Struggle as Depicted in The Color Purple and Desiree’s Baby
...h her verbally and physically abusive husband, Albert. Desiree on the other hand not being blood related to the women she called her mother; Madame Valmonde still had a tremendous amount of love for her. When Desiree’s husband told her to leave her mother said to her, “ Come home to Valmonde; back to your mother who loves you”. This is showing that it doesn’t take blood to create a strong bond and that no matter what; unconditional love will always help you get through hard times. During the different times that both stories were written the way that African Americans were treated were quite similar. Back in 1909 when The Color Purple took place it was before woman were really seen as what they are and they were just figured to be a caretaker and a maid. The fact that Nettie was black didn’t help because she was considered to be dumb while in fact she was intelligent. During her years when she was married to Albert she with a little help of her sister Cellie learned how to read. Slavery was taking place during the period Desiree’s baby was written in. It was a horrible thing to be African American and a woman during that time. When it was thought that Desiree was an African American her husband shunned her and wanted nothing to do with her. In fact he was the one that turned out to be the one that had the African American genes in him. The ignorance that he showed cost him his wife and his child. Women in both time periods were treated like second-class citizens; African American women were treated worse. The two women had experiences with children in the stories. They both had wonderful children that were not accepted in their society. In The Color Purple Nettie was being a victim of incest. Her father would rape her and then when she gave birth to his children he would sell the children to families. While Desiree was in a seemingly loving marriage that didn’t change the way that her husband reacted. When her husband noticed that their baby looked African American he became very angry with his wife. He initially thought that she had African American genes when in...