Walker brought to life most of the horrific and even disgusting scenes in the book, with the help and influence of society in the story. One of the biggest influences that had an effect on Walker's writing style and particularly The Color Purple, were the examples of slavery and prejudice. White people owned and empowered America during the time of slavery. They had no respect for any other race, which they considered substandard. As Lean'tin Bracks stated, blacks were considered racially inferior and were used for the exploitation of white culture. The whites used the blacks like animals and forced them to do their every order. Blacks and whites were separated from each other and this segregation of the two races prevented blacks from legal and economic access, and they were punished by white culture. Interaction between the two races rarely occurred except for specific affairs or intrusions by whites into blacks. There were no penalties to be paid by whites, so intrusions were common and African Americans were taken advantage of. The intrusions ranged from break-ins to rape and murder for no apparent reason (84). Walker used these foundations of racism to captivate the reader and take him through the story of a woman, who survives physical, verbal and emotional abuse every day. As written in Literature and it's Times, a distinct place where racism and prejudice took place was the South. In the early 1900s, the South's economy remained predominantly rural and agricultural. Poverty was everywhere and sharecropping had replaced slavery as the main source of black labor. Blacks who remained in the South received the brunt of poverty and discrimination. Women faced sexual and racial oppression, forcing the...... middle of paper...... to make decisions in his life. Nettie's letters embrace and reinforce Celie's identity, showing her the world outside of Georgia, and this opens up many possibilities for Celie (Bracks 87). Despite having all these characteristics, Nettie is very lonely, because she has no one to talk to while she is in Africa, and no sister who is nearby to listen to her stories. Nettie's letters show that men's oppression of women is universal, even in Africa. The imperial, racial, and cultural conflict and oppression that Nettie encounters in Africa parallels the smaller-scale abuse and hardship that Celie experiences in Georgia. With these many influences and characteristics to observe, it is easy to see how this novel, The Color Purple, sparked enough conflict and interest to become one of the most famous novels depicting the hardships of the black women's lifestyle..