I would like to examine, on the basis of a novel, how an average black woman can develop in the South in the first half of the twentieth century. For this idea I have chosen, one of the works of Alice Walker, The Color Purple, (1982) I wish to write about this novel, because when I read it I found in it an exemplary figure, Celie, the protagonist, who had gone through lots of sufferings, but she was very strong inside and finally she will be a happy, self-supporting woman at the end of the novel. I appreciate her power. In this thesis, I will show how Celie develops step by step. We will see the way she finds herself; meanwhile she meets other women who are great examples for her to follow. In this way we can also witness the situation of the black women in the era.