggling to create lives for themselves.

• Sethe is based on a real person• Morrison based Sethe on Margaret Garner, an escaped slave.• Sethe and Garner share two important things: they both

escaped slavery in the same way and they both killed one of their children.

How do these novels “hack” literature?

• My definition of hacking is taking an idea or theme that is common and turning it into something else or showing another side of it.• The Color Purple• Walker takes the idea of a female relationship making

someone stronger and twists it by making Celie and Shug’s relationship sexual.• Walker could have easily gone a different route with the story,

but it wouldn’t have had the same effect.

• Beloved• Morrison takes the idea of a woman trying to protect her

children to the extreme.• What makes Sethe’s situation even more unexpected is that

it’s based on a real person.