Alice Walker's The Color Purple holds immense historical and societal relevance across a thirty-year spectrum of periods and movements, including the Harlem Renaissance, the progressive development of civil society and women. human rights, the destruction of rich African civilizations by European companies and the start of World War II. Over the course of a person's life, important social issues and their historical significance undergo a kind of evolution, as new problems emerge in each new era. The life of Miss Celie, a poor southern black woman in the early to mid-1900s, evolves with issues of historical significance during her lifetime. Walker uses Celie as an emblem of what it meant to grow up and develop in the United States at a time when slavery was a recently abolished practice. Celie represents, in a sense, an entire population of abused black women as they began to fight for their rights, regain their pride and worth, and therefore refuse to put up with the abuse they had endured for so long . In contrast, Walker also uses Nettie's journey to show the horrific destruction of African culture by white Europeans seeking power and wealth. In an even deeper analysis and expansion of historical significance, Walker uses Shug Avery to demonstrate the relevance of black culture and the Harlem Renaissance. Finally – and perhaps most importantly – Walker uses the historical context of his novel as a basis on which to analyze the presence of God and what it truly means to understand the importance of simple beauty in finding one's purpose in such an omnipresent world. meaning regardless of time or place. In fact, she uses the context of oppression and abuse to demonstrate how context is irrelevant to finding life's purpose. The Color Purple is so rich in historical context and related analysis of said context that it would be impossible to examine the novel without noting the importance of historical context and Walker's masterful manipulation of it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayIn the early 1900s, poor communities of African Americans in the South in which abuse was tolerated and considered normal were currents. Because African Americans were just gaining their basic human right to freedom, there was also a surprising lack of education among black Americans. These two issues dramatically influenced Celie's early life. Her stepfather abused her and harshly disposed of the resulting children, berating her to “never tell anyone but God” (Walker, 3). He also frequently abused her before practically selling her to Mister, a violent black man described in the musical as someone who "holds his whip like he has a horse waiting for him", whom she became wife (Russell, 27). Mister continued to abuse Celie's childhood, perpetuate Celie's accepted rape, and threaten her safety at all times. In this historical culture, “a grown child [was] a dangerous thing” (Walker, 59). Celie, like so many others, was, by her nature as a young adult woman, an innocent and undeserving target for culturally appropriate abuse and destructive behavior; she was an object to be “sold” (Walker, 26). As Celie's life progresses, she finally learns to stand up to her domestic oppressors and demand that she be treated as more than human. She forces,, 1982.