Comparative Essay Example: The Color Purple Movie and Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

By casting a critical eye into the movie and autobiography the names of which The Color Purple (1985) and Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington, such themes as the social impacts could be asserted in a critical way. It is imparted that some thematic similarities and differences regarding slavery, racism, family values and education will be emphasized from the viewpoints of both works. Slavery and racism are the expressions that can be defined as discrimination that black people used to be exposed to. Moreover, familial and educational relationships of black people, intrinsically, were corrupted by virtue of discrimination. The themes of slavery and racism in the movie and the autobiography are going to be outlined, further to that, those themes will be, in this essay, grounded on villainous attitudes against the black people. 

Initially, as concerns the similarities between those forenamed movie and text, slavery is the first theme I have the pleasure of bringing to the notice. Seeing that Booker T. Washington’s mother was obliged to work as a slave once, Booker T. Washington’s autobiography named Up from Slavery can be regarded as a leading resource to figure the slavery concept out from a good point of view. Due to the fact that his mother was a slave, Booker T. Washington wasn’t given a surname till he was adopted. The statement he made in the meeting named “The Atlanta Exposition” was asserting the wish to provide the black people with the basic human rights which he also expressed in his text. Speaking effectively as an orator, Booker T. Washington was regarded as a leading individual whose speech was defending slaves’ rights. Inasmuch as he was a black human being, he, inevitably, used to feel responsible for the ones having oppressed. As he believed, black people had to be considered as citizens by virtue of their contributions to American society. Though Booker T. Washington strived for the idea that black people needed to be regarded as citizens, black people living in the USA hadn’t been deemed as the people who deserve to live by the white-skinned people. Furthermore, according to Washington, to be appreciated as a true citizen, black people needed to be provided with equal job opportunities as well as being regarded as human beings. As an example, having asserted black people were to be included in industry, Washington was struggling to defend his ideas. Regarding the criticism of slavery, in the movie, the scene that being a maid was offered to children clearly demonstrated how insulting slavery could be. Having presumed as a usual circumstance, the white-skinned people in the movie expected them to accept that offfer, on the contrary, the offer was rejected by children which made them baffled. In order that slavery theme could become prominent, the scene mentioned above can stand out as a considerable example. Moreover, the other theme to be taken into account both in the movie and in the book is racism. With the aim of criticizing racism strictly, the scene that Miss Millie’s car got broken down is an outstanding example. In the aforesaid scene, something went wrong with Miss Millie’s car leading her to stay in the place Sophia lived. Her objective while going there was to set Sophia free just for Christmas. In due course of the attempt by the man living in the county, Miss Millie got so angry that though they hadn’t done anything bad, she could impeach them for disturbing her. As well as the scene aforementioned, owing to the character named Sophia, racism theme could also appear explicitly. In the related scene, the women offering children to become her maid initiated a fight which resulted in being punched by Sophia due to the fact that she went crazy as she heard that offer. Despite being right, Sophia was sentenced 8 years by reason of hitting Sheriff, besides, Sheriff didn’t give a hand to Sophia when she cried for help. Those scenes explicitly demonstrate that racism can be attributed to evil. As well as the movie, the text has also made certain references to racism. Proclaiming that he suffered a lot during his life, Booker T. Washington has ascribed the reasons of being behaved badly to be a black man. Provided that Booker T. Washington hadn’t been adopted, he even wouldn’t have a chance to have a surname. He was not allowed to have a surname on account of being a black man. Thanks to references that have been made in both movie and the text, education issue has also been featured. In the name of black people, Booker T. Washington underlines the significance of education inasmuch as harmonising with society would be impossible without education according to him. To illustrate, based on perceptions of those defending the opinion that the black are bad, the black people even shouldn’t be given any choice to become a politician. Those people are of the opinion that they don’t deserve anything. Assuming that they are given an opportunity to become the president of the USA, they will neither make any difference in society nor will correctly govern the country due to the fact that they are not aware of what is right and what is wrong. Thus, Booker T. Washington draws attention to this point. Being able to make a dollar in a factory at present is much more worthwhile than the opportunity to spend it. By means of this statement, the significance of education is saliently introduced which was also emphasized in the movie. The scene which the letter coming from Nettie was found demonstrate that it was including expressions about education. Nettie lives in Africa where merely men have the right to receive education, etc. however, the statement by Olinka was as follows: “Olinka don’t believe that girls should be educated.” indicating what the common sense was. It was also written in the letter. Demonstrating the importance of education, mentioned quotation is of vital importance. As the other theme to be viewed at full length is household values that have been discoursed for the duration of the entire film. The scene demonstrating Celie in the course of splitting up with Nettie explicitly refers to the assertion that racism has awful effects on family values. By looking at her sister, Celie said “until the death seperates us”. This aforementioned scene clearly indicates the victimization caused because of racism. To illustrate the issues resulting from the perception of racism, Albert raped Nettie inasmuch as he regarded her as inferior. Family values were noted in the movie in such a powerful way whereas they weren’t emphasized in the text. Besides, it resembles Uncle Tom’s Cabin in some respects. In the text and the movie, no differences can be spoken of except fort he family values issue. Both the movie and the text that have been referred to many times can be thought to be the criticism of slavery and racism. Those resemblances included in the text and the movie can be pointed out as crucial. The themes which have been mentioned by now haven’t been, though, expressed in a concrete way, rather, metaphorical statements have been preferred in the movie and in the text. This essay seems to be a substantial work leaving a huge impact on readers due to the fact that harsh criticisms on slavery and racism have been made. What attracted my attention by now has been reflecting the topics by metaphorical means. By virtue of criticizing unequal attitudes of the white people, the statements in the movie and in the text have attracted my attention principally. 

To conclude, both the sub-texts in the text and the metaphors in the movie have been of a great aid to cast a critical eye into both works as done in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Issues like family values, education, etc. were emphasized in such a precise way that it could emerge as a manifestation indicating what suffering from slavery and racism means. Starting from the “conquest of paradise” , the black people have not been regarded as human beings and they have been forced to work in the most difficult and power demanding jobs. The black people, by now, have always been on a quest of acquiring citizenship and being considered as human beings which the white-skinned people have never granted.