Alice Walker grew up in rural Georgia in the mid-1900s as the daughter of two poor sharecroppers. Throughout her life, she was forced to confront and overcome demanding life lessons. She transferred her life's struggles into a book that won her a Pulitzer Prize and became known as a world-renowned author. The Color Purple is a gripping novel about redemption and revenge. The conflict between racism, sexism, and the power of strong female relationships is how Alice expressed her life and incorporated it into the story. At 21, she worked at the Ministry of Social Protection and only a year later she started working for legal defense. funds from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She took statements from African Americans who were kicked out of their homes because they tried to register to vote. These difficulties are played out in The Color Purple by the main character Celie. She writes to God about her daily life and recounts what she encounters on a daily basis. Celie is told: “Your daddy didn't know how to cope. The white people lynched him. Too sad a story to tell of pitiful little girls growing up” (Walker. The Color Purple 181). Celie is based on a girl who lived long before Alice Walker was born. The story spans over 30 years, from 1910 to 1940. It's through the worst of times when African Americans were trying to escape what was left of slavery in the South. After graduating from high school, Alice was the valedictorian of her class and she was an inspiring author. She went beyond expectations or what most people thought she would be able to do. It was thought that few women, especially African Americans, were capable of doing what men could do. She plays this through...... middle of paper...... depicts this horrible lifestyle that was daily life for African Americans in the early 1900s. She really highlights how times were tough for Celie living in the racist south, where men beat and abused her, and how the power of female relationships, especially familial, saved her from the terrible life she lived. Works CitedSova, Dawn B. “The Color Purple.” Banned Books: Literature Suppressed for Social Reasons, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID= WE54&SID=5&iPin= BBSO0071&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 1, 2010). Walker, Alice. Alice Walker's garden. Alice Walker, October 22, 2008. Web. January 1, 2010. .Walker, Alice. The color purple. New York: Harcourt, 1992. Print.