At a moment when questions of care and human dignity are central to life, the arts offer vital ways of understanding how people endure and remain connected. Few works illuminate these dimensions as powerfully as The Color Purple (Walker, 1982). First published as an internationally recognized Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, the story continues to resonate across cultures and generations via global stage adaptations and multiple cinematic interpretations. This paper approaches The Color Purple (Walker, 1982) as a humanities-based text that renders visible the interior and relational lives of mothers across the lifespan. Through close literary and visual analysis of the novel and its 2023 film adaptation, we examine how motherhood is portrayed not as a time-limited role, but as a lifelong practice shaped by memory, ethical choice, emotional labor, and sustained connection. The narrative foregrounds how women cultivate wisdom and resilience through relationships within environments marked by constraint. Full appreciation of these portrayals requires an interpretive stance attuned to both expressive meaning and patterned human experience. Our analysis draws on interdisciplinary traditions that view care as relational and systematic. Seen through this lens, mothers in The Color Purple demonstrate narrative intelligence through storytelling; emotional intelligence through empathy and mutual recognition; and moral intelligence through acts of care that sustain families and communities. Thus, Walker’s work remains a globally resonant text for understanding the relational, narrative, and ethically grounded nature of human intelligence. At its core, our paper illuminates how humanity itself is sustained through care, connection, and story.

Authors:
Jasmine Graham, Wake Forest University, United States
Michelle Ghoston, Wake Forest University, United States

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Jasmine Graham is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University (NC, USA). She publishes and presents on topics related to behavioral healthcare.

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