Symbolism is one of the major elements in "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. The woman's search for something she has never experienced is the symbolization of the mankind's search for love and happiness. The meaning of names, occupations, power, pants, cloth, words, eyes, frogs, starts, shell, stamps are only few examples of the symbols used by the author and are very important in understanding not only the characters of the story, but also global values such as love, power, mutual understanding, and authority over another person's life.

The purple color itself symbolizes love in the story. When Celie is shopping for the first time in her life for new clothes, she wants to get something purple. However, she cannot find any purple garment while seeing a lot of people wearing purple. This is a symbol of her search for love: she sees so many people who are...