National Council of Teachers of English
Wake Forest University
Relationshipsidentity.weebly.com

Rebecca DePalma
depar17@wfu.edu
November 2017

8 Great Books The Color Purple
Essential Questions
How do relationships affect identity development in The Color Purple? How does clothing serve as a feminist symbol in the text? How does this novel affect a reader’s understanding of domestic violence? How does this text discuss gender bias? How does Nettie’s experience of Europeans in Africa reflect the experience of racism in the United States? What affect does Celie’s diction have on the meaning of this text? How does Sophia’s story inform the reader about the intersection of racism and sexism? What is this novel’s perspective on religion?
Enter Activities
Think/Pair/Square/Share – Top Five List - Relationships theme - Students fill out a worksheet about two important relationships in their life and the active elements of the relationship that make it influential in their lives. Then students determine five ways people treat each other that are essential to relationships. They pair up and determine their top five actions from what each person brought. They square and determine the top five between the four of them. Then create a small poster (8.5X11) about their top five, and then present them to the group. Teacher posts them on the bulletin board. Discussion of healthy/unhealthy/abusive relationships and then lead-in to The Color Purple.
Note taking onto timelines, guiding questions or fill-in the blank to aid in reading comprehension
Our Prayer – write your own lyrics for the song from the musical. One version for self and one reprise version for the The Color Purple.
Found Poetry – pages 4 & 5 in the text – select lines to create a poem and cover up the rest of the lines on the pages with art for students to make their own meaning from this text.
Dear _____ – students write their own letters. They need to write one to a character in The Color Purple. They can also write one to themselves.

Explore Activities

Characterization/Identity Development Tree Graphic Design project – for a character or for an individual Roots: foundational beliefs, morals, ancestors -- Trunk: Name of the character/person Branches: names of characters they have relationships with Fruit: Strengths they gain from the relationship -- Leaves: skills they gain from a relationship Blossoms: new beginnings from relationships – Around the tree – outside influences
(Students provide a sentence of evidence and explanation with each identity formation fruit/leaf/blossom.)
Diction Dissection – code switch in and out of Celie’s diction -- what is the effect of the diction on the text? Lead to discussion about code-switching, and what does it mean that a book with this diction could win the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award? Whose voices are empowered by this text?
Fill the Gaps – Students create a role play that fills a gap they are curious about in the text. Write dialogue between two characters that Celie or Nettie do not transcribe in the book.
Compare and contrast – Film/Music/Book – choose scenes and compare and contrast the differences and have students consider how these choices affect the meaning and impact of the text.
Characterization Poem – for an antagonist – turn words spoken by the antagonist from the text into a poem that you feel represents the character.

Extend Activities

Real Issues – Students write a position paper about real issues of racism, rape, domestic violence, human trafficking, access to education, poverty, sexism and homophobia. Using the novel as a launch pad, students research informational texts and compile the research into a position paper about a current policy or lack thereof on one of these topics. For example, if students choose rape as their issue, students can research what makes it so difficult for people who’ve committed rape to be brought to justice. Information about policies around treatment of rape victims by law enforcement, privacy for survivors within the law of the accused having a right to face their accuser.
Service Learning Project Example: Support people who have suffered domestic violence. Partner with local domestic violence shelter and run a drive for money or supplies. Raise awareness of how people can get help to escape abuse. Train on what to do if someone confides in you about suffering abuse. Advocate for better services in the community for mental health care.
Rise Up – Students consider how the different characters continue in life after tribulations. They analyze what it takes to rise with inspiration from The Color Purple and these additional texts: “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0 and “Rise Up” by Andra Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNKu1uNBVkU
Wide Angle Lens – Students read excerpts about the effect of relationships on identity formation to be able to look at the issues they might be in the middle of, from a distance.
Text choices: Buhrmester, D. (1990). Intimacy of friendship, interpersonal competence, and adjustment, during preadolescence and adolescence. Child Development, 61 pp. 1101-1111.
Caselman, T.D. & Self, P.A. (2007). Adolescent perception of self as a close friend: Culture and gendered contexts. Social Psychology of Education, 10, pp. 353-373.
Morgan, Elizabeth M. & Korborov, Neill (2012). Interpersonal identity formation in conversations with close friends about dating relationships. Journal of Adolescence, 35, pp. 1471-1483.
Morris, Monique W. (2016). Pushout. New York: The New Press.