The Spirit of Freedom
Freedom is a subjective concept and each person must ultimately
find his or her own freedom in order to be truly free. Freedom takes many different forms.
There is personal freedom, societal freedom, mental freedom, and physical freedom. Freedom
is not tangible, but may be achieved through many experiences. These experiences may
trigger the lust for freedom that lies within a person and allow that person to become
free.
Different aspects of freedom are apparent in both novels.
In The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, the freedom moves from the outside into
Celie and then out again. In Their Eyes Were Watching God,
by Zora Neale Hurston, the freedom stems from within Janie but is prompted by certain
outside forces. Both women experience freedom, and the freedom grows from within and is
radiated outward.
In The Color Purple Celie evolves from being
oppressed by Mr.____ and society to being free in every possible sense. The spark of
freedom starts from within her and radiates outward with each new catalyst. Shug is
Celie’s first source of freedom. She teaches Celie to be free in her thoughts and to
respect what she thinks and feels. Shug makes Celie realize that it’s okay to think
what she thinks and to feel what she feels. “Why Miss Celie, she say, you still a
virgin” (Walker p.81).
Sofia is Celie’s second source of freedom. While
Sofia herself does not tell Celie anything, she relates free feelings and ideas to Celie.
For a time, Sofia was, in every way, unfree. And Celie knew that Sofia did not want to be
that way. Celie learned that she could never give up hope, and that made her actions free.
Although Mr._____ oppressed and hindered Celie, he was
finally a source of freedom. When he gave Celie the telegram that said Nettie was dead,
and all her letters to Nettie, Celie is freed. Even though the news was bad, Mr.____ gave
Celie the tools to break his chain of oppression. She begins to deviate from her one-track
mind: love, hate, survive, and starts to think freely. “After all the evil he done
I... wonder why I don’t hate him” (Walker p.267).
The last source of Celie’s freedom came from Nettie. Nettie represented the last link
in the chain of subjugation. Since Nettie was the “only person love [her] in the
world” (Walker p.207), her absence made Celie’s heart ache. When Nettie
returned, Celie’s heart opened and she was able to be free in love. Nettie broke the
chain and Celie’s heart and mind were totally free. Freedom can often be housed
within a person. It just needs an event or person to jump-start it and to launch the
person on his or her path to freedom.
Janie is oppressed throughout her journey. She is held
down by her grandmother, and by her first husband, Logan. But her free-spirit stirs and
she breaks free, becoming a pear tree in the wind. The quest for freedom for Janie begins
with the arrival of Joe Starks. As Janie says “He spoke for far horizon. He spoke for
change and chance" (Hurston p.28).
But the freedom with Joe was not absolute. Janie was again
a prisoner as Joe sheltered her and made her feel different from the rest of society. With
Joe’s death Janie was again free. She was able to grow, blossom, change, and become
mentally free. She ceased to care what society and people thought of her.
Tea Cake represented another step to freedom. “He
looked like love thoughts of women. He could be a bee to a blossom – a pear blossom
in the spring” (Hurston p. ?). Janie was equal to Tea Cake and equal in society. The
situation made Janie free in spirit and allowed the muck society to view her as free,
which allowed her to become free herself.
Tea Cake’s death freed Janie for the rest of her life. When he was gone she had
nothing else to look after in life except herself. She was like a little seed, able to
blow in the wind and go wherever she chose to go. Janie’s mind, spirit, and body were
free. “She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net... [and] she called in her
soul to come and see” (Hurston p. ?).
Freedom is a central theme in these two novels. The
character’s freedom often stems from other characters or events but is always a
result of inner strength and will-power. The supporting characters or events act only to
bring out the inner freedom and to empower that freedom. As Epictetus once said, “He
is free who lives as he chooses.” And both these characters were finally able to live
as they chose.