Epistolary

An Epistolary is literature in the form of a series of letters. This structure can be observed in Alice Walker's The Color Purple. The novel begins with Celie's letters to God. Later, her letters are to her sister, Nettie. Because Celie's father warned her that she can only talk to God about her rape and other fears, Celie uses the letters as a means of confession and catharsis. The letters are Celie's way of writing for survival, as Fanny Fern recommends in "Folly As It Flies." The letters provide Celie with a way to channel her pain and fear into writing. By writing letters to God, Celie is seeking comfort, and asking for his judgement.
The letters are also Celie's motivation to learn how to read and write. Before Nettie leaves, they promise to keep in touch with eachother by writing letters. Nettie is able to teach Celie some of what she has learned through her formal education. After Nettie leaves, Celie continues to educate herself in preparation of Nettie's correspondence. In this way, the letters inspire Celie's continuous education and development.
The letters are made up of parables. Celie's stories include religious and moral lessons, which include forgiveness and grace. The letters also document Celie's religious conversion from Christianity to a new sort of Pagan ideology.

-Elyse Rogers

The Queen Honeybee

The Queen Honeybee

"The Queen Honeybee" is a nickname for Shug Avery in Alice Walker's The Color Purple. The nickname shows up on an advetisement for her performance at the Lucky Star. The name is a sign of affection, and the word honey suggests that she is sweet. However, honeybees are known to have a stinger. The honeybee is a metaphor for duality of Shug's personality. She acts sweet, but Shug is shown to have bite to her personality. The queen bee's function in the hive is to reproduce. This is a comparison between the queen bee's association with fertility and Shug's stong sex drive. The honeybee is also a symbol of nature, and this supports Shug's religious ideology. Shug finds god in nature, rather than church. If god is considered "King," then Shug being called "Queen" suggests the goddess of nature.

-Elyse Rogers

cacoethes scribiendi

- "manic writing" was the topic of Catharine Sedgwick's essay
in 1835. It is also a state that Jo gets in when she is in her garret. While writing she
wears a pennefore and hat with a red bow. the bows location on the hat indicates her
writing mode and mood, one of which is a fury of idea and creativity or "cacoethes
scribiendi". the garret is a place where her ideas are free to manicly escape onto paper
without interruption.

Layla Bozek

Feminine power is not coercive, but persuasive.

This passage is found in Sarah Josepha Hale’s book of Manners. It represents Hale’s opinion that women should not participate directly in voting or the administrative qualities of government. Hale determines that this responsibility is to be taken up by men only. She defends this position, saying that it is inappropriate for a woman to compete with her husband or son in a public sphere. Rather, in pursuing her duty in the home, in her marriage, and in her responsibility in child rearing she will have a persuasive influence on the masculine duties of law and government. Hale advises women to cultivate virtue, knowledge, and accomplishments. This will influence and aid men in their work, as they align themselves with God’s virtues, and in so doing she will be the “glory of the man.”

Pickwick Club

A secret society that the March sisters create and name after a Charles Dicken's novel. The girls meet in the garret to contribute short stories, articles and poetry to their newspaper, the "The Pickwick Portfolio." At one of the meetings after the sisters agree to invite Laurie to be a member of their club he bursts out of his hiding spot in the closet, but promises to be a good member. The P.C. becomes a manifestation of the girl's immense creativity and imagination. It also showcases Jo's literary aspirations as the P.C.'s editor, but she is not oppressed by society's gender expectations in the club because she is able to play the role of Augustus Snodgrass. Much like the domestic space of the Marches' home, the P.C. opens its doors to Laurie and he is invited into the secret space of the sisters.

Jennifer Truong