HaJung+Kim's+Summer+Reading

=THE COLOR PURPLE = =by Alice Walker =




//The Color Purple// by Alice Walker represents the meaning of hope and God. Christianity is strongly presented and Foster’s novel //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// elaborates the religion theme in “...Or the Bible.” In the first few diaries, Celie continuously prays to God and asks for answers. Also, her diary is always directed to God explaining the religious power. The religion theme is portrayed to explain how the blacks relied upon God giving them faith.

During Celie’s childhood, the questions that she couldn’t answer or the things that she couldn’t explain are all answered by God. “I say God’s. I don’t know no other man or what else to say,” (Walker 2). This shows how powerful God was among the blacks’ beliefs regarding how he created everything. Also, the use of God within the novel reveals the salvation that the blacks have. Having tough lives and being oppressed by the whites of the time led to this phenomenon; hope is never given up. Walker explains this factor because even with all the oppression, there is little hope guiding the characters along to endure the hardships together. For example, when Sofia gets imprisoned, instead of giving up her family plans to bring her back with hope. The influence of power is greatly demonstrated joining everyone together. In sum, religion and hope can be thoroughly viewed introducing the blacks’ beliefs.

Finally, the meaning of religion and hope is well viewed with descriptive wordings. Walker’s choice of phrasing sentences are captivating, engaging the main points clearly. The idea of faith is proven to be great encouraging people while presenting the theme as well. Therefore, Christianity has been a very influential tool within the novel. 

Comment#1 Hi Hajung, this is Phillip from last year. I hope you spent great time on your summer vacation. Anyways, after I have looked over your essay, your thesis and purpose was clearly stated. How the blacks relied upon God giving them faith. However, it seemed unnecessary how you have stated your thesis by saying "religion theme is portrayed to explain how...". Your essay was well organized with clear statements. Moreover, your idea and thesis was well supported by your supporting statements. However, your essay does not contain one of the requirements for this assignment. Its summary. You did not summarize the particular section of the novel very well, which can lead the readers to misunderstanding of the analysis. Moreover, your essay seem to lack word choices. It would've been much better if you used challenging words. Anyways, your thesis was very clear which is great. Overall, it would've been a great essay if you have took care of some minor mistakes.

-Phillip Song



=**Essay #2: Politics**  = = =  Novel, //The Color Purple// is related to Foster’s book //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// in the aspect of politics. The chapter, “It’s All Political” is related to the life and the treatments of blacks within the society. One of the political examples is black man being in a higher position than a black woman. Celie’s nineteenth diary explains the authority that men have over women regarding Harpo, Mr._, and Sofia. The political matter between the same people but different gender plays a major role in expressing politics.

After Harpo marries Sofia, he’s unable to control her because he’s weak and Sofia isn’t obedient. To settle this conflict, Harpo asks Mr._ for help and he tells Harpo, “Nothing can do better than a good sound beating,” (Walker 36). This shows the authority that men have over women among the same people. Similar case goes for Celie and Mr._ for he continuously mistreats her and places authority over her. In such situations, women had no choice but to take the wrong treatments because of the political view. Walker emphasizes the wrongness of power that men possess. In her point of view, equality within the same society and people should be achieved rather than one group having more authority. The matter of black politics is criticized to inform the necessary changes to reconstruct the society for the better. The oppression that women receive from men is one of the main issues presented through different characters to directly notify the politic of the time.

To conclude, the politics can be analyzed and viewed in many ways to discover inequality within the same race. Also, oppression is a very common theme that’s denounced. As a result, the sufferings of women is strongly viewed in regards to Walker’s feminism ideals.



=**Essay #3: Sexism/Feminism** =

//The Color Purple// by Alice Walker represents the issue of sexism and feminism within the black society. Foster’s book, //How to Read Literature Like a Professor// mentions the issue of sexism in “It’s All About Sex...” In Celie’s first and ninth diaries, she reveals the rapes from Alphonso and Mr. but she can do nothing about it. The feminism and sexism plays a vital role in Celie’s life leading Walker to express various actions.

In Celie’s first entry, she gets sexually misconducted by her father resulting as a trauma, which causes her not to confront or to argue making her isolated and only revealing herself through the diary. This situation worsens when she marries Mr., for she is beaten and raped. The consequence for this is that Celie never disobeys what Mr. tells her and does everything immediately. “He beat me like he beat the children,” (Walker 23). Her lack of courage to defend herself guides Walker to state her point about feminism. She expresses the theme, black men vs. black women trying to inform other black women that men are committing wrongdoings. They’re in the same community, but mistreat one another with rape especially within family members. She emphasizes this point to alert the women to report such actions instead of hiding it. If these situations are exposed, the community will improve to better society. Previous theme brings the idea of pedophilia because the wrongful actions are taking place within the same atmosphere. In conclusion, sexism is a main issue that’s continuously addressed.

Lastly, the theme of black men vs. black women, shown through Celie and other characters reveal the truth in the society of the wrong actions. As a result, Walker has developed fictional characters to express her thoughts on feminism and sexism that should be changed.



=**Essay #4: Way of Explanation** =

= =  //The Color Purple// by Alice Walker explorers the theme of sexism similar to Foster’s //How to Read a Literature Like a Professor//. The chapter “...Except Sex” is related to Walker’s explanations. Celie’s ninth diary explains her wedding and her first night after getting married. In this scene, Celie gets abused my Mr. _ who sexually misconducts her. With the bearings, Celie’s description of the misconduct remains unique from those of Foster’s showing a different side to an explanation.

When the sexual misconduct happens to Celie, she often describes it with simplicity being direct without obscenity. “...while he on top of me,” (Walker 12). This distinguishes the difference in the style of novel from the previous century authors that Foster mentions. The other novels are often clear with the descriptions of such obscenities but Walker mentions the directness without hesitation. On the other hand, novel Lolita also doesn’t mention obscenity but the readers are informed of the sexual misconduct because it’s narrated. The two novels use the same techniques to avoid the obscene descriptions. However, Walker purposely chooses to make Celie describe it so simple. Celie is a black girl who hasn’t been educated well lacking skills in describing her thoughts and explanations. To promote this theme, Walker continues this use being as simple and direct as possible. This represents the typical black society and culture. As a result, Celie is described in numerous aspects to symbolically mention the life within the black community.

Finally, Celie being sexually assaulted has lead to various aspects of Walker’s thoughts within Celie’s simple writing. The simplicity goes into depth elaborating the main ideas through literary elements. Also, there are distinguishing factors from previous century novels enabling the readers to view the different purpose of the writing style and their unique factors.



=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(184, 0, 255); font-size: 130%;">**Essay #5: Ironies** = =<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(19, 19, 88);"> = <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(19, 19, 88);"> //The Color Purple// by Alice Walker contains many ironies like the chapter “Is He Serious? And Other Ironies” from Foster’s //How to Read Literature Like a Professor//. The irony begins when Nettie tries to get away from Mr.'s abuse and end up in Reverend Mr.’s house. At the house, Celie’s children are found and Nettie writes to Celie telling her discovery. The irony within the discovery conveys an important symbol that’s simple but complicated.

Previously, when Nettie spent time with Reverend Mr.’s family, she recognized Celie’s children whom Alphonso had gotten rid of. “...she had your eyes set in the face,” (Walker 127). This is an irony because she wasn’t looking for the lost children but she just happened to find them, and this announces the beginning of ironies. Later, Celie meets her children after Alphonso dies, and the fact that Nettie meets her children first is ironic. There is no particular symbol or reason behind it in Celie meeting her children in such a peculiar way. Throughout the novel, she would sometimes worry about her children and look for them but never found them. However, they were living so close to her the whole time. To present this idea, Walker incorporates how sometimes things just appear when you’re not looking for them and how you can’t find something when it’s right under your nose. In conclusion, Celie and Nettie are guidance tools to explain this phenomenon.

As a result, such simple ironies have crucial meanings within them. These ironies show the readers the importance of family relationship as well. Lastly, the symbol that Walker described can happen in every day life relating this fact to many people.

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=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(235, 0, 7); font-size: 130%;">**Comment #1** = =<span style="color: rgb(74, 0, 255);"> = <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(19, 19, 88);"> <span style="color: rgb(74, 0, 214);">Alice Ahn Essay #1: The Reason For A Journey

Hi Alice!!!!! I hope your summer was awesome! ^^ I read the same book so I can relate to your essay a lot. I agree with the points that you’ve stated and I’ve never viewed the novel this way so it’s very interesting and engaging. However, your essay seems to be unclear with the summary section. Your main points and thesis is well stated but the summary is too broad. Focusing on the specific section that you’ve written about would improve the summary in general. Also, the people who haven’t read the book would understand your essay and the novel better. For the word choice, there seems to be number of “however” throughout the essay that sounds repetitive and unnecessary. Changing these words would improve your sentences their structure. As for the examples that you used, they convey the general topic of your essay and support it in a very concise way. Overall, your essay is very well written and shows your efforts! -HaJung Kim-

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=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; color: rgb(220, 245, 0); font-size: 130%;">**Comment #2** = =<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(19, 19, 88);"> = <span style="color: rgb(62, 0, 255); font-family: Georgia,serif;">Sarah Hwang Essay #1: Quest <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(19, 19, 88);">

<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 110%; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hi Sarah!!! I hope you had a good summer vacation! ^^ I didn’t do this book for summer reading but I read it before so I can relate easily to your points. For your introduction, it leads the readers to the ideas that you’re going to present well and you state examples from Foster’s book which makes the introduction stronger. However, you didn’t state which chapter that you’re referring your essay to from Foster’s book which can definitely confuse the readers. Adding this minor information would help the readers! Also, for your thesis, I can’t get a clear idea or find it. It seems that you’re only stating your points and general information rather than giving a strong thesis. Your thesis needs to be more clear or rephrased so the readers wouldn’t misinterpret your ideas. In general, some sentences also seem wordy containing a few unnecessary words. Changing some of these would make your thoughts more concise. For the use of your quote, it looks too long and unnecessary to include so much. Picking out the important section from the whole quote would be better because you already expressed these ideas in your summary so it’s basically restating. Finally, there are some minor grammar errors in your sentences (last paragraph) as well as irregularity in your use of tense. Pick either the present or the past and stay consistent to one of the tenses. Overall, your essay is well constructed, and it would be improved a lot more if you fix some of the errors! <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; color: rgb(19, 19, 88);"> -HaJung Kim-