Gilead (Pulitzer Prize & National Book Critics Circle Award winner)

Gilead is a novel written by American author Marilynne Robinson (1943- ), published in 2004 and won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Gilead

Plot [1]: The book is an account of the memories and legacy of John Ames as he remembers his experiences of his father and grandfather to share with his son. All three men share a vocational lifestyle and profession as Congregationalist ministers in Gilead, Iowa. Ames' father was a Christian pacifist, but his grandfather was a radical abolitionist who carried out guerrilla actions with John Brown before the American Civil War, served as a chaplain with the Union forces in that war, and incited his congregation to join up and serve in it; as Ames remarks, "He preached this town into the war." The grandfather returned from the war maimed with the loss of his right eye. Hereafter he was given the distinction that his right side was holy or sacred in someway, that it was his link to commune with God and he was notorious for a piercing stare with the one eye he had left. The grandfather's other eccentricities are recalled in his youth; the practice of giving all and any of the family's possessions to others and preaching with a gun in a bloodied shirt. The true character and intimate details of the father are revealed in context with anecdotes regarding the grandfather, and mainly in the search for the grave of the grandfather. One event that is prevalent in the narrators orations is the memory of receiving communion of sorts from his father at the remains of a Baptist church, burned by lightning. Ames recalls this as an invented memory adapted from his father breaking an ashy biscuit for lunch. In the course of the story, it quickly emerges that Ames's first wife, Louisa, died while giving birth to their daughter, Rebecca (a.k.a. Angeline) who also died soon after. Ames reflects on the death of his family as the source of great sorrow for many years with special reference to the growing family of his dear and lifelong friend, Boughton. Many years later Ames meets his second wife, Lila, a less-educated woman who appears in church. Eventually Ames baptizes Lila and their relationship develops culminating in her proposal to him. As Ames writes, John Ames Boughton (whose father is the local Presbyterian minister and Ames' lifelong friend) reappears in the town after leaving it in great disgrace following his seduction and abandonment of a girl from a poverty-stricken family near his university. The daughter of this relationship died when she was three years old despite the efforts of the Boughton family to look after her. Young Boughton, the apple of his parents' eye but deeply disliked by Ames, seeks Ames out; much of the tension in the story results from Ames's mistrust of young Boughton and particularly of his relationship with Lila and their son. In the dénouement, however, it turns out that Boughton is himself suffering from his forced separation from his own common-law wife, an African American from Tennessee, and their son; the family are not allowed to live together because of segregationist laws, and her family utterly rejects Boughton. It is implied that Boughton's understanding with Lila lies in their common sense of tragedy as she prepares for the death of Ames, who has given her a security and stability she has never known before.

Although there is action in the story, its mainspring lies in Ames' theological struggles on a whole series of fronts: with his grandfather's engagement in the Civil War, with his own loneliness through much of his life, with his brother's clear and his father's apparent loss of belief, with his father's desertion of the town, with the hardships of people's lives, and above all with his feelings of hostility and jealousy towards Boughton, whom he knows at some level he has to forgive. Ames's struggles are illustrated by numerous quotations from the Bible, from theologians (especially Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion), and from philosophers, especially the atheist Feuerbach, whom Ames greatly respects. It is unusual that a book with so much of this kind of content should be so widely recognized as a successful novel, and should achieve such acclaim from a secular audience. However the abstract and theological content is made meaningful because it is seen through the eyes of Ames, who is presented in a deeply sympathetic manner, and writes his memoir from a position of serenity despite suffering while always remaining conscious of his limitations and failings. In the closing pages of the book, Ames learns of Boughton's true situation, and is able to offer him the genuine affection and forgiveness he has never before been able to feel for him. Although it is not stated, there is an implication that he dies in his sleep, or at his prayers, after reaching this resolution.

[1]. Wikipedia.org

The Color Purple (Pulitzer Prize & National Book Award winner)

The Color Purple is a novel by American author Alice Walker (1944- ). It received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

The Color Purple

The Color Purple was adapted into a film and musical of the same name.

Plot Summary

The story is told in the form of diary entries and letters. Celie is a poor uneducated young black woman in 1930s Georgia who, aged only fourteen, is raped and impregnated twice by a man she calls Pa. Her children both disappear; Celie assumes their father has murdered them, until she meets a small girl in town to whom she bears a strong resemblance. Celie is forced into a marriage against her will, to Mr. Johnson, a man who originally approaches her father to ask permission to marry her younger sister, Nettie. Shortly after moving into her new home, she is joined by Nettie, who is also seeking to escape the unpleasant conditions at home. After Celie's husband tries to seduce her and fails he forces Nettie to leave and, following Celie's advice, she goes to the home of a local pastor, promising to write to Celie. As time passes, no letters arrive and so Celie assumes that Nettie is dead.

In her writings, Celie deferentially refers to her husband as "Mr.__", and it is far into the tale before we find out his first name is Albert. One of his sons, Harpo, falls in love with and marries a strong-willed and physically imposing woman named Sofia. Though both Harpo and "Mr." attempt to treat her as an inferior, Sofia fights back. Celie initially encourages this bullying behaviour, as being second to a man is the only way she has ever known to live, but when confronted by Sofia she realises her error. Celie is both envious of and intimidated by Sofia's strong spirit and florid defiance of her husband's absolute authority.

"Mr." has a long-term mistress, a singer named Shug Avery. She comes to live with the family due to poor health. Like "Mr.", Shug at first has little respect for Celie and the life she lives. She copies her lover, abusing Celie and adding to her humiliation. Celie feels intrigued and excited by this effervescent, liberated version of femininity. Through her relationship with Shug, Celie realizes that she is worthy of being loved and respected. When Shug discovers that "Mr." beats Celie, she decides to remain in the house for a short time in order to protect her.

After a few years of constant fighting, Sofia leaves Harpo, taking their children with her. At the same time, Celie and Shug become intimate and a strong bond grows between them. Shug helps Celie discover her sexuality as a woman. When Sofia returns to town for a visit, she becomes involved in a fight with Harpo's new girlfriend, Mary Agnes, who is nicknamed "Squeak" because of her high-pitched voice.

One day, the mayor’s wife, Miss Millie, asks Sofia to work as her maid. When Sofia declines with the words, "Hell, no," the mayor slaps her, not reckoning with her fiery temper. She returns the blow, knocking the mayor down, and is arrested for hitting a white man. Sofia is severely beaten in jail and is later sentenced twelve years in prison. The separation from her family and the loss of her freedom breaks her spirit. After some intervention from Squeak, who is raped by a white prison warden to whom she is related for her trouble, Sofia's sentence is altered and she serves as the mayor's wife's maid for the remainder of her time.

Having left on a singing tour, Shug returns, married to a man named Grady. Celie is initially hurt by this relationship, as she feels betrayed, but grows to accept it. Other than Nettie, Shug is the only person who has ever truly loved Celie.

One night, when Shug asks Celie about Nettie, Celie says that she believes her sister to be dead, since she had promised to write but Celie had never received any letters. Shug informs Celie that she has seen "Mr." hide numerous mysterious letters in a trunk and suggests that they investigate. When they do so, they find dozens of letters written by Nettie to Celie over the years. These tell of Nettie's travels to Africa with a missionary couple, Samuel and Corrine, and their adopted children, Olivia and Adam. When Corrine becomes ill, Samuel tells Nettie how they came to adopt their children and that his wife has suspected that Nettie was their biological mother due to their close resemblance. It transpires that Olivia and Adam are Celie's long-lost children, and that she is their aunt. She also learns that Alphonso was not her and Celie's father but rather their stepfather. Their biological father, a store-owner, had been lynched by a mob of white men because they believed he was too successful. After Corrine's acceptance of Nettie's story, she dies, and Samuel and Nettie discover that they are deeply in love; they eventually marry.

Having read the letters and learned the truth about her children as well as her biological father, Celie visits Alphonso to confirm the story, which he does. Celie finds a new sense of empowerment, and at dinner one night she releases her pent-up anger at "Mr.", cursing him for the years of abuse that she has had to endure. Shug, Celie, and Squeak decide to move to Tennessee, where Celie begins a lucrative business designing and sewing tailored pants together. She returns to Georgia for a visit and finds that not only has "Mr." reformed himself and his ways, but Alphonso has died. She finds out that the shop, house and land she thought was his had been willed to her and Nettie when their mother died. Celie decides to move back, relocating her business. Soon after, Shug falls for nineteen-year-old Germaine and travels with him across the country in a last hurrah for her youth.

Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel are preparing for their return to America. Adam falls in love with and marries an African girl named Tashi, who undergoes the painful rituals of female genital cutting and facial scarification. Adam also goes through the facial scarring ritual in solidarity. Nettie writes to Celie to let her know that the family is on their way.

Celie is now an independent woman. Celie and "Mr." eventually reconcile, but remain friends rather than lovers. He helps her with her business, sewing with her as they sit on the porch. Sofia and Harpo reconcile, and Sofia also works for Celie at her pants-making shop. Shug returns, satisfied with her last fling and ready to settle down. Nettie and Samuel return with the children, and Celie and her sister are happily reunited. [Reference]

---

Movive (The Color Purple):

The Road (Pulitzer Prize and Black Memorial Prize winner)

The Road is a novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy (1933- ), pubished in 2006, and won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, the 2006 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction; it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction and was named book of the decade by The Times.

The Road

Plot Summary:

The Road follows an father and son journeying together across a grim post-apocalyptic landscape, some years after a great, unexplained cataclysm has destroyed civilization and almost all life on Earth. Realizing that they will not survive another winter in their unspecified original location, the father leads the boy south, through a desolate American landscape along a vacant highway, towards the sea, sustained only by the vague hope of finding warmth and more "good people" like them, and carrying with them only what is on their backs and what will fit into a damaged supermarket cart.

Because of falling ash, the setting is very cold and dark and the land is devoid of living vegetation. There is frequent rain or snow, and electrical storms are common. Nearly all of the few human survivors are cannibalistic tribalists and/or nomads, scavenging the detritus of city and country alike for human flesh, though that too is almost entirely depleted. Their presence is noted by their leavings, mutilated and/or decorated skulls.

Overwhelmed by this desperate and apparently hopeless situation, the boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the cataclysm, commits suicide some time before the story begins; the rationality and calmness of her act being her last "great gift" to the man and the boy. The father coughs blood every morning and knows he is dying, yet he struggles to protect his son from the constant threats of attack, exposure, and starvation, as well as from what he sees as the boy's innocently well-meaning, but dangerous desire to help wanderers they meet. Through much of the story, the pistol they carry, meant for protection or suicide if necessary, has only one bullet. The boy has been told to use it on himself if capture is imminent, to spare himself the horror of death at the hands of the cannibals.

In the face of these obstacles, the man and the boy have only each other (they are "each the other's world entire"). The man maintains the pretense, and the boy holds on to the real faith, that there is a core of ethics left somewhere in humanity. They repeatedly assure one another that they are "the good guys," who are "carrying the fire."

On their journey, the duo scrounge for food, encounter roving bands of cannibals, and contend with casual horrors such as a new born infant being roasted on a spit, and people being kept captive as they are slowly harvested for food. Although the vast majority of the book is written in the third person, with references to "the father" and "the son" or to "the man" and "the boy," at one paragraph only in the discussion of the journey the story is told in the first person.

Although the man and the boy eventually reach the sea, neither the climate nor availability of food has improved. Despite having succeeded in defending the boy through extreme hardship, the man has failed to find the salvation he had hoped for for his son, and succumbs to his illness and dies; leaving the boy alone, though he is told that he may continue to speak to the father and that the father would still be present. Three days later, however, the grieving boy encounters a man who has been tracking the father and son. This man, who has a wife and two children of his own, brings the boy to join his family. One of the children is a girl, implying the possibility of a future for the human race, despite the grim conditions. A brief epilogue meditates on nature and infinity in this altered environment.

The above plot summary is quoted from wikipedia.org