Alice Walker, The Color Purple

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The Color Purple

by Alice Walker was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in 1983 and two years later was the subject of Stephen Spielberg ‘s Oscar nominated film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. In 2005, the novel was transformed into a musical version that took Broadway by storm and introduced Walker's sympathetic main character, Celie, to yet another generation of fans.

Generally associated with the struggle of black women to gain self-respect and independence, the original novel was written in epistolary form and follows the protagonist, a woman named Celie, over a number of years that bring significant changes to her life. Although she experiences physical abuse and sexual violation at the hands of several male characters, Celie

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Citation: Meyer, Michael J.. "The Color Purple". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 October 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1237, accessed 25 November 2024.]

1237 The Color Purple 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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