Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Term 1 Book Report


Christopher Webb
Mr. Saxton
B4 English 11 H
10 October 2012

General Information:
I read The Color Purple by Alice Walker because my mom recommended it to me as a fantastic read and because Alice Walker is an American author. The Color Purple was published in 1982.

Genre:
The Color Purple fits into the category of drama. Drama focuses on the human struggle by employing brutally realistic events as the setting for the emotional development of a character. Miss Celie undergoes an intense transformation while living in the southern United States as she undergoes events that question all she has ever known. Alice Walker addresses difficult topics such as incest, sexual orientation, and rape to ultimately change Miss Celie and the way by which she perceives herself and her surroundings.

Summary:
Miss Celie begins as a fourteen-year old girl living in Georgia. She gives birth to two of her father's children who Miss Celie's father gives away to a good Christian family. Miss Celie's father finds Miss Celie a husband named Mr. ______ who already has three children of his own from a previous marriage. They marry, not out of love, and Miss Celie takes care of Mr. ______'s children. Miss Celie and Mr. _______ have sexual encounters almost every night, but Miss Celie claims virginity because the experiences bring her no pleasure. After so much sexual and verbal abuse, Miss Celie turns to Shug Avery, Mr. ______'s lover of the past, who helps her to gain self-confidence as well as the letters that he has withheld from her. Eventually Miss Celie gains enough confidence to tell Mr. _____ what she really thinks of him and she and Shug move to Tennessee where Miss Celie opens a clothing store. Miss Celie returns to her home as a successful businesswoman to find that Mr. _____ has changed. She inherits her childhood home after the death of a family member, Alphonso, and regains custody of her two children.
I learned that people can change. Alice Walker showed me that it may take a lot and it may not always come in the way that one would hope or expect, but that change does happen. I also learned that stereotypically, men act like idiots towards women and that this has to stop for the progression of mankind to continue.

Theme: Oppressed individuals can overcome difficult challenges such as domestic violence and remove themselves from unfortunate circumstances by forging strong friendships and uniting themselves with others to gain voice and worth.

Golden Passages:
You got to fight them, Celie, she say. I can't do it for you. You got to fight them for yourself. I don't say nothing. I think bout Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don't fight, I stay where I'm told. But I'm still alive” (Walker 22).
This passage illustrates the attitude that Celie has towards doing anything that will improve her plight or anything that will benefit her in general. The abuse that she experiences causes her to believe that life has no greater purpose than survival. Men take advantage of Celie's willingness to work and her naiveness in all things sexual and exploit her as an object; as such, Celie treats herself as an object which should experience no gratification nor pleasure and which should demand nothing. People do not respect Celie partly because of her femininity and her ethnicity and partly because she does not value or respect herself. Respect from others closely follows the respect of one's self, and because nobody has ever taught Celie that she has value or worth, she does not respect herself. Celie has trouble expressing herself to others because she worries that they too will use her as just another means to advance themselves and their interests in the eyes of others. This difficulty results from a horrific past of domestic violence that Celie accepts as a normal part of life.

All womens not alike, Tobias, she say. Believe it or not. Oh, I believe it, he say. Just can't prove it to the world” (Walker 59).
Women in The Color Purple receive much of the same treatment from men. Men abuse them, violate them, and take advantage of their womanly parts while refusing to become involved with their emotions and personalities, the things that truly define them. To Mr. ______, Celie merely presents herself as a way for him to release his sexual needs. It would not matter to him if she had slept with a hundred other men, so long as she sleeps with him. Similarly, Harpo marries Sofia more because tradition would have him do so than because he truly respects and desires her as a person. Once he does marry her, he desires dominion over her in order to maintain his ego and to gain respect from his father, not because he cares about Sofia. Generally then, men act towards women in The Color Purple mechanically and without any thought at all. Sofia turns to Shug because all of the men in her life prove to her that they are not worth the effort; Sofia knows that she can find compassion from a fellow female.

Used to be when he touch me I'd go all out of my head. Now when he touch me I just don't want to be bothered. Once he git on top of me I think bout how that's where he always want to be. She sip her lemonade. I use to love that part of it, she say. I sued to chase him home from the field. Git all hot just watching him put the children to bed. But no more. Now I feels tired all the time. No interest” (Walker 69)
He never ast me nothing bout myself. He clam on top of me and fuck and fuck, even when my head bandaged. Nobody ever love me, I say” (Walker 117).
Sofia, the speaker in the first quote, expresses disappointment in her decline in interest in sex. The eventual failure of Harpo and Sofia's marriage depicts the reality that marriage cannot be founded on physical lust only, but also on affectionate emotional interest and love. However, whereas Sofia once found making love to Harpo enjoyable, Celie never enjoys it because to her, Mr. ______ performs an act of violence on her each time it occurs, not one of love. He alienates her from the experience and thus, makes her just another means of accomplishing his purpose of pleasure. Miss Celie eventually learns to enjoy the sexual experience with Shug, but only because they share deep, sisterly bonds and confide everything in each other. These bonds extricate Celie from the cycle of domestic violence and give her the strength and confidence to demand more from Mr. _______ and from life in general.

Naw, I think I feel better if I kill him, I say. I feels sickish. Numb, now. Naw you won't. Nobody feel better for killing nothing. They feel something is all. That better nothing nothing” (Walker 151).
Yes, Celie, she say. Everything want to be loved. Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets, trying to be loved. You ever notice tat tress do everything to git attention we do, except walk?” (Walker 204).
Throughout The Color Purple, Celie consistently expresses feelings of apathy. Her drab lifestyle may requite such an attitude, but it seems more likely that a person given Celie's circumstances would act angrily or with a violent attitude towards life. The reason for Celie's indifference towards the outcome of her life presents itself in the amount of time that men have oppressed Celie. Celie has learned that she copes better with trials when she removes herself from difficult situations, thus creating a separate sphere of aloofness in which to retreat. People often find it difficult to come to terms with themselves without the assistance of a confidante. Perhaps this explains why people sometimes confide very personal and confidential things in utter and complete strangers: they have nobody else in whom to divulge their secrets.

Let's make quilt pieces out of these messed up curtains, she say. And I run git my pattern book. I sleeps like a baby now” (Walker 44).
Originally, Celie advises Harpo to beat Sofia because Celie believes that domestic violence solves the problems in her marriage to Mr. ______. However, Miss Celie feels intense remorse once she sees the physical evidence of Harpo abusing Sofia. From that point on, Miss Celie and Sofia enjoy a friendship forged by common environments and challenges. Interestingly, the two women do not discuss their difficulties much, but rather choose to focus on lighter, more pleasant things, escaping into a world of their own creation. People tend to find companionship in those who experience similar things as them because they feel that they can empathize with one another more easily and subsequently, feel better about their situations.

Well, us talk and talk bout God, but I'm still adrift. Trying to chase that old white man out of my head. I been so busy thinking bout him I never truly notice nothing God make. Not a blade of corn (how it do that?) not the color purple (where it come from?). Not the little wildflowers. Nothing” (Walker 204).
This passage suggests a shift in Celie's perception of God. She admits to imagining God as an “old white man” at one point, but now she begins to recognize the beauty of everything around her and connect it to the ultimate figure of deity. The color purple often symbolizes royalty or majesty, so Celie's association of God with purple signifies that Celie now views God as royal and majestic. Celie once believed God to be some distant figure far from involved in her life, but the dear friendship of Shug brings new perspective on life to Celie. Celie's attention to the little things and interest in details that once seemed insignificant to her reflect the impact that somebody taking a genuine interest in her have on her and her outlook on life.

Rhetorical Analysis:
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, demonstrates the transformative powers that one person can wield; individuals have the power to completely alter lives, whether their own or that of a friend, for the better, much as Shug does to Miss Celie. This power largely results from the willingness of a person to communicate with other people around them. Shug helps Miss Celie to realize that human beings need and deserve the love that often accompanies this communication to achieve happiness. Although Celie may find love in an atypical way, once she does, she realizes that life has much more to offer than mere survival. Alice Walker uses the concept of diction to demonstrate that strong voice coupled with the ability to assert selfhood can combat oppression effectively.
Undoubtedly, Sofia gains her voice first. Walker chose a particularly strong expletive for Sofia: “Sofia say, Hell no. She say, What you say? Sofia say Hell no” (Walker 90). Sofia repeats the phrase a third time to the mayor's wife and receives years of jail time for her insolence. In this case, Sofia's voice cost her years of quality time with her children and eventually her marriage. However, it does help the overall progress of civil rights, which in turn, fights oppression of racial minorities across the United States. Sofia's boldness in her refusal to watch Miss Millie's children advances the battle against persecution and establishes her as a strong female amongst a world dominated mainly by men.
As a result of Sofia's bravery, Squeak also gains a voice. After a violent rape by the prison warden, Squeak begins to demand respect from Harpo. “Harpo say, I love you Squeak. He kneel down and try to put his arms round her waist. She stand up. My name Mary Agnes, she say” (Walker 102). Squeak, a particularly weak character, endures just as much abuse as the other female characters. She requires respect from a man who ultimately has the power to cause her great harm. Her courage earns her safety from Harpo and a better relationship in the end.
Conversely, Celie finds her voice not by herself, but with the help of her dear companion Shug. Shug, the flamboyant woman who commands respect from all, barrels into Celie's world and undermines all of the weakness that has become ingrained in Celie's mind. She encourages her to ask for more and gives her a good reason to live. Celie can eventually express her thoughts well enough to humble Mr. ______ for his years of abuse. Shug strengthens Celie to such the extent that Celie gains independence and leaves the shackles of Georgia behind.
The voice of women plays a major role in The Color Purple. Sofia, Squeak, and Celie all discover their true worth on their quests to stand up for themselves and acquire the respect that they deserve. And in acquiring that respect, the women battle the cycle of oppression so that those that follow them do not have to experience the same challenges that they did.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Washington D.C.

For those of you who requested that I post more frequently on my blog, in the next couple of days, I will be posting many pictures from my trip to D.C. Unfortunately my brother is not allowing him to use the camera to upload the photos at the moment, but ready yourselves for pure awesomeness!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Snowboarding or Bust!

My Christmas presents this year were a grand piano and a Sundance pass. You really can't get much better than that. My piano (aka my baby) has proved to be wonderful. I kiss her every night. With my fingers that is. Today was the day that I paid for my pass in the number of times I have gone. That's sweet. I went night skiing today and it was amazing. Until my binding came off. Then I had to go down to the shop to get it fixed. But then it was good again! Yay for me. And yay that there was nobody there so I just raced down that beautifully snowy mountain. Yay that track is starting after Christmas. Yay for CHRISTMAS! Yay for Clementines. Yay for the Hunger Games. Yay for everything. Yay for freaking spiritual experiences tonight involving near-death accidents. Don't fret. Heavenly Father cares. That's what I know and that's all that matters.

The one BOO in my life is that we are having are Book of Mormon party in our ward on Tuesday. Guess who didn't finish their reading? Me. Shame shame shame. I need to read more. But then yay for family traditions involving Gifts to Jesus and family goal setting.




Thursday, December 15, 2011

Raging

Tonight I am just raging. Raging like a mad man. And recently I was asked to post on my blog for the entertainment of some souls. Hopefully my crappy blog entertains you. Anyways,  today I finished The Hunger Games or the seventeenth time. No joke. (Actually I don't know how many times but its somewhere near there.) I'm borderline obsessed. Sorry. MARCH 23, 2012. I will be there. Probably on February 23 to camp out. Me and my mom. No Erik. Because he hasn't read the books. What a poo. I finally coaxed him into it this weekend. We made a pact. Not the kind like in the Katy Perry song, but the blood kind. So now he has been bound. And then he can go on our little party with us. But honestly, I just need to vent to somebody about my love of this book(s). You have no idea. So Erik has told me to write him a (deep) list on the symbolism, metaphors, big ideas, and reasons why he should read the Hunger Games.

  1. First off, look at these magnificent pictures my dear brother. Shut down. Now. Cause you can't look at that and not feel the ragin comin on. Honestly.
  2. Second off. Take a look at this man's beard. His name is Seneca Crane. I only wish I was cool enough to paint a beard on my face with mascara as well. Rough.

3.  The underlying message of the Hunger Games is much subtler than a mere one time reader can notice. Sorry Erik. This calls for multiple readings. My life has changed since I read this book. And it changes every time I do again. Just like when I read Night, or To Kill a Mockingbird, or The Book of Mormon either (wait...that was not sacreligious. The Book of Mormon is obviously more important...I'm just raging. That's all).
4. Jennifer Lawrence. Nuf said.
5. I have added more than 1000 views to the Official Trailer on Youtube. I also enjoy chastising any profusely stupid commentators who has the nerve to hate on my book. They are all haters. Go hate somewhere else haters.
6. If you think its like Twilight, then, once again, go hate somewhere else. In fact, why don't you just go hate on yourselves.
7. Suzanne Collins is my idol.
8. Repeat of number seven but more intense. I am passionate. Very passionate.
9. Its just that good.
10. If you don't read it I will kill you.

Sorry for the sparsity of the last few. Really the only way to get Erik to read it is to use the Lucy from the Peanuts Game Method. The five reasons are the fingers on her hand. My hand + Erik's face= Erik loves the Hunger Games!

Hurray for me. Sorry I will never be able to explain my whole love in its entirety. Just go read it. Then I will be happy.


Disclaimer: This poster does not reflect my beliefs in any way. I just typed in "I'm raging" into google and this is what I got. Good enough.

The end.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Kind of A Lot

Hey guess what? I'm fifteen years old. Pretty exciting, eh? On Tuesday, (my birthday), I went and got my permit at the DLD too. So watch out- I can drive now! Its pretty exciting. Then today I became an Eagle Scout- so hurray for me, right? Okay, anyways I don't have a lot of time...but yeah. Go eat some jello cause its really yummy.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Puesto De La Clase De Espanol Parte Dos

Pues, necesito entregar mi registro en B2, Espanol 4. He terminado los otros (esucha, habla, y lee) y este es el final parte. Voy a escribir de yo.

Pues, me llamo Christopher Cauwel Webb. Naci en Provo, Utah en el ventidos de Noviembre de 1996. Naci en una ventisca y he siempre amado la nieva. Me mude a Los Angeles cuando tenia tres o cuatro anos. Vivi alli por mas o menos cuatro anos. No recuerdo muy bien, pero recuerdo un cuento muy bien. Fue mi cumpleanos, y hubo dos chicas chinas que han llegado. No supe ellas. No se poque recuerdo este, pero recuerdo. Me mude a Suecia cuando tenia cinco anos. Fui a jardin de infancia alli. De suerte, mi maestra fue de England y sepa como hablar en ingles. Fue un bendicion muy grande para yo. Aprendi mucho en Suecia aqunque solo tenia cinco anos. Aprendi como hablar poquito sueco- y aunque fue muy dificil para yo, fue bueno para yo. Mi familia y yo regresamos a los Estados Unidos despues de dieciocho meses. Vivimos en Las Vegas por uno ano muy cerca de la casa de mis abuelos. Fui a la escuela de "George E. Harris" alli y mi maestra fue Senora Heimark. Me gusto mucho. Mi amigo mejor en Las Vegas fue Dennis Whitmore, porque fuimos al igual iglesia. Celebramos mi cumpleanos sexto alli. Despues de esta, nos mudemos a Utah. Vivimos en la casa de mis tios por seis meses, y entonces buscamos la casa que estamos viviendo en hoy dia. Lo me gusta mucho aunque no es muy grande. En este tiempo, tenia dos hermanos: un hermano mayor, y una hermana menor que se llamo Olivia. Tres mas hermanas nacieron en Utah: Natalie Norma, Grace Anna, y Sophia Patricia. La ultima nacio en Enero de este ano. De hecho, busque sus primeros dientes anoche. Estuvo muy emocionante!

Ahora, tengo catorce anos (Este es porque me salte el primero grado). Me encanta mi vida! Vivo en Orem y asistir al colegio Timpanogos. Tengo muchas clases dificiles y mucha tarea, pero esta bien. Estoy en el equipo cross-country de Timpanogos y me encanta este tambien. Me gusta mucho correr porque es saludable y limpiador. No so muy rapido, pero no soy muy lento tampoco. Toco el piano mucho: como dos o tres horas cada dia.  No soy orgulloso, pero soy muy advanzada. Mi maestra es Jill Winters, y el piano es un GRAN parte de mi vida. Sin piano, mi vida seria vacio.

Otro gran parte de mi vida es mi religion. Soy un mormon y este es enorme. Creo en Jesuchristo, el Dio que esta viviendo. Le amo con todo mi corazon. Tambien le amo al Libro de Mormon. Este es un libro sobre Jesuchristo y la gente que vivio en este continente. Me sento el espiritu cuando leer este libro. Una profeta se llamo Jose Smith dijo que este libro fue "el mas corecte que todos los libros en este mundo." Estoy de acuerdo con este.

Entonces, voy a ver como decir "idiosyncrasies" en espanol. PECURILIDAD. Pues, tengo muchos de estos.


  1. Me gusta MUCHO hornar postres. En el invierno cuando todo esta frio, este es muy bueno para calentar mi casa.
  2. Mi cepillo de dientes es rosado. 
  3. Me gusta leer mucho. Leo muchos libros extranos. Es para divertir.

Pues, este es el fin.

Gracias por lees. ;)