The Color Purple Analytic Essay “Trauma and Essence” by Bodhi Liveright

Alice Walker wrote a story about a woman named Celie and the history of her trauma. The story is a journey from near death to a full life earned through hardships and self-discovery. Most people might easily lose themselves completely as the character Sofia almost does after her jail sentence. But even after years of hiding it to keep herself safe Celie finds her essence. The single most important thing Walker identifies for us is the idea that our essence can always be accessible. Essence is the part of every individual thing that cannot be broken, a light that always shines. Celie realizes her essence in the simple things and it’s one of the contributing factors to keeping her alive. Celie’s statement “I'm pore, I'm black, I may be ugly and can't cook, a voice say to everything listening. But I'm here.” shows her strength and the fact she is able to say something like this is proof that her inner voice had not been lost after years of traumatic experiences. She sets an example for people who struggle hearing that voice in reality. Celie’s world is horrible to imagine. As she lies in bed with Albert on top of her night after night, she is able to disassociate. Her soul escapes from the harsh reality of living with a serial rapist who had captured her to be his wife. Yet, that is the only thing she knows how to do. Even the hope that one day she can be with her beloved sister Nettie slips away as time passes.“Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.” Before Sofia get arrested for hitting a white man and is sent to jail, she was in touch with her essence. “All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and my uncles. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men. But I never thought I'd have to fight in my own house. She let out her breath. I loves Harpo, she say. God knows I do. But I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me.” Celie then advises Harpo to beat his wife Sofia and Sofia’s life begins to change. This is the life Celie knows, it’s not her fault. She’s involved in a pattern of violence. Sofia eventually leaves with her kids but eventually she falls victim to the culture of submission and racism for Black women. She is a broken person when she’s released from prison and Celie takes notice. “What will people say, you running off to Memphis like you don't have a house to look after? Shug say, Albert. Try to think like you got some sense. Why any woman give a shit what people think is a mystery to me. Well, say Grady, trying to bring light. A woman can't git a man if peoples talk. Shug look at me and us giggle. Then us sure nuff. Then Squeak start to laugh. Then Sofia. All us laugh and laugh.” Shug turns out to be a life line for Celie and she seemed to be the same for Shug. They took care of each other. Shug found redemption with her father through her voice and wouldn’t have been able to without her connection to Celie. This sisterhood became another life-line, a reason for living. Finding out Nettie was alive set everything into motion for true freedom from the hell she experienced for so many years with Albert. For Celie it often came down to simple things, by simply remembering running through the fields with her sister, she transported herself to a place of essence. Celie never lost her relationship with her imagination. Some people get stuck in the place of trauma, like Sofia did. For some reason Celie was able to avoid getting stuck, always able to rise above the awful things happening to her. This is a testament to her ability to find her way back to her essence. We learn how to live in the world based on the situation we’re born into. Celie had it rough and had to adapt to her treacherous environment. Having a father who raped her and then giving birth to two children by him is an almost unbearable story to read. Yet, what struck me the most about her story is how she survived it. Celie found essence in everything. Maybe she was luckier than most people. Maybe she was able to sit down and look at a flower and disappear into it. My dad told me this story about sitting down and watching three stalks of grass. It’s part of a poem he sent me the other day. “I watch three stalks of grass shake in the breeze. More like a shimmy shake. To the left. To the right. And then the wind stops, so they stop. And when the wind blows harder these three begin to dance!” We can overcome certain experiences and maybe change our relationship to trauma by acknowledging our essence. Sometimes it’s seeing the divine in the little things like a stalk of grass. Or a good meal. Or a great movie. Or a walk in the park with your friends. Or simply to lie down in a field of purple flowers and daydream. Humans have unique brains that can remember the past and plan for the future. Yet it occurs to me that we’re always in the present, no matter how hard we try not to. It's unclear why it’s easier for some people than others. Maybe it’s because we are all experiencing things differently from each other.