Perspectives on Spirituality: A Study of The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Abstract

Religion comes from the Latin word ‘religio’ which means to bind. Veritably, religion is a doctrine of fusion and harmonization. Any discipline, which binds one with one another in an ethical way, is religion. Religion has very powerful repercussions on society. Whereas the word spirituality comes from root words in Hebrew, Latin and Greek that all mean wind, breath, or air - that which gives life. One has common terms that use ‘spirit’ as a sense of energy, essence, vitality, awareness or consciousness, such as ‘team spirit’, ‘sing with spirit’, ‘in high spirits’, ‘a generous spirit’, ‘spirit of the law’, or ‘get in the spirit of it’. Spirituality means feeling of one’s unity with all. It is the state of consciousness in which the feeling of otherness is gone and the feeling of kinship and unity with the so called others is established.  In the novel The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker spiritual perspectives are the extent to which spirituality permeates the major characters such as Celie, Netie, Shug Avery and Albert in their lives and engage in spiritually related interactions. Thus, it is spiritual perspectives that guide choices, provide comfort, formulate personal values/morals, and assist them in copying their life’s challenges and in the journey called life.