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Sources: Philip Nel, 785-532-2165, philnel@k-state.edu;
and Tosha Sampson-Choma, 785-532-2161, tchoma@k-state.edu
Note to editor: This is the sixth in a series of news releases about the color purple in honor of Kansas State University's founding on Feb. 16, 1863.
News release prepared by: Jennifer Torline, 785-532-0847, jtorline@k-state.edu
Monday, Feb. 14, 2011
The power of purple:
FROM CRAYONS TO CREATION, PURPLE REMAINS SYMBOLIC COLOR IN LITERATURE
MANHATTAN -- Purple is the color of adventure. At least, that's how author Crockett Johnson once described his choice of the color in his famous children's picture book &1xbet online games login ;Harold and the Purple Crayon.&1xbet online games login ;
No one knows whether Johnson was being serious about his color choice, but Johnson's book speaks to the sense of the adventure and imagination inside each reader, said Philip Nel, professor of English at Kansas State University. Nel is the author of a biography on Johnson to be published in 2012.
&1xbet online games login ;Harold and the Purple Crayon&1xbet online games login ; was published in 1955 and follows 4-year-old Harold as he creates his own world with a purple crayon. He draws objects such as the moon, a forest, a picnic lunch and finally, his own bed.
&1xbet online games login ;One message from the book is that all you need is your imagination,&1xbet online games login ; Nel said. &1xbet online games login ;The crayon is the extension of that in your imagination. It's quite an empowering message. It tells you to dream. It tells you to create. It tells you to invent.&1xbet online games login ;
But the book also illustrates the importance of resourcefulness, Nel said. Harold draws a boat when he falls into water, and when he falls off a mountain he quickly draws a balloon to help him float off. No matter what Harold encounters and invents, he is resourceful enough to solve the situation.
&1xbet online games login ;That can be a take-away message of the book: to keep your wits and your purple crayon with you and all will be well,&1xbet online games login ; Nel said.
The book is deceptively simple, yet very clever because Harold uses everything he draws, Nel said. The whole book is a continuous drawing that unfolds line by line.
&1xbet online games login ;There are no mistakes,&1xbet online games login ; Nel said. &1xbet online games login ;There can't be, because the crayon does not erase.&1xbet online games login ;
Purple is featured in other children's literary works, Nel said.
&1xbet online games login ;Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse&1xbet online games login ; by Kevin Henkes is a popular children's book that focuses on the lessons that Lily learns when she brings a noisy plastic purse to school.
Gelett Burgess, a nonsense poet from the late 19th century, invoked the color purple in his four-line poem, &1xbet online games login ;The Purple Cow.&1xbet online games login ; The comic poem has since inspired many parodies.
&1xbet online games login ;I think more than anything a purple cow is funny,&1xbet online games login ; Nel said. &1xbet online games login ;A blue cow and a red cow are unusual, but a purple cow? That's just funny.&1xbet online games login ;
Purple also has a place in adult literature.
&1xbet online games login ;The Color Purple,&1xbet online games login ; Alice Walker's 1982 acclaimed novel, focuses on the oppression of a young, poor black woman in 1930s rural Georgia. In the novel, protagonist Celie writes letters to God that describe how she is abused by her stepfather and husband, but becomes an independent woman over time.
The novel connects purple with royalty, creation and the connotation of heritage or lineage, said Tosha Sampson-Choma, instructor of English at K-State, who is including the novel in her doctoral dissertation.
The book's character Shug Avery says that purple is a reflection of the splendor of God and the creation of God. She also feels that God has given people the color purple as a way to celebrate life and to embrace the good things in life, Sampson-Choma said.
&1xbet online games login ;The color purple shows that beauty can be found in everything around you,&1xbet online games login ; Sampson-Choma said. &1xbet online games login ;Despite the fact that things aren't perfect or that there are these difficulties, people can still overcome them.&1xbet online games login ;
In one of Walker's later essays, &1xbet online games login ;In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose,&1xbet online games login ; Walker writes that &1xbet online games login ;Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.&1xbet online games login ; Walker created the term womanist, which is a person who appreciates women's culture and strength and honors ‘entire’ people -- male and female.
&1xbet online games login ;Walker sees feminism as exulting and celebrating one gender at the expense of another, while womanism is embracing ‘whole’ people,&1xbet online games login ; Sampson-Choma said. &1xbet online games login ;She looks at womanism and compares it to purple because it is a richer, fuller definition of feminism.&1xbet online games login ;