Racism and Violence in Books

One of the major themes in The Color Purple, written by Alice Walker, is the violence on the black community. Since the black people in the south are victims of racism by whites in the south they create their own black community to escape from white racism and violence. However the violence within the black community tears them apart which makes the white racists happy. So when the black men beat their women and rape their women the white racists like this and support this. In Walker’s novel most of the male characters are violent sexist and racist rapists. The novel is very graphic and gruesome when it comes to the female characters being raped. Not only are white males beating down black women but even the black men are beating their own women. However those who start the violence are actually the victims. Some of the male characters in the novel are Mr._______, Harpo, Alfonso and the prison warden. Some of the female characters are Sofia, Squeak (Mary Agnes), and Celie, the protagonist. Harpo beats his wife Sofia only after his father tells him that Sofia’s strength makes Harpo less of a man. Mr._______ beats and rapes his wife Celie only because of the way his own father treated him. One example of white racism is when the prison warden beats and rapes Squeak.



“Poor little Squeak come home with a limp. Her dress rip. Her hat missing and one of the heels come off her shoe. What happen us ast. He saw the Hodges in me, she say. And he didn’t like it one bit. Harpo come up the steps from the car. My wife beat up, my women rape, he say. I ought to go back out there with guns, maybe set fire to the place, burn the crackers up ” (The Color Purple, Page 94)
This passage comes from Celie’s forty-first letter. This letter displays white power at its worst. Squeak, one of the black women exposed to black violence, comes back from the prison that is holding Sofia beat up and torn. Her clothes are ripped and she has bruises all over her body. The prison warden, Squeak’s uncle, raped Squeak. She was dressed up as a white woman in attempt to get Sofia out of Jail. He later finds out that she was his mulatto niece and he felt that she does not have any rights. Southern laws stated that any person that was mixed race was considered black no matter what. Light skinned people were used as servants in houses while dark skinned people were used as slaves in the plantation. The white warden knew that he would not get in trouble for raping her. Back in the south violence was everywhere. The reason Sofia was put in jail in the first place was for saying, “Hell No” to the mayor’s wife. The mayor slapped Sofia and she knocked him out which put her in jail. Racism and violence was very common in the South.