In Calvino’s text he talks a lot about Dante and how he saw images that rained down on him from God. Calvino also explained how Dante saw these images in his mind. He said Dante explained that there was a luminous image in the sky that transmitted images formed by God or the imaginary world. Relating to the church Calvino says that the church always gives an image to the people because they don’t want the believer to think of an “imagined” one.
In The Color Purple Shug Avery explains to Celie that God is all around you even though you cannot see him. She is saying that God is in everything. She is going against the church since the church is providing people with images of Jesus and God and the Virgin Mary but Shug wants Celie to think for herself and find images in her own mind and discover for herself what she thinks is right.
