Okay so, so far this book is going good. The first three chapters were kind of hard to understand at first but I got the jist of what's going on. So as I mentioned before the story is about 5 sisters and how they each one by one commit suicide. The first sister to go is Cecilia. In the book she is described as "a dreamer" "Somebody out of touch with reality". All the boys were fascinated with these five sisters. They would think of ways to catch thme in the shower or try and snatch a glimpse of their personal things. Anyways Cecilia was more of the "strange" one out of the sisters. She always wore a vintage 1920s wedding dress and kind of kept to herself. The first time she attempted suicide she was foind in the bathroom with her wrists slit. When the paramedics came to get her, they found a picture of the Virgin Mary attached to her. After spending time in the hospital she saw a psychiatrist and was asked why she had done this, her reponse was, "Obviously Doctor, you've never been a 13-year old girl." And they came to the conclusion that she had no intentions of ending her life, that this was simply a cry for help. So pretty soon, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon were advised to give their daughters a little more freedom. Once Cecilia was back home, they kept a close watch on her, when she wanted to take a bath she had to leave the door opened a crack and her parents took out and and all sharp objects. Anyways one night Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon decided to let their daughters throw a chaperoned party and invite all the boys from thier neighborhood. Cecilia was sjust sitting there in her wedding dress looking miserable, her mother then gave her permission to excuse herself from the party. Once she had done so, she went upstairs and jumped from the third floor window, meeting her death.


The point that I'm trying to make is this: For only being 13 years old, Cecilia was a pretty mature young girl with a very mature mind, which leads to my connection about teenagers in today's society; especially girls, they younger they are now a days the quicker they are growing up and they can't keep up with it, they don't know how to handle it, resulting in incidences such as depression which may lead to eating disorders, or even worse; suicide.

Well actually, the name of Celie's hisband is mentioned; his name is Albert. But Shug and only Shug was allowed to address him by his first name. I guess because his name not being exposed showed his "high stature" and that very few people were worthy of calling him by his first name. And Shug was the only woman who ever had this kind of power over him because she was the only one who put him in his place and he always waited around for her.


Anyways, I just got my copy of my second book that I will begin to read which is called The Virgin Suicides by Jefferey Eugenidis. Eugenidis has also written another fantastic book called Middlesex and I HIGHLY recommend that book. The Virgin Suicides has also been made into a major motion picture which I've heard was extremely well-put together and I will be watching it after I finish to compare the book and movie version of this story.

Here's a brief synopsis:
This book is depicts the image of youth and the loss of innocencenof 5 interesting sisters; Therese, Mary, Bonnie, Lux, and Cecilia who all face the same demise of suicide.

In the last book, I read how woman deal with issues attacking them from the outside world, in this book I will be reading about the issues that attack them psychologically and how it contributes to my overall big question. So, stay tuned!

I've finally finished!

This was a really great book.

Okay, so Celie finally got up the courage to stand up to Mr____. and tell him that she is finally leaving with Shug to Memphis. She told Mr.____ while everyone was around; Shug, Harpo, Sofia, and Harpo's second wife, Squeak. Everyone was so surprised that Celie finally mustered up enough courage to stand up to Mr._____. Even Squeak confessed that she was going too. Anyways, Shug and Celie leave to Memphis together and stay at Shug's house. Everything starts looking up for Celie. She recently takes up the hobby for making pants and that soon turns into a small business. Nettie is schedualed to come back as well. Later on, Celie finds out that her stepfather dies and she overtakes his house which is big enough for herself, Nettie, Netties husband whom she met in Africa, Sofia, Harpo, and Squeak. However, Shug ends up falling in love with a 19 year old guy from her band and that breaks Celie's heart. But in the end, Celie ends up having the life, the family, and the love that she had been dreaming of.


This book in all, taught the lesson of never giving up and never losing faith, because in order for things to get better, they need to get worse first.

So, Nettie is still in Africa, performing her missionary duties. However, I have two points to make from what I have read so far. While in Africa, Nettie helps teach the children basic education. Of course it's only boys that attend school and there's only one girl, Olivia. The tribe that Nettie is in charge of teaching is called the Olinka. One day, when Nettie aked one of the mothers why there is only one girl that attends school, the mother simply replied, "A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something". This got me thinking; years, decades back this is how people thought, this is how people were brought up to think. But, in some cases, some people still consider women as propety, and feel as if without a husband, they can't make it on their own. For example, during the day, there are still talk shows that host meninw hich they feel as if their women should be treated as a "thing" and nothing else.

Moving on...

Celie just recently dicovered that her real father had been lynched and when she went to go visit her stepfather, he barely remembered her. She then stopped beleiving in God. She referred to God as "a man" who "acts just like the other mens I know". She;s come to the point where she's basically given up hope.

You're right about that, money always means competition. Sofia is characterized that way to show that it's not right for women to settle being treated like that. In the men's eyes she's seen as disobedient, but to everyone else, she's seen as a women who is taking a stand for herself, because back then, not many women did. I also think she's characterized like that to maybe guide Celie to be more strong for herself.

Anyways moving on..

Celie discovered that Mr.____ had been taking all of the letters that Nettie, Celie's sister had been writing to her and keeping them hidden from Celie. Up until this point, Celie was sure that Nettie was dead because she never heard from her. In the letters Nettie was telling Celie how she needs to get away Mr.___ because he had tried to make a pass at Nettie and she refused and because she refused Mr.___ told her that Celie would never hear from her. Anways..in her letters Nettie described how she went to Africa and then New York. Hopefully they will soon be reunited..we'll find out..

Me too, the further I get into the book the more I can see how different is from his father. Which brings me to another point. Harpo begins to eat prefously when he's at home and then goes to Celie's house and eats more. One night Celie found him on the porch crying, complaining how Sofia, his wife, won't obey him and how she has the upperhand in the relationship and he doesn't. Which brings me to a point of how men, to this day, are so intimdated by the fact that in some cases, women are stonger than them, and are capeable of dealing with more than them. That of course, upsets them because in society men are supposed to be the ones who provide for their families and are looked up to, and the women are supposed to stay at home, cooking and cleaning and doing all of this with a great big smile on their faces; a very "Leave it to Beaver" scenario. But today, that's not how the story goes at all. Today in most cases, the men stay at home and the women go to work. And people aren't happy with that. It makes me wonder what the point of fighting for equal rights for women was..

Someone who could show Celie the light?

Yeah, in this book, all the main characters that are mentioned are African-American.

Well, continuing on...

Mr___. has a son, whose name is Harpo. Now Harpo has fallen in love with a girl, Sofia and has also gotten her pregnant at the age of 17. Well they have the child and they move in together and one night Celie overhears Harpo telling Mr.____ that Sofia doesn't listen to him, reasin being he doesn't beat her as was normal back then for the husbands to beat their wives so they can obey them. Reason being, if Harpo were to hit Sofia, she would hit him back. That to me, is funny and I think it's good for Celie. Because Celie is someone who won't fight for herself, she'd rather do as she's told just as long as she continues living. Whereas Sofia takes a stand for herself and holds no fear. I think this might be something good for Celie...

The Color Purple

For my first book, I am reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This book takes place during a time where women were sold and treated as property. The main character Celie gets sexually abused by her father at the age of fourteen. She then ends up pregnant with his child and he takes it and kills it. Her mother dies and leaves behind Celie and her younger sister Nettie. As she gets older, Celie grows up afraid of men. "I don't even look at mens. That's the truth. I look at women, tho, cause I'm not scared of them"(6). Her father then takes her out of sc hoo, saying that she is too "dumb" to be there and that she is wasting her time. At the age of twenty her father marries her off to a Mr.___. Once she's with him she becomes aware of another woman in his life known as Shug Avery and becomes almost infatuated with her, but you'll hear more about her as I continue reading. Celie puts his arm around him which is ironic because she attempts to love him and all her life she was raised fearing men.

This was years back, when women were labled simply as just a "thing". But its sad to say, that there still are women in today's society that are still being treated like that.

A Woman's Worth

For my independant reading project I selected books that have to do with women and the hardships they face. Which brings me to my question: Why is there so much pressure put on women? The image that today's society has created for women is they have to keep their good looks, slim figure, all the while raising children, maintaining a household, and holding down a job. But it seems to me that women get hit the hardest with problems that effect them emotionally and spirtually and yet, society expects them to hold their ground and simply just "get over it".