You have to git man off your eyeball, before you can see anything a’tall

This is an excerpt from a discussion between Shug and Celie in Alice Walker’s novel “The Color Purple”. The discussion is on the concept of God and men. Shug who thought these issues through is sharing her views with Celie who through her life experiences game to resent God and men. As Celie contemplates what Shug said, she is starting to realize that in order to see things clearly she would have to disregard men she had known in her life and men in general. When Celie compares “a little scrub of a bush” against Mr.______’s evil, the evil shrinks. This is a representation of what is natural or in nature against man’s constructs. “Man corrupt everything. He try to make you think he everywhere…you think he god”. Men interpret religion, create social structures and norms, and impose their views on women. Shug urges Celie to push all of these away by looking to nature, “Conjure up flowers, wind, water, a big rock”, and create her own ideology.

Inna