FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND BUSINESS STUDIES

Department of Humanities

Transformative Lesbian Experiences in Alice

A Look at Celie’s Development

Ellen Bäckman

2023

Student thesis, Bachelor degree, 15 HE

Supervisor: Iulian Cananau

oppressed black woman living in the South in the United States in the early 1900s. Celie

is abused mentally, physically, and sexually by her stepfather Alphonso and her

husband Mr. _____. This is the oppression she has faced, which holds back her search

for her own identity. Black feminism, lesbian feminism and queer theory are explained

and used in order to understand how to analyze The Color Purple. Gender performance,

compulsory heterosexuality and lesbianism are all important concepts that are used to

analyze Celie’s oppression and development. This paper highlights the factors that have

aided Celie in her search for selfhood, which are motherhood, female solidarity, black

lesbian shamelessness and especially her lesbian relationship with the singer Shug. The

analysis concludes that Shug was both the catalyst and one of the driving forces which

enabled Celie to find her voice.

Keywords: The Color Purple, abuse, feminism, compulsory heterosexuality, lesbianism

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................1

2. Theory ...........................................................................................................................2

2.1 Feminism and Black Feminism ...............................................................................2

2.2 Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Motherhood ..........................................................4

2.3 Queer Theory and Lesbian Feminism ......................................................................5

2.4 Gender Performance ................................................................................................6

2.5 Heteronormativity, Compulsory Heterosexuality, and Lesbian Existence .............7

3. Analysis .........................................................................................................................9

3.1 Motherhood ..............................................................................................................9

3.2 Female Relationships and Solidarity .....................................................................12

3.3 Lesbianism and Shamelessness..............................................................................16

3.4 Shug and Celie’s Relationship as a Transformative Safe Haven ..........................20

4. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................24

Works cited ....................................................................................................................26

that has the development of selfhood and sexual awakening as its core themes (211).

The book follows the main character Celie through her life in the form of diary entries.

From a young age, Celie is abused by her stepfather, and she is then forced to marry

Albert, who she initially refers to as Mr. _____. He also subjects Celie to domestic

violence, resembling the abuse she endured in the hands of her stepfather. Meanwhile,

her sister Nettie flees from their stepfather and does not see Celie again for another 30

years. She becomes a Christian missionary and travels to Africa. Moreover, Celie meets

Shug Avery who used to have a love affair with Mr. _____. Celie falls in love with

Shug and ends up becoming intimate with her. Shug helps Celie face difficult topics

such as God, the abuse she has faced and her own sexuality. There are many factors that

drive Celie’s development throughout the book, but the most prominent one is Shug

Avery and her intimate relationship with Celie. The aim of this paper is to show how the

lesbian experiences Celie gains from her time with Shug are the main driving force of

her transformation.

This will be achieved by using feminist theory, black feminist criticism and

queer theory with a focus on lesbianism. Peter Barry argues that feminist theory and

lesbian/gay theory have the same objective, but with feminist theory focusing on gender

while lesbian/gay theory focusing on sexual orientation (142). All of these theories and

criticisms intersect at various points, which may cause confusion when analysing a

literary work, but the most important thing is this essay’s aim of analyzing Celie’s

expression of lesbianism in the context of her being both black and a woman. The

concepts of abuse, female solidarity, race/gender, gender performance,

heteronormativity, compulsory heterosexuality and lesbian existence will be described

examine how motherhood can be used as a way to control women and how Celie was

forced to give away her children. This section will also discuss how much Celie’s

children mean to her and Shug’s longing for motherhood, as well as how lesbianism and

gender performance tie into motherhood. Secondly, female solidarity and relationships

will be discussed by examining Celie and Shug’s relationship and how queerness ties

into it. Thirdly, lesbianism and shamelessness will be discussed by looking at how

compulsory heterosexuality and abuse interact with these concepts in Celie’s situation.

Lastly, the analysis will describe how Celie and Shug’s lesbian relationship is the

catalyst and driving force of Celie’s transformation.

2. Theory

2.1 Feminism and Black Feminism

Feminism is a political belief that strives towards equality between all genders. This

political movement is closely intertwined, with feminist literary theory, as the

movement was literary from the beginning with female authors criticising the portrayal

of women in classical literature (Barry 123). Despite these steps toward equality, little

effort was made to examine black female literature, and especially black lesbian

literature in feminist journals (Christian 8-9). In The Cambridge Companion to Feminist

Literary Theory, edited by Ellen Rooney, Ann Ducille argues that during the anti-

slavery movement in the 1800’s, black slave women were often reduced to mere objects

or figures of speech by white anti-slavery feminist advocates (36, 38). Moreover, the

category ‘women’ is often reduced to what is the universal view, in which some people

unconsciously think of white women (Christian 29). Therefore, the issue with feminism

2
was that it was based on the experiences of white women and not women of color. It is

then possible to assume that a different kind of feminism was needed in order for black

women to claim their own identities, womanhood and humanity (Ducille 38).

Subsequently, Ducille writes that, according to the author Toni Cade, the new group of

white feminist experts could not account for the experiences of black women and

therefore black women had to develop their own instruments of expression (40). bell

hooks contributes to this idea by arguing that anti-racist ideas did not diminish or

overshadow the feminist movement because racism and sexism are connected to each

other and they should not be pitted against one another or dismiss racism as a

completely different issue (132).

Oppression based on gender identity can lead to the assumption that sexism

exists in a vacuum, away from other factors. hooks writes about this in her article

‘Sisterhood: Political Solidarity between Women’, arguing that ‘common oppression’ is

an alarming idea which claims that all women are oppressed on the grounds of them

having the same social identities, when in reality there are factors like race, sexuality

and class that divide women (127). The feminist movement becomes weakened if the

idea of solidarity and ‘Sisterhood’ is discarded but excluding a large number of other

women (women of color, lower-class women, non-hetero women) from the circle harms

the movement even more (hooks 127, 129). Inclusion within the movement is

important, but it is important overall for women to have a common goal and not look

down on each other for having different kinds of social identities.

In addition, it was claimed by the white feminist scholar Elizabeth Ammons that

black women were forced to focus on either race or gender when it came to their

oppression and that they ultimately chose to focus on eliminating racism first before

sexism (Ducille 35). But Ducille argues that the separation of race and gender is simply

3
not possible, especially for women of color, as those two concepts interact in a double

consciousness that cuts across both gender and racial identities (35-36). Due to a long

history of oppression, the call for women of color to separate their race and gender can

be seen as an inherently racist or sexist notion that divides the Sisterhood that has been

previously discussed. Historically, low-income and low-status black women have been

a part of the labor force (Varma 238). Rashmi Varma describes these women as being

seen as devious, promiscuous, emasculating matriarchs are therefore a threat to family

values by the media and the state (238). This notion intends to strip black women of

their gender identity and possibly their femininity as a whole.

2.2 Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Motherhood

In The Color Purple, the main character Celie has been abused by male figures, her

stepfather and her husband, throughout her entire life. Violence is used as a punishment

by some men towards women who are unable to meet physical, emotional, or sexual

expectations that are put on them (Anderson & Umberson 359). Gender performance is

also a factor that plays into women experiencing domestic violence because men and

women are constructing their gender identity within the normative framework of gender

as formed by society (Anderson & Umberson 359). Male power and privilege are

performed in such a way that it seems natural rather than constructed socially (Anderson

& Umberson 359). Judith Butler suggests that heterosexual male privilege is sustained

through gender, which is a part of a system and in turn attempts to erase alternative

identities, e.g. gay/lesbian identities (Anderson & Umberson 359).

Abuse can also take many different forms, like previously discussed.

Additionally, advice that was formerly given by male health professionals about

women’s health in the United States were rarely women- or even scientifically-oriented

4
(Rich 633-634). They have instead reflected different male needs like fantasies about

women or controlling women with the advice often directed towards women’s sexuality

and motherhood (Rich 634). In a sense, motherhood can historically be a way for a man

to control a woman in some instances. This is one of the pillars of male power that

Adrienne Rich borrowed from Kathleen Gough’s essay “The Origin of the Family” and

it described that men could demonstrate their power through controlling or robbing

women of their children and using them as if they were objects in male transactions

(638-639).

2.3 Queer Theory and Lesbian Feminism

Barry writes that queer theory’s main focus is sexuality and gender identity (141). In

turn, lesbian/gay theory revolves around making sexual orientation the object of

analysis (Barry 142). In contrast, Elizabeth Weed recognises the problem in which

gender and sex/sexuality is separated between feminist theory and queer theory

respectively (217-218). Another scholar who discusses this problem is Annamarie

Jagose, who writes about Gayle Rubin’s essay in which she explains that feminism is

not equipped to deal with theorizing about the oppression of sexuality, just because

feminism deals with gender oppression, does not mean it automatically can account for

the difference between gender and erotic desire (34-35).

Furthermore, lesbian feminism makes a similar claim to that of Black feminism,

that mainstream feminism solely focused on white, middle-class, heterosexual women

and therefore excluding large groups like non-white, poor and queer women (Barry

143). Barbara Smith made the claim that black feminist criticism should be used in

opposition to the “heterosexist” majority and in turn focus on lesbian readings (Ducille

43). Rich suggests that feminist theory which excludes the existence of lesbians is

5
opposing the empowerment and freedom of all women (647-648). Barry discusses the

essay ‘The woman identified woman’ by the Radicalesbian collective, which describes

how lesbianism is a key component in feminism because lesbianism decentralizes the

patriarchy by focusing on relationships between women, which in turn resists social

norms (144). Lesbian existence has throughout history been classified as a disease or

has been removed from history altogether which has supported the idea that women are

innately heterosexual (Rich 648). Moreover, throughout history lesbians have often

been reduced to being female variants of male homosexuality, without taking gender

nor sex into account (Rich 649). Lesbian readings of literature are therefore important in

order to showcase lesbianism’s impact on history and literature.

2.4 Gender Performance

Judith Butler writes in her essay ‘Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay

in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory’ that sex is purely biological and gender is the

cultural interpretation of a person’s assigned sex (522). She also argues that in order to

be seen as female, a woman must become one in order to be one, which means that sex

can both be an obstacle or a resource depending on the situation and what is expected

out of one’s gender performance (522). Through a traditional perspective, it can then be

assumed that motherhood represents a direct connection between reproductive organs

(sex) and cultural norms (gender) of a fertile woman. However, a woman can still be a

mother to a child that is not biologically hers. Indeed, one must become one’s gender,

which means that gender identity is an unstable identity as it relies on performing

stylized repetition of acts (Butler 519). Gender identity is then formed through

performing these acts which are related to a person’s sex, which in turn means that it is

not possible to make a distinction between the two in terms of cultural expectations

6
(Butler 523-524). Consequently, people who do not conform to gender performance are

often punished for their behavior (Butler 522). The performance of gender aims to

maintain the binary classifications of gender (Butler 526).

Sexuality is most definitely a part of gender performance. It can be assumed that

people who do not conform to the heterosexual norm are punished directly with

physical or mental abuse or indirectly by being shunned and forced to live as an outcast

to society. Punishments that are based on people’s gender and sexuality conformity are

still common all over the world, even in the West where The Color Purple takes place,

although it takes place in the early-mid 1900s. Judith Butler also writes in her book

Gender Trouble that the binary restrictions of sex is an attempt to maintain the aim of

compulsory heterosexuality for the sake of reproduction (26). Butler concludes that

there is nothing certain about the binary gender system because it is an innovative affair

even if there are harsh punishments that may be dished out if boundaries are

overstepped (531). This is because gender is something that people put on and is under

the constraint of both anxiety and pleasure, but this does not mean gender is naturally or

linguistically given (Butler 531).

2.5 Heteronormativity, Compulsory Heterosexuality, and Lesbian

Existence

The term ‘heteronormativity’ refers to heterosexuality being the norm when it comes to

sex, love, and the structure of a family. Adrienne Rich describes in her essay

“Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” that heteronormativity is

enforced by compulsory heterosexuality, in which it is assumed that women are innately

heterosexual and that this is reinforced by male power and the patriarchy (648, 640).

Women are led to believe that relationships with men are inevitable even when they are
7
abused or oppressed by the men that are close to them, which means that all women are,

to different degrees, victims of compulsory heterosexuality (Rich 640, 645). Some

examples of compulsions are the idealization of marriage and romance from a

heterosexual perspective and lesbian existence being eradicated from all kinds of art,

except for perverse and erotic mediums (Rich 640). As a result, compulsory

heterosexuality can be seen through the way pornography showcases how women are

inherently sexual beings and should be serving the man both emotionally and sexually,

which in turn makes women expendable (Rich 644). In regard to sex, some males may

feel the need to control women because only having access to women only on their

terms could be something that frightens them (Rich 643). Lesbian women who exist

outside of heterosexual relationships and marriage are the ultimate example of this

because males have no access to them as they are truly indifferent to them when it

comes to their sexual identity, but this means that the use of violence is men’s only

option in order to gain access to them. Lesbian existence therefore rejects compulsory

heterosexuality by removing men’s direct access to women (Rich 649). Rich (1980)

chooses to use the terms lesbian existence and lesbian continuum in order to remove the

clinical ring of the word lesbianism (648). By using these terms, it is possible to connect

women who reject heteronormativity in various degrees, like the communities of

women who rejected marriage or women who educated young girls, to the lesbian

continuum even if they do not identify as lesbians themselves (Rich 651). Women who

had difficult or abnormal childhoods may feel the need to enter a heterosexual

relationship and get married in order to feel “normal” and because marriage is often

represented as the one thing that will bring them fulfilment in life (Rich 654). However,

the pressure of marriage and starting a family is something that concerns many people,

regardless of gender, as it contributes to the societal norms of reproduction.

8
3. Analysis

3.1 Motherhood

“I perceive the lesbian experience as being, like motherhood, a profoundly female

experience” (Rich 650). This statement is accurate in a majority of cases, but there are

exceptions where female masculinity should be considered, as Jack Halberstam puts the

spotlight on lesbian butches who are females who express their gender in a masculine

way (Jagose 40). Traditionally, women have had a closer relationship to their children

as women have been seen as the caretaker of them, whereas men have been seen as the

provider of the family. This does not have to ring true in every case, but it is undeniable

that society has put the pressure on mothers to be devoted to their children from a

traditional standpoint. The Color Purple shows this as Celie is expected to take care of

Mr. _____’s children, but she also does a lot of work around the farm while Mr. _____

does not lift a finger to help her. As previously mentioned, women needed to work,

especially low-income and low-status black women, in order to make ends meet for

their families (Varma 238). In The Color Purple this labour is forced onto Celie, and it

is seen as something a woman is supposed to do, as Mr. _____ does not help Celie at

all. There is one instance in which Mr. _____ comes onto the field with Celie after she

has already been working out there for many hours and does three chops with a hoe

before going back to the house to sit on the porch. Celie comes after him and he tells

her: “... You better git back on the field. Don’t wait for me” (Walker 27). This is also a

mindset which Harpo has that shows the influence Mr. _____ has on him as a role

model. Mr. _____’s sister Kate tells Harpo to help Celie with bringing water in, and he

responds: “Women work. I’m a man” (Walker 22).

9
 As Rich has discussed, male power can be illustrated by how men can use their

power to rob women of their children in different ways, as well as using the women as

objects in transactions between males (639). The former is demonstrated when Pa takes

his and Celie’s children away from her and the latter is demonstrated when Pa makes

Celie marry Mr. ______. Mr. ______ makes her take care of his own children without

helping her at all. Celie recounts: “Mr. _____ marry me to take care of his children”.

Furthermore, she does not feel anything for them, especially in the beginning: “I be

good to them. But I don’t feel nothing for them. ... they don’t love me neither, no matter

how good I is” (Walker 30). This does not mean that having children is a negative

experience for Celie. She frequently longs to meet her two biological children, which is

expressed when she sees her daughter Olivia: “My heart say she mine” (Walker 15).

Celie lets her shameful feelings about her children’s conception reflect into her thoughts

about them, and even if she is still interested in what the children are like, she admits: “I

feels shame. More than love, to tell the truth” (Walker 133).

Bonnie Mann writes in her essay “The Lesbian June Cleaver: Heterosexism and

Lesbian Mothering” (2007) that feminists have attempted to show that motherhood has

been used to bind women to societal norms due to the natural factors of motherhood like

breastfeeding or the dependence an infant has on adults in order to survive (161). When

Celie’s stepfather is describing her to Mr. ______, he says: “She ugly. ... But she ain’t

no stranger to hard work. ... You can do everything just like you want to and she ain’t

gonna make you feed it or clothe it” (Walker 10). The role of parenting is given solely

to Celie, as well as all work responsibilities. This is a way for the male figures in Celie’s

life to control her, as a kind of male transaction that was mentioned earlier. Celie talks

to Shug about the abuse she is subjected to by Mr. _____, when Shug asks her: “What

he beat you for? she ast. For being me and not you” (Walker 71). Mr. ______ cannot

10
have Shug because he cannot own her and that is one of the reasons why he beats Celie,

because he is dissatisfied with his life and takes it out on someone weaker than him

merely because he can (Christian 23). According to Mr. ______, Celie is unable to act

her gender in a way that Mr. ______ deems to be fitting as he often berates her saying:

“You ugly. You skinny. You shape funny” (Walker 186). Mr. ______ also repeatedly

beats her and Celie distances herself from the situation: “I say to myself, Celie, you a

tree.” (Walker 23). Celie uses this as a coping mechanism but in the process, she

dehumanises herself.

Daniel W. Ross writes in “Celie in the Looking Glass: the Desire for Selfhood in

The Color Purple” (1988) that Shug’s role is maternal to Celie, and she teaches Celie

how to love someone (72). He references Rich (1976) saying that lesbianism can be

seen as the struggle to recover the mother-daughter bond (Ross 72). This is evident

when Celie and Shug make love and Celie expresses both the infantile and maternal

aspects of the situation: “Then I feels something real soft and wet on my breast, feel like

one of my little lost babies mouth. Way after while, I act like a lost baby too” (Walker

109 qtd. in Ross 72). However, it is important to not reduce a relationship between two

women to purely maternal without any other meaning. Rich (1980) critiques Nancy

Chodorow who dismissed lesbian relations because she believes most women are

heterosexual, which implies that heterosexual relationships are more mature than

lesbian relations (qtd. in Rich 636). When it comes to motherhood, Celie’s friend and

lover Shug is inexperienced. She has given birth to three children by Mr. _____, but she

has not had the chance to perform her gender and motherhood in the way that is

acceptable when it comes to societal norms. She was ostracised from society during a

time, which is shown when Mr. _____ goes away to get Shug after he hears about her

being sick. Mr. _____ tells Celie, “Nobody fight for Shug ...” (Walker 46). No one in

11
their town is willing to take Shug in except for Mr. _____. Celie summarizes the rumors

about Shug’s illness by saying that a woman at her church thought Shug might have

tuberculosis or an STD. When she is healthy again, she goes back to being a popular

singer but very few people cared for her when she was struggling, which makes it seem

like they only cared for her when she was able to perform on stage. When she fell ill,

the preacher at Celie’s church talks about Shug indirectly by referring to her profession

and about women who take other women’s men and talks about a: “… slut, hussy,

heifer and streetcleaner” (Walker 42). Shug was also rejected by her family and Shug

herself says that her mother hated how sexually active she was.

Shug tells Celie that her children are living with her grandma and Celie asks if

she misses her children, to which Shug responds: “Naw, she say. I don’t miss nothing”

(Walker 48). Later in the book, she retracts this statement as she eventually goes to visit

one of her children. Shug’s need for a family can be seen in the way she treats her

lovers. She tells Celie that, “He [Germaine] feel just like family now. Like a son. Maybe

a grandson” (Walker 258). Mr. ______ tells Celie that Shug “… feel like I’m her

brother” (Walker 246). This might be a way for Shug to continue to live the way she has

been living, by expressing her love in a familial way rather than in a romantic or sexual

way. However, it is also a way for Shug to express her desire for a family. Both Celie

and Shug have therefore been unable to act their gender and they have both been

punished. Celie is punished with abuse from her husband and stepfather and Shug is

punished by being rejected by her family and being ostracised by society at the time of

her illness.

3.2 Female Relationships and Solidarity

Female solidarity is a recurring theme throughout The Color Purple. This is observed

12
through the relationships Celie has with the women in her family. Rich writes that the

lesbian continuum has been an important part for the survival of black women in the

United States (657). Black women bonding has been a critical source of emotional

support and sharing crucial survival information (Bethel qtd. in Rich 658). Celie is able

to make connections with the black women in her life who support her to build trust in

herself as well as to defy Mr. ______ (Christian 23). The lesbian continuum includes all

women, whether they are lesbian or not because they move in and out of the continuum

depending on the connections women make with each other over time (Rich 651). The

term moves away from the clinical associations of “lesbian” and therefore redefines the

erotic in female friendships and comradeship, which can be described as “…the sharing

of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic…” (Lorde qtd. in Rich 650) and in turn

this makes women not accept powerlessness as easily (Rich 650). Firstly, Nettie and

Celie are sisters and feel connected to each other even after being away from each other

for 30 years. Nettie is one of the reasons Celie strives to survive her oppression and

does not accept powerlessness. When Nettie lived with Celie and Mr. ______ for a

while, she told Celie that she has to fight, to which Celie responds: “But I don’t know

how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive” (Walker 18). This is evidence that

Celie is not powerless, she is fighting the oppression she is facing by staying alive.

Eventually, she starts writing letters to Nettie instead of God because she lost hope in

the existence of religion.

Secondly, Sofia is a role model to Celie as she embodies traits that Celie wishes

she had. After Nettie left Celie, she had no close friends that she could rely on. But

Sofia is the person that changes this fact. Sofia’s husband Harpo is an example of how

domestic violence is a tool that can be used for men to perform their gender based on

the frameworks of society. Harpo asks Celie how he can make Sofia do what he wants,

13
to which Celie responds: “Beat her” (Walker 36). It is clear that Celie believes this to be

the solution because she herself has been abused into doing what her husband wants her

to do. Afterwards, Sofia confronts Celie and asks her why she told Harpo to beat her,

and Celie admits that: “… I’m jealous of you. I say it cause you do what I can’t”

(Walker 39). Sofia can fight, which Celie cannot. hooks discusses that shared

victimisation is a notion invented by the feminist bourgeois, which is a sexist ideology

that teaches that being female is being a victim (128). This leads to women who act

assertively to be excluded from the feminist movement (hooks 128). Sofia is an

assertive and self-affirming woman compared to Celie, as Celie recounts her saying:

“But I’ll kill him [Harpo] dead before I let him beat me” (Walker 39). Furthermore, the

essence of Sisterhood is the bonding that occurs between women over strengths and

resources (hooks 128). Sofia does not express that there is any shared victimisation

between her and Celie because they are both women, instead she encourages Celie:

“You ought to bash Mr. _____ head open …” (Walker 40). Sofia has had to fight her

whole life to get where she is, and therefore she thinks Celie should fight back too.

After this, Celie changes her mind about how Harpo should deal with Sofia. Harpo

becomes depressed by the fact that Sofia will not listen to him, and he says to Celie: “I

want her to do what I say, like you do for Pa” (Walker 60). This time, Celie explains to

Harpo that: “Some womens can’t be beat … Sofia one of them” (Walker 61). Celie’s

friendship with Sofia is the first instance of her trying to find the will and courage to

actively fight back against the oppression she faces. Moreover, it is still clear that Mr.

_____ is Harpo’s role model and that he also sees Mr. _____ as the norm of how men

are supposed to treat their wives. It is evident that he has learnt this from Mr. _____

because when Harpo asks him why he beats Celie, he responds: “Cause she my wife”

(Walker 23). Later, the roles are reversed between Celie and Sofia, and Sofia uses the

14
knowledge she has obtained through Celie to survive in the prison she was put in and

she tells Celie: “I act like I’m you. I jump right up and do just what they say” (Walker

83). Celie’s old self was her attempt to stay alive and survive, rather than actively

fighting the oppression she faced. Sofia understands that she also needs to do so in order

to survive her situation.

Lastly, Celie and Shug are in a lesbian relationship, in which Celie gets to freely

express her queerness and Shug helps her tackle many different issues in her life. The

first time Shug lays her eyes on Celie she immediately exclaims: “You sure is ugly”

(Walker 44). It is possible that Shug puts Celie down at first due to her own insecurities,

because Celie has, seemingly, a traditional family life and she is with Mr. ______ who

used to have a love affair with Shug. Harpo expresses confusion about Shug because:

“… she say whatever come to mind, forgot about polite” (Walker 68). Shug also admits

to Celie that she was mean to her at first and treated her like a servant, “And all because

Albert married you” (Walker 112). She does not want Mr. _____ as a husband, but she

still saw Celie as competition for his affection. Mr. _____’s statement about how Celie

is black, poor and a woman, which to him equals nothing at all, is refuted by the notion

that Celie must know things in order to survive and therefore powerlessness does not

equate ignorance (Christian 27). Women who are abused cannot afford seeing

themselves as victims as it will lead to them being demoralized; instead, their survival

depends on the personal powers that they exercise (hooks 128). Celie gains some sort of

control over her life by using her knowledge to survive. Some examples of her

knowledge are survival techniques like imagining herself as a tree to endure the abuse

she is subjected to by Mr. ______, as well as writing down her experiences.

In The Color Purple, there are also instances where race divides women, rather

than bringing them together, which has been mentioned previously. An example of this

15
is when Sofia tells Miss Eleanor Jane that she does not love her child Reynolds Stanley

and Miss Eleanor Jane exclaims: “I just don’t understand, ... All the other colored

women I know love the children. The way you feel is unnatural” (Walker 240). Miss

Eleanor Jane strips away Sofia’s gender by calling her feelings unnatural, as well as

claiming that all black women feel differently from Sofia and therefore, she must be an

anomaly. On the contrary, Miss Eleanor Jane claiming that all black women she knows

feel the same way about a certain topic is a racist notion in which she also reduces Sofia

to only her race and gender and not other factors like her situation nor personality. Miss

Eleanor represents the feminist bourgeois who are only concerned with white

womanhood in which the Sisterhood do not criticize each other nor publicly disagree

with each other in order to avoid conflict (hooks 129).

3.3 Lesbianism and Shamelessness

Compulsory heterosexuality affects all females in The Color Purple. Rich claims that

compulsory heterosexuality is a form of female sexual slavery and, “... it leads the

daughter to “accept” incest/rape by her father ...“ (Rich 645). Marriage and family

dynamics can, in many instances, make sexual violence possible, but this does not mean

that heterosexuality itself is at fault, rather that compulsory heterosexuality facilitates

“female sexual slavery”. In turn, Celie “accepts” the things she is subjected to by being

passive in order to stay alive. Many victims of sexual abuse choose to “accept” their

conditions of life because they are unable to leave or change their conditions (Rich

644). Christopher S. Lewis points out that Celie writes about her sexual assault as a

means of coping with it and therefore displacing the imposed silence, which Alphonso

has prescribed onto her (161). She may not be actively fighting back in a physical way

but by writing about her experiences she is able to express herself and give herself a

16
voice. Celie confronts the racist and sexual violence she has faced and her own

sexuality by writing it down in her diary (Lewis 162). Lewis writes that, “Black lesbian

shamelessness is defined by its celebration of the fact that same-sex relationships

sustain and nurture the lives of countless black women …” (159). This is the

relationship that Shug and Celie have together. As Linda Abbandonato puts it in her

article “‘A View from ‘Elsewhere’: Subversive Sexuality and the Rewriting of the

Heroine’s Story in The Color Purple”, “Shug and Celie, sisters in spirit, become lovers

in the flesh” (Abbandonato 1111). Even Celie herself alludes to this, writing: “Us sleep

like sisters, me and Shug” (Walker 131). In The Color Purple, the taboo of incest is

emblematically broken down into social relations, family and sexual, which in turn are

intertwined (Abbandonato 1111). Even so, Celie’s queer experiences should not only be

seen as an attempt to re-experience maternal or sisterly love, but also as an attempt at

expressing romantic love.

Furthermore, Lewis writes that Celie shamelessly accepts the words Mr. _____

throws at her in order to hurt her (164). As she ends the quote with “But I’m here”

(Walker 187) she puts value onto her identities, which have been seen as worthless by

society and therefore embraces black shamelessness (Lewis 164). The quote is also a

reference to a writer who was believed to be queer, which means that the quote

articulates a black queer survival mechanism when it is spoken out loud by Celie (Lewis

164).

Celie acknowledges the complicated relationship she has to Shug because of Mr.

______. She writes that Shug loves looking at him and: “That the way it spose to be. I

know that. But if that so, why my heart hurt me so?” (Walker 70). She is aware that her

feelings for Shug are outside of the heterosexual norm, and she does not express these

types of feelings for a man throughout the book. There is no blatant homophobia in The

17
Color Purple but there is a lot of sexism and assumed heterosexuality. For example,

there is one instance in which Celie’s stepfather beats Celie because he claims that she

winked at a boy while they were at church, about which Celie writes: “I may have got

somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink” (Walker 7). Alphonso assumed that Celie was

winking at a boy because he assumes that his daughter is heterosexual. Lewis writes that

Candice Jenkins discusses that black women have had to sacrifice queer sexual

exploration so that black communities will not be deemed as sexually deviant (160).

Celie does not explore sexual activity until Shug comes along and shows her how to.

They also end up becoming lovers and frequently engage in their love affair. Celie’s

sexual exploration, with guidance from Shug, makes it so that Celie is no longer an

object that is solely for Mr. ______’s or her stepfather Alphonso’s viewing (Lewis 162).

But the black female sexual companionship in this scene turns into female sexual

deviance as when Harpo and Mr. ______ are approaching the room, as Celie feels like

her and Shug have been doing something wrong (Lewis 163). Lewis explains that The

Color Purple manages to express the viability of black lesbianism even when it is

connected to being silenced and experiencing social death (169). Celie exploring her

sexuality means that she is decentralizing the men who have taken advantage of her.

Abbandonato writes that Celie’s lesbianism subverts the masculine cultural narratives of

femininity (1109). She achieves this by re-writing these narratives from a feminist

perspective (Abbandonato 1109).

There are clues to Celie continuing living as a lesbian even after Shug leaves

her. It is important to mention that at the start of the book she writes: “I don't even look

at mens. That's the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I'm not scared of them” (7). After

Shug leaves Celie, she mentions that Harpo and Sofia are constantly trying to set her up

with a man and “They know I love Shug but they think womens love just by accident

18
...” (Walker 236), but Mr. _____ chases the man away from their house and says that

Celie is his wife. A while after this, Albert asks Celie to marry him again, both in spirit

and in flesh, and she responds “Naw, I still don't like frogs, but let us be friends ...”

(Walker 257). These instances hint at her being a lesbian, because she seems indifferent

to both other men and Albert, even when they became good friends. This is also proof

that her relationship with Albert is purely platonic, even if they are married. Almost

every instance where Celie's sexuality is described it is related to her love (both physical

and emotional) for Shug or about her explaining her aversion to men, which is in line

with the lesbian experience. Celie may not express love or attraction for anyone else but

Shug, but neither does Albert. People keep their sexual identity even if they are not in

any sort of relationship. After Shug leaves them, both Albert and Celie discuss their

love for her during many instances and Celie describes them both as “… two old fools

left over from love, …” (Walker 246). Celie and Albert become friends at the end of the

novel rather than continuing to be an abusive husband and abused wife (Lewis 167).

Because Albert ultimately becomes a failed patriarch, he is therefore also the symbol of

accomplished feminist heterosexual masculinity, and the shameless black same-sex

yearning woman, Celie, represents accomplishing black female sexual expression

(Lewis 167). It is assumed that “successful feminist heterosexual masculinity” (Lewis

167) refers to a man who does not abuse or berate women, but respects them as his

equal, which Albert seems to do after he and Celie become friends.

The evidence of Celie’s self-identification may be inconclusive, but it does not

undermine the lesbian relationship between her and Shug. Compulsory heterosexuality

affects all women, not just self-identified lesbians, because it does not give the women

any choice in how to live their lives. Rich illustrates: “The lesbian trapped in the

“closet,” the woman imprisoned in prescriptive ideas of the “normal,” share [sic] the

19
pain of blocked options, broken connections, lost access to self-definition freely and

powerfully assumed” (Rich 657). In the case of Celie, she is forced to marry Mr.

______ due to fearing her stepfather. Because of the abuse she endures as a woman, she

does not have the option to divorce her husband nor go against her stepfather. Celie’s

subjugation is imposed on her through compulsory heterosexuality, which also removes

her subjectivity (Abbandonato 1110). If she could divorce Mr. _____, it is likely that the

decision would leave her poor and ostracized from society. The main point of this

section is to highlight Celie’s and Shug’s lesbian experiences and exploration with each

other, with the possibility of Celie being a lesbian affected by compulsory

heterosexuality or a woman who is restricted to the ideas of “normal”, as Rich puts it.

3.4 Shug and Celie’s Relationship as a Transformative Safe Haven

Shug is one of Celie’s role models in her quest to find her own voice. Early in the book,

Celie writes that she does not fight because that is what she believes killed her sister

Nettie because Nettie fought for herself before running away, “What good it do? I don’t

fight, I stay where I’m told. But I’m alive” (Walker 22). She does not realise that she is

already fighting back as she is reflecting on her thoughts and actions in writing. As she

has gained knowledge of how to stay alive, she is fighting back in her own way. Sofia

may be the first person to change her mindset after Nettie left, but Shug is the person

who helps Celie take physical action against the oppression she faces. Barbara Christian

(2007) argues that The Color Purple suggests that oppressors like Mr. _____ may

imitate the behaviour of his oppressors, white men, who black people must refer to with

a title (23). Mr. _____’s power is shown through the way Celie calls him Mister,

without a name. He insists on the people below him calling him Mister because it is a

symbol of his power over them, something he himself must have experienced when

20
dealing with white men (Christian 23). But in the same vein, Shug Avery removes his

power by calling him by his first name, Albert. Celie calling him Mister may be a way

for her to decentralize the man who has abused her, as she also does by calling her

stepfather Pa, instead of his real name, Alphonso. Later, when Celie and Mr. ______

make up, she starts calling him Albert, just like Shug does. Celie regains power through

addressing Mr. _____ as Albert. Celie describes that Shug became close to Mr. ______

again and even that they “Walk to the mailbox” (Walker 109). Later that week, she

drops a letter from Nettie on Celie’s lap and together they find out that Mr. ______ has

been hiding all of Nettie’s letters in his trunk in a closet. Mr. ______’s act of hiding the

letters is a way for him to punish Celie for not being Nettie or Shug. Shug eventually

stands up for Celie as Mr. ______ re-tells her after they became friends: “She say

Albert, you been mistreating somebody I love … I’m gone” (Walker 245).

Celie is also introduced to masturbation and lesbian relationships through Shug.

Celie is able to regain her own sexuality through discovering the clitoris together with

another woman (Abbandonato 1112). Shug asks Celie what she thinks of her own

vagina when she puts a mirror down there to look at it while Shug guards the door (Ross

71). Celie responds that it is hers, which obliterates the ignorance she previously held

for her body (Ross 71). Lewis writes that Celie was no longer an object for male-use

(162). Instead, she becomes an object of desire to Shug, and she becomes a desiring

subject when expressing her love of Shug (Abbandonato 1112). When she discovers and

ultimately accepts her own body, she is expressing a desire for identity (Ross 72). When

Celie performs sexual acts that are directed towards the same sex, which signifies

“deviancy” and “immaturity” in a system in which compulsory heterosexuality is

reinforced, she critiques the oedipal theory as well as its sexist implications

(Abbandonato 1112). The radical political implication of the switch from vagina to

21
clitoris for Celie’s sexual exploration involves a shift where the man is put on the

sidelines of a domain he has previously controlled (Abbandonato 1112). Denying

women their sexuality or forcing the male sexuality upon them are two more ways in

which male power can be enforced (Rich 638-639). Male sexuality was forced upon

Celie through rape, which in turn denied her sexual exploration. Before she met Shug,

she had not even looked at her own vagina. Walker is able to portray the relationships

between the black women in the book as an alternative to being inflicted with a

masculinist and dominative perception of sexual relations (Lewis 162). Together, Celie

and Shug are able to consensually work toward self-love through a model of sexual

vulnerability as well as mutual dependence and this model does not rely on a

masculinist hierarchical interaction (Lewis 163). As Celie tells Shug: “He never ast me

how I feel, nothing. Just do his business …” (Walker 74). Shug responds that it makes it

sound like Mr. _____ is using Celie as a toilet, to which she responds: “That what it feel

like” (Walker 74). Another reason as to why Celie refers to her sexual experiences to

infantile or maternal feelings, might be because she previously had not experienced

non-familial love. Shug reinforces her ideas of sexual exploration by telling Celie: “God

love all them feelings” (Walker 176). Abbandonato believes that Shug describes a

relationship between spiritual and sexual joy (1112). Celie is therefore able to sever the

connection between man and God, creating something that is ungendered instead of an

“old white man” (Abbandonato 1113).

It is through her love for Shug that Celie is able to let go of the double narrative

of paternal roots she stems from (Abbandonato 1111). She can forge a new identity

within the realm of femininity (Abbandonato 1111). Celie is saved from an identity

crisis, as she finds out the truth about her biological father, and Shug rescues her from it

by telling her, “Us each other’s people now” (Walker 165) and this means that they

22
have mothered each other and have become woman-identified women (Abbandonato

1111). Ultimately, Shug is the main reason as to why Celie is able to break free from the

trauma she has experienced and fight back directly to her abuser’s face. The culmination

of Celie’s journey to self-hood is shown in the scene where Celie curses Mr. ______ to

which Mr. ______ responds: “You can’t curse nobody … You black, you pore, you

ugly, you a woman … you nothing at all” (Walker 187). By cursing Mr. _____, Celie

attests to her presence and she is able to express her feelings and experiences (Lewis

164). Because Celie responds to Mr. _____ as if she is a “conjure woman” and invokes

religious practices from the African diaspora, he gets intimidated (Marvin qtd. in Lewis

164). As previously mentioned, Celie shamelessly accepts the categories that Mr.

______ assigns to her and ends her declaration with “But I’m here” (Walker 187). Not

only is she just alive anymore, but she also has a presence, which she declares to one of

her oppressors. This is also Celie’s act of denying Mr. ______ further access to her

body.

In the end, Shug ends up conforming to gender norms more than Celie, as she

chooses to leave Celie for a while to be with her lover Germaine, as well as attempting

to visit her children that grew up without her as a mother. Shug continues to rely on

men for validation throughout the book, even if she eventually returns to Celie and

Albert. Meanwhile, Celie knows that she still exists even if she is denied the advantages

of being the norm when it comes to the factors of class, race or gender (Christian 30). It

can also be assumed that her lesbian experiences outside of the heterosexual norm also

puts her at a disadvantage in this regard, as she seemingly is not interested in having

romantic or sexual relationships with men. There are no apparent consequences to this,

except for in Celie’s own thoughts, where she does express that she knows what she and

Shug are doing is “wrong” and that she knows that heterosexuality is the norm, which

23
has previously been discussed.

4. Conclusion
This paper aimed to show how important Celie’s lesbian experiences with Shug was for

her development of self-hood and her sexual awakening in the book The Color Purple.

She is subjected to physical and sexual abuse both by her stepfather Alphonso and her

husband Mr. _____ and their abuse was the reason as to why Celie does not explore her

own body, nor does she stand up for herself. Her love for Shug was the catalyst and the

most important factor for her transformation. Celie does not get the chance to be a

mother for her biological children and all the housework and childcare is put onto Celie

when she is forced by her stepfather to marry Mr. ______. The men in her life

demonstrated male power over Celie in order to control her. Celie is not able to act out

her gender in a fashion that pleases Mr. ______ as he still longs for Shug, which in turn

makes him take out his anger on Celie because he cannot have the woman he desires.

Shug plays a maternal role to Celie but is also the one who teaches Celie how to

love and express her sexuality. Shug herself lacks experience in motherhood but still

desires a traditional family, which is evident when she continuously describes the love

interests in her life as family rather than partners. Both Celie and Shug are punished

because they are unable to perform their gender. Female solidarity has been an

important factor to black women in order to survive and the lesbian continuum includes

all women that make positive connections with other women. Celie experiences female

solidarity for the first time, since her sister Nettie left, with Sofia. Sofia becomes a

positive role model for Celie and helps her take the first step in realising that women are

not completely powerless in the face of oppression. Shug viewed Celie as competition

for Mr. ______’s affection, which is why she treated Celie badly at first. They find
24
solidarity with each other, and they eventually become lovers. Furthermore, Celie was

never powerless against her oppressors because her staying alive and using knowledge

to survive was her way of fighting back against the oppression she felt.

Celie writes about her experiences, which confronts both the racial and sexual

violence she has endured. Black shamelessness is embraced by Celie when Mr. ______

throws hurtful words at her, because she turns his words into something positive. Shug

helps Celie to shamelessly explore her sexuality, but she also understands that what she

and Shug are doing together does not fit into the heterosexual norm. Celie is a victim of

compulsory heterosexuality, whether she identifies as a lesbian or not because

compulsory heterosexuality affects all women. Shug helps Celie to take physical action

against her oppression. It is shown that Celie starts calling Mr. ______ his real name,

Albert, just like Shug does. Celie does this as an act of regaining her power. Shug is

also the reason that Celie is able to get Nettie’s letters back, which eventually leads to

Celie standing up for herself against Mr. ______. When Celie stops being ignorant of

her sexuality and becomes an object of desire to Shug and vice versa, she is expressing

her desire to find her own identity. Celie regains her sexuality by shifting the focus from

her vagina to her clitoris, which is a way for her to decentralize the man. This would not

have been possible without the help of Shug. When Celie declares that she is here and

not just alive, she affirms her own existence and presence, which is also a way for her to

deny non-consensual male access to her body.

25
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