The Color Purple Discussion Question

The Color Purple

Discussion Questions

All of the questions below should be answered with specific examples and direct quotations from the book. You may note those locations with sticky notes in your book. For ease in writing, you may want to remove sticky notes that don’t address those questions.

Your timed write question will most likely not be one of these questions, though the evidence you find will help you write your essay.

Answer questions one and two first, briefly. Revisit these questions again after you have considered the rest of the questions.

1.    What is Alice Walker’s purpose in writing The Color Purple? What does she want readers to do when they’ve finished the novel? How do you know?

2.    Is Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, The Color Purple, a novel about race? gender? poverty? religion? something else? How do you know?

3.    Who has power in the novel? How is it earned? How is it lost? Who wields it well? Who wields it irresponsibly? What conclusions can you draw about Alice Walker’s attitude towards power from these examples?

4.    How many families are there in the novel? How are they formed and how are they split? What makes families strong? Weak? Genuine? Artificial? What can we learn about families in the African American community from this novel? What can we learn about families in white society from this novel?

5.    In the early chapters of Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, Celie meets a variety of characters who have an impact on the development of her identity. As the novel progresses, however, Celie begins to impact and shape other characters.  Looking at these incidents, what conclusions can we draw about Alice Walker’s beliefs about the way people develop their sense of self?

6.    Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple, explores a variety of attitudes towards religion. Locate moments where characters are discussing or practicing their faith. What conclusions can you draw about Walker’s attitude towards religion from these examples?

7.    While in Africa, Nettie witnesses the impact of white colonialism on the Olinka tribe. How do Nettie’s experiences in Africa contrast or reinforce Celie’s experiences in America?

8.    The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, exists – as all novels do – in three contexts: the time in which it is set, the time in which it was written, and the time in which it was read. What lessons does the novel hold about or for each of these contexts?

9.    The Color Purple is a widely banned book, frequently appearing in the top 20 amongst lists of books that have been banned or challenged in an academic setting. What examples of language and content have caused this book to be so controversial? How does the inclusion of this content help (or hinder) Walker’s argument?

10.                  What is the most interesting element in the novel that doesn’t appear in the questions above? How does it help you understand the novel and illuminate Walker’s purpose?