The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Color Purple is a novel written in 1982 by Alice Walker. The novel is set in rural Georgia in the early 20th century.

The novel is instantly different to anything I have ever read before. One, because it is made up of letters written to God, and two because it is written in the dialect of the narrator, Celie. For some readers this would be endearing and make the novel seem more real and possibly make them like it more, but for me, I found it a struggle from the very beginning and therefore never properly engaged in the book and the characters. Maybe one day I will pick it up and read it again and think its wonderful, but for the purpose of this blog post i am going to be honest and tell you what I really thought of The Color Purple.

Celie is poor, uneducated and treated terribly by her father and this is clear from the first page of the book when she is 14 and raped by him. She writes letters to God to get answers for why these things keep happening to her, Her mother dies, her sister Nettie is taken away from her and her children of which the main she calls her father made, and Celie can be seen as well and truly having a terrible life.

One of the main contrasts in the novel is that Celie is uneducated and her sister is so bright. This is seen when Celie finds the letters that Mr___ has been keeping from her, which were from Nettie.

Quotes:

“The more I wonder, the more I love.” 
“I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I'm here.” 
“I'm poor, black, I may even be ugly; but dear God, I'm here! I'm here!” 
“Oh, Celie, unbelief is a terrible thing. And so is the hurt we cause others unknowingly.” 
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.” 

King Lear at the National Theatre

I am currently studying King Lear as part of my year 13 A level coursework in English Lit, and i went with my class to watch a performance of it at the National Theatre on Monday 30th June 2014.

I want to start by saying how much i enjoyed it. The whole production, set and acting was amazing and i felt everyone played the roles very well and seemed to really involve themselves in the character and their story.

Seeing the play brought to life in this amazing production really helped me understand it and gave me a chance to see the emotions of the characters and begin to see a new side to them.

The play is circles around two fathers who have both made life changing decisions and errors. Gloucester, by believing Edmond, loses his sight and is made a traitor and Lear by being vain and over indulged disowns Cordelia and resigns from the thrown.

Overall, i thought the production of King Lear at the National Theatre was brilliant.

You're The One That I Wan't by Giovanna Fletcher

'You're The One That I Want' begins in present day from the perspective of Maddy, on her wedding day. At this point she is 26 years old and is saying how she loves the man she is about to marry, Rob, but also loves his best man and her best friend, Ben. At this point the reader might be quick to judge Maddy and label her, however, the book swiftly moves to the next chapter and takes the reader back to when these 3 characters were 9 years old and first met. It is now that we, as the readers, begin to get a clearer idea on how Maddy is in this situation whereby she loves more than 1 person and how this effects the way she lives her life. This story is therefore beginning from the age of 9 and ends at the age of 26, therefore we get to see how the characters change and mature as they experience "the real world".

The book is written from the perspective of Maddy and Ben. Its interesting that Robert is one of the main characters throughout the book, and in-fact helps to shape the true meanings of the story, yet doesn't get the chance to allow the reader to really understand how he is feeling. For instants, when he cheats on Maddy at University.

This novel portrays the different types of love in modern day life. Whether it be love of a friend, love of family or love of a partner, love is shown to be something special yet it can be apparent in many different forms.

There are a few quotes that really stuck out for me:

 "Without the love or the heartache i also wouldn't have had the unconditional friendships"

"And then i stole a glance to the right of Robert, to see my other love. Ben Gilbert"

"My heart ached as it understood the significance and a feeling of sadness swelled through me"

What strikes me about this book is that love isn't always black and white and even though you think you might have found "the one" its not always that simple.  I found it fascinating to read a book that didn't just focus on one love story and a few sub plots here and there, this book really took you along with the characters and really understand what the experience of love is really like.