Critical Context

    I read the article Race and Domesticity in The Color Purple by Linda Selzer.  The main point that I focused on was race and class.  Selzer described the events leading up to and following Sophia's imprisonment.  The stereotype of the black mammy was extensively discussed.  The fact the Miss Millie wanted Sophia to be her maid assuming that all black women loved children and should feel privileged to be a maid in her, the mayor's wife's, house.  Even though Sophia was the most unsuited person for the role she was still expected to be that motherly figure.  The violent scene of the white police men and the mayor beating Sophia showed the combustion of the race and class issues throughout the novel.  Sophia also fought the stereotype that she should like Miss Eleanor Jane, so much so that even when she had friendly feelings towards her she still made comments that she was "on parole....Got to act nice".  Even though Sophia began to feel towards Miss Eleanor Jane she still wasn't the mammy type.  The mayor's white family greatly depended on Sophia.  Many times in childish ways, such as when Miss Millie couldn't turn her car around and had a temper tantrum.  Sophia was constantly thrown into domestic roles, that according to stereotypes she should be good at and enjoy it.  Miss Eleanor Jane also tells Sophia that shes "unnatural" because she doesn't love Reynolds.  This shows how stereotypical it was for the white people to feel as though black women should feel privileged to work in their home and that they should naturally be domestic mammy figures.
    After reading the novel and watching the movie I do agree with the article that the black women were basically forced into these domestic roles.  The women all seemed as though they had to be mothers or at the very least a very motherly figure.  I believe that the mammy roles and the scene where Sophia gets beat by the white men shows the explosion between race and class and even gender roles throughout the novel.  I also agree because even when the black women fit the roles it seems that there is always pressure that they shouldn't want to fit these roles because it just strengthens the white persons assumptions.