Why His Name is "Mr. ____" in The Color Purple

Alice Walker’s writing style is one of the most notable features of the novel The Color Purple, particularly because the unique, imperfect language and lack of punctuation would have been accurate for Celie’s character and her lack of education. The fact that she can read and write well and know so much about the world in the first place is a sort of novelty for her character.

Readers of The Color Purple realize from the get-go that there are virtually no last names used in the novel, with the exception of a few caucasian characters. Celie always refers to her husband as Mr. ____, and the reasons for why are what make Walker’s writing so powerful and true. When discussing this with my mom, she said to me: “Well, they’re basically slaves, aren’t they?” I shrugged in response, since I’d only read a few pages of the book at the time, but it’s clear that the characters in this book are not slaves. They are independent people with their own lives separate from caucasian people and with their own families. The closest we see to slavery is Sofia working as a servant to a white family at one point, but this is in replacement of her jail sentence; she is not a slave.

However, The Color Purple is a constant reminder of the painful, lasting effects of slavery. Along with Nettie’s letters from Africa and the racism that all the characters face, a major part of this reminder is the fact that these African-American people don’t have last names. The whole book is really focused on broken families, and truthfully, the fact that these characters have no knowledge of their family history may be a contributing factor to their constant familial issues.

Mr. ____ being known as Mr. ____ not only makes him feel very separate from Celie despite their marriage, it also creates the brutal atmosphere of early 1900s America. African-American people were facing the effects of slavery and the abuse their family members (that they never knew) daily. They were only identifiable by first name, making them all the more forgettable in society’s eyes.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. London: Women's Press, 1992. Print.