The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
Related History & Literature on Shmoop
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Sample of Related History & Literature on Shmoop
- Reconstruction
No this isn't a typo. We know that The Color Purple begins long after the Civil War Reconstruction was over, but we also know that Celie and the gang were very much affected by Reconstruction politics. Set up to fail, sharecroppers and the like were left in the lurch. Reconstruction might have been over in The Color Purple, but its effects could be seen far and wide. - Their Eyes Were Watching God
If you had to, just had to, choose one main inspiration for The Color Purple, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God would have to be it. And Alice Walker was never quiet about just how much Hurston's novel influenced her famous work. But Their Eyes is not just a well-written novel that helped Walker get going; both novels share similar settings, genres, and tones.