Use Gaughan with issues beginning on page 1??

I agree that the first page of The Color Purple is graphic, but I think that after doing the readings for this week, maybe Gaughan gave us some ideas of things we could do to make reading the novel less offensive. For example, in chapters three and four, Guaghan demonstrates exercises he does with the students to think about how language affects people. I think doing some language exercises before reading the book could be helpful. In this case it would be a different type of language - sexual, but still derogatory - but still getting the students to empathize and feel for Celie could be possible. That way, if the students appreciate the writing, they will probably be more eager to read it and share their thoughts.