The most important form of celebration of the strength of women in “The Color Purple” is the characters' individual quests to find their identity. Whether the female characters are questioning their religion and its restrictions, exploring their sexuality, or trying to overcome the restrictions that their ethnicity and gender place on them, they are all trying to define themselves as individuals rather than as individual people. social, racial or ethnic stereotype that seems to inhabit people both in the world of fiction and in the world of reality. Walker's character Sofia seems to want to find her identity by not succumbing to the pressure and authority placed on her by black men and Caucasians of both sexes. When Celie describes her refusal to become "Miss Millie's" maid, her account of Sofia's "hell no", the mayor's reaction; "he slapped her", and the insinuation that she is beaten almost to death and taken to prison, suggests that her rebuttal was considered crude and criminal, because whites consider it a great honor to be the woman cleaning of a white woman. However, because Sofia is unwilling to put herself in this mortifying position, the white mayor and police beat her in order to reassert their racial and sexual dominance over a black woman. Sofia later describes her position in the mayor's house as "slavery", but her son instead calls her a "captive", which signifies a change in behavior for most of the characters, discovering that they do not have to conforming to what society expects of them, and rather than changing their position within that society, by being proud of who they are. Celie's curiosity and desire to explore her sexual identity is what Walker uses to define her character. Due to her strong belief in God, exemplified by the "Dear God", this shows her belief that what she does feels right to her, as if her worship of Shug's body is sacred and holy: something to be cherished, as a prayer. This ties into the theme of finding identity through religion, whether rebelling against it or embracing it. At first, Celie finds comfort in God and prayer, writing to God to escape her difficult life. However, this is still a restriction, as her desire to go to heaven outweighs her desire to stand up to Mr. who hit her, leaving Sofia to suggest that she should "think about heaven more late ". The belief that religion prevents Celie from rising up against all the people who have sinned against her is rejected at the end when she addresses her final letter “Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear people. Dear Everything. My God." And ending it with "Amen" suggests that she has found happiness and security in both religion and nature, implying that although her belief in God has not diminished, she has moved from a catalyst for restriction to a symbol of hope for the future, and she instead chooses to believe in the things she can and feels, like nature. Walker therefore uses religion as her defining characteristic, allowing him to be a part of her rather than controlling her This is representative of Walker's.