Page 146: "Well, she say, looking me up and down, let's make you some pants.
"What I need pants for? I say. I ain't no man.
"Don't git uppity, she say. But you don't have a dress do nothing for you. You not made like no dress pattern neither.
"I don't know, I say. Mr. not going to let his wife wear pants."
Page 258: "How you make your living up there? he say.
"Making pants, I say.
"He say, I notice everybody in the family just about wearing pants you made. But you mean you turned it into a business?
"That's right, I say. But I really started it right here in your house to keep from killing you."
Pants. I chose to dedicate an entire blog post to this subject, because I think it's an incredibly important symbol in The Color Purple. For Celie, pants are independence, not only because they're a masculine article of clothing, but also because they provide her with income. I think nothing of pulling on a pair of pants, but for women in Celie's time, wearing pants was a major statement, and a radical choice. The first quote highlights the unconventionality of pant-wearing women in Celie's culture, showing the dissonance between Celie and Shug's worlds. Shug introduces Celie to many new and modern concepts, but when she helps Celie make her first pair of pants, she's opening far more doors than she knows. Celie's pants become her ticket to liberation. Shortly after making her first pair of pants, Celie leaves home to go to Memphis with Shug. Once in Memphis, she begins to become more and more accustomed to her independence, but also seeks more, and this is when Shug encourages her to start selling her pants.
The second quote is one of my favorites from the book. The very fact that Celie is able to talk so bluntly about the past, and her feelings toward her husband, is because she is now his equal, thanks to her pants. The pants started as a way to "keep from killing" her husband, but they grew into an emblem of Celie's autonomy and liberation from not only her abusive and oppressive life, but from the gender roles of her time. From the moment Celie donned her first pair of pants, she embraced a new era and a new way of life for all women.
"What I need pants for? I say. I ain't no man.
"Don't git uppity, she say. But you don't have a dress do nothing for you. You not made like no dress pattern neither.
"I don't know, I say. Mr. not going to let his wife wear pants."
Page 258: "How you make your living up there? he say.
"Making pants, I say.
"He say, I notice everybody in the family just about wearing pants you made. But you mean you turned it into a business?
"That's right, I say. But I really started it right here in your house to keep from killing you."
The second quote is one of my favorites from the book. The very fact that Celie is able to talk so bluntly about the past, and her feelings toward her husband, is because she is now his equal, thanks to her pants. The pants started as a way to "keep from killing" her husband, but they grew into an emblem of Celie's autonomy and liberation from not only her abusive and oppressive life, but from the gender roles of her time. From the moment Celie donned her first pair of pants, she embraced a new era and a new way of life for all women.
