The Colour Purple - Spirituality & Religion :: essays research papers

Alice carriage states that The Colour imperial remains for her the theological work examining the tour from the religious back to the spiritual. How successful is she in revealing her purpose to the reader?In the preface to the Colour Purple Walker identifies her religious development as the inspiration for her novel and labels righteousness and spiritualty as the principle themes in the book. There are a number of principle characters who complete this jaunt however in more instances the religious element of the novel is overshadowed by other prominent themes such as personal development, female relationships and racial issues. These must be interpreted into consideration when assessing Walkers success in delivering her theological essence to her readers.Religion is an extremely broad term, in the context of The Colour Purple, Walkers idea of religion is perform based Christianity in which perfection is presented through the bible as a sporting man. Although the church is set(p) in a black community, the teachings of the church are derived from the teachings of white people. Celie discovers end-to-end the novel that she, like Shug, can not find divinity fudge in this kind of church that is based on patriarchal religion save searches for him elsewhere. Walkers personal concept of spirituality is pantheism, the idea that God is in all living things within nature including people. Celie learns from Shug and through her consume development that God is within her and she benefits far more from her own spirituality than from the structured religion within the community.Celie is not the only character to put up with a change in her religious outlook and complete the journey from the religious to the spiritual. Nettie also is brought up as a solemn believer in the Christian church however throughout her time in Africa and with the help of the Olinka people she discovers a new more innate form of religion similar to Celies new found spirituality. T he journey from the religious back to the spiritual is reflected in the distance between the white missionaries in Britain and America and the African tribes. The missionaries represent the formal white church and the Olinka fulfilling the idea of pantheist spirituality. This is a journey Nettie bring ups physically and spiritually. Shug and Mr.s views on religion also change during the novel, and as Walker intends, all make this journey with courage and the help of others.At the beginning of the book Celie announces her dependency on God by recognising that she can tell nobody hardly God about the abuse she is receiving from her stepfather.