Fiction = Reality?

    Even though I know that the events that occur in my fictional choice read are indeed fiction, I always manage to get deeply invested and frustrated. My book reading experience can very often be compared to how people watch horror movies. However rather than scream at the TV, “don’t go in there!” and “why would they do that?!”, my internal monologue hears out all the frustration I hold as a result of dramatic irony. That’s why it’s there, right? Even while I acknowledge that the upsetting events that happen in the books I read are fiction, the fact that they actually occur in the world is what really gets to me.

  The silent book club novel that I chose was The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and Mrs. Walker details some very upsetting moments and realities that the characters face and live with. Since the book takes place in the early eighteenth century, women were treated significantly different than today, yet still scarily similar. It is common practice for the men in the novel to treat their female counterparts as less than, if even as a person at all. For the main character Celie, her husband treated her like an object, abusing her and making her a slave under his control. I greatly pity Celie as growing up she knew no different. Her father did many horrible things to her, so she never really thought her life was all that unordinary.

    What frustrated me the most and brought me to a “screaming at the TV moment” was when Celie told her step-son that he should beat his wife, Sofia, to make her more compliant. While that made my blood begin to boil, I was soon excited to read that Sofia was not just another nervous housewife with no life besides her husband, she was an independent and strong woman. Sofia fought back, oftentimes winning.

    The whole reason why this all was so significant to me was because I greatly respect Alice Walker for portraying a strong woman in a time period and environment where that sadly was not the norm. Today, women are still objectified, belittled, and are often thought treated as less than men. Sofia as a whole represents the modern woman, and is an inspiration for not only her time but ours. She represents women standing up for themselves, and standing up to the sexist ways of our past and present. No matter the gender, we should all take a piece of Sofia’s independence and strength, and be voice to help those like Celie.