Shug
In
the instructions for P3, we were given the suggestion: ��to choose a
role model for essay three that exemplifies the character, the kind of
person you want to become.� This specific sentence from the directions
plagued me when choosing a hero because most of the people I considered
had a noteworthy legacy, but their character as a person was not
exemplary. Although I don�t believe that a hero is automatically
someone you wish to fashion your life around, I did agree that a hero
must have an upright morality. Therefore, when reading books about
these characters who exhibit qualities I simply do not admire or think
moral, I fail to see any of the characters as heroic. Further, I think
that Alice Walker, as an author, does not deserve to be considered
heroic because she is the one who originally invented and then
published perverse scenes.
Don�t get me wrong. I understand
that the women (and some of the men) in this novel went through amazing
hardships and this skewed their version of morality. I also acknowledge
that not everyone agrees with what is moral. However, one of the most
important things to me is fidelity, something that very few of the
characters seem to value. No one is faithful to their husbands or
wives, friends or maids, even to themselves. And what�s more, none of
the characters seem incurably bothered by living alongside a husband
who is in love with another woman or a wife who loves another woman or
man. It seems that the should feel the awkwardness Shug describes when
talking about her house � �I just feel funny living in a square.
If I was square, then I could take it better� (209) � when living so
discordantly with one another and their intertangled relationships.
Nettie,
Corrinne, and Samuel along with Celie�s children in Africa were the
most heroic characters in this work in my opinion. They were portrayed
as living up to their own beliefs at least and they took action.
However, since they were mostly only portrayed by Nettie�s letters,
there is no unbiased source revealing their true characteristics.
Nonetheless, in Africa they seem to have escaped the corruption of
western man: �Man corrupt everything�He on your box of grits, in your
head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere.
Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God� (197). Even though
they have escaped the infiltration of man into every part of their
lives, they fail to influence those around them. SO, in my opinion,
although they have the heroic trait of independence, they fall short of
becoming heroes who are influential.