The Color Purple Letters 1 - 21
The novel commences with Celie’s recollection of her father’s directive to remain silent about his maltreatment. The novel unfolds through a series of letters, starting with Celie’s confidential letters to God. In her inaugural letter, Celie seeks divine guidance, unable to comprehend her circumstances. At the tender age of fourteen, Celie is already expecting her second child—a consequence of incestuous rape. Alphonso, Celie’s father, exploits Celie sexually as her ailing mother can no longer satisfy his carnal desires.
Celie’s mother passes away. Celie narrates how Alphonso abducted her firstborn while she was asleep and murdered it in the forest, leading her to fear for her second child’s life. Contrary to her fears, Alphonso spares the second child, leading Celie to suspect that he sold the infant to a wedded couple. Celie is left nursing an emptiness, her breasts engorged with milk for no one.
In Celie’s fourth letter to God, we discover that Alphonso has remarried, but this union does not cease the physical and sexual torment inflicted on Celie. Alphonso chastises Celie for allegedly winking at a boy in church, although she might have merely had an irritant in her eye. Later, he punishes her again for dressing provocatively.
Celie and her younger sister, Nettie, learn that a man, referred to by Celie as Mr. ______, is interested in marrying Nettie. The man is a recent widower, his first wife having been killed by her lover. Alphonso’s new wife informs Celie and Nettie that Mr. ______ also had an extramarital affair with a woman named Shug Avery. The girls find a photograph of Shug, whose radiant, glamorous visage mesmerizes Celie, who has never seen anyone like her.
Alphonso declines to give Nettie to Mr. ______, arguing that she is too young and naive to marry a man with children. Alphonso wishes for Nettie to continue her education and proposes Celie as an alternative. Alphonso asserts that although Celie is unattractive, dishonest, and “spoiled twice,” she is older, industrious, and possesses her cow, which she could bring into the marriage.
After pondering the proposal for several months, Mr. ______ decides to accept Celie. Celie yearns to continue her education, but Alphonso dismisses her as too unintelligent to learn anything. Celie spends her wedding day tending to a wound inflicted by a stone thrown by Mr. ______‘s son, detangling her shrieking stepdaughters’ hair, and preparing dinner. Celie endures a joyless wedding night with Mr. ______ atop her, all the while fretting over Nettie’s wellbeing.
One day, while in town, Celie spots a young girl who she believes might be her lost daughter. The girl bears a striking resemblance to Celie, particularly in her eyes. The little girl’s mother engages in a friendly conversation with Celie after she follows them into a fabric store, where Celie learns that the mother names her daughter Olivia, the same name Celie gave her daughter and embroidered on her diapers before the baby was taken away. In the store, the prejudiced shopkeeper treats Olivia’s mother disrespectfully, forcing her to purchase unwanted thread and ripping off her new fabric without measuring it.
Nettie runs away from Alphonso and finds refuge with Celie and Mr. ______. It quickly becomes clear that Mr. ______ still has an eye for Nettie. Whenever Mr. ______ pays Nettie a compliment, she passes it on to Celie. However, Nettie refuses Mr. ______’s advances, and she is soon forced to leave. Never hearing from Nettie again, Celie presumes her sister is dead.
Mr. ______’s two sisters, Kate and Carrie, visit and treat Celie with kindness, complimenting her on her housekeeping and her care of the children. Kate tells her brother that Celie needs new clothes, and though he seems surprised to learn that Celie would have needs, he allows the purchase. Celie is so grateful for her new dress, she does not know how to thank Kate. Kate also demands that Mr. ______’s eldest son, Harpo, help Celie with chores. Harpo has refused to help because he considers chores a woman’s job. Kate’s demand angers her brother, and the two get into a heated fight. When Kate leaves the house, she tells Celie to fight back against Mr. ______, but Celie does not see what good fighting will do.
Harpo confides in Celie that he has fallen in love with a spunky, robust young girl named Sofia. Celie’s thoughts linger on the sexy Shug Avery, who she learns is coming to town to sing at a local bar called the Lucky Star. Celie longs to go to the bar, merely to lay eyes on Shug. However, the only member of the household who sees Shug is Mr. ______, who spends the weekend with her. When he returns, Celie resists the temptation to ask Mr. ______ all the questions she has about Shug’s dresses, her body, and her voice. Instead, Celie and Harpo toil silently through the extra work they are given while Mr. ______ is lovesick and depressed after Shug’s departure. Harpo tries to complain to his father about the heavy workload, but Celie notes that Harpo is just as unskilled at arguing with Mr. ______ as she is.
Sofia’s parents will not let her marry Harpo because of the legacy of his murdered mother, and Mr. ______ is also opposed to the idea. However, after Sofia gets pregnant, marriage becomes inevitable. Celie is struck by the vivaciousness and unflinching strength Sofia displays as she talks back to Harpo and Mr. ______, as defiance is foreign to her relationships with the two men.
When Sofia and Harpo marry, Celie helps them fix up an old shack on Mr. ______’s land, which they use as a home. Sofia and Harpo are happy newlyweds and doting parents, and Sofia keeps up her spunky spirit, demanding that Harpo help with the chores and refusing to acquiesce to her husband or father-in-law. Frustrated, Harpo asks both Celie and Mr. ______ how to get Sofia to behave, and both give him the only advice they know: to beat her. However, Sofia is physically very strong, and Harpo’s attempts to beat her typically result in more injury to himself than to his wife.
Celie worries that in advising Harpo to beat Sofia she has somehow sinned against Sofia’s spirit, and she has trouble sleeping for more than a month. Sofia learns that it was Celie who advised Harpo to beat her, so she angrily confronts Celie. Celie confesses that she is jealous that Sofia knows how to defend herself and fight back against her husband. Sofia feels sorry for Celie’s timidity and submissiveness, and the two make up and laugh about the incident. They talk about their families, and Sofia mentions she has six brothers. She also has five sisters, and all six girls are strong and “stick together.” Now friends, Sofia and Celie decide to make quilt pieces out of the curtains that were torn during Sofia and Harpo’s recent fights. Celie no longer has trouble sleeping.
Analysis
In “The Color Purple,” Celie’s candid letters to God, akin to a diary, break her societal silence as a poor, abused African-American woman in 1930s rural Georgia. Her narrative echoes 19th-century African-American slave narratives, which disrupted the enforced silence of the black community. However, unlike these narratives that used codes and symbols to conceal their intent, Celie’s letters are forthright.
Despite their honesty, Celie’s letters can be challenging to understand due to her limited narrative ability. She struggles to interpret the events of her life, often resorting to plain statements. Despite enduring abuse, Celie shows little awareness of injustice or anger.
Walker’s use of Celie’s voice, albeit underdeveloped, provides a sympathetic and realistic portrayal of black women’s history in the rural South. Unlike a historian’s detached view, Celie’s letters offer a powerful first-person account of racism and sexism. Her narrative reveals both pain and numbness: “My momma dead. She die screaming and cussing. She scream at me. She cuss at me.”
Celie’s faith is evident but underdeveloped. She leans on God for strength and listening, but she blurs the line between God’s authority and Alphonso’s. She attributes her baby’s death to God, not Alphonso, and fails to link the injustice she experiences with God’s ability to prevent it.
Walker explores the idea of gaining power through self-expression. Celie, initially powerless and passive, becomes aware of her objectification when she envies Sofia’s assertiveness. When Kate insists on new clothes for Celie, Celie realizes Mr. ______ sees her as insignificant.
Celie’s advice to Harpo to beat Sofia seems uncharacteristic, but it’s a manifestation of the cycle of abuse. Celie seizes this rare chance to control another woman, but soon recognizes it as a “sin against Sofia’s spirit.” She admits to Sofia that her advice stemmed from jealousy of Sofia’s ability to resist abuse.
Sofia’s strong ties with her sisters suggest that female solidarity can combat sexism. Celie is amazed by Sofia’s defiance of patriarchal norms. Walker posits that self-empowerment comes from mastering one’s narrative and finding a responsive listener.
Nettie’s observation of Celie’s life with Mr. ______ and his children is like seeing Celie “buried.” Celie’s reluctance to fight back stems from the inherent dangers of resistance and her lack of self-awareness and self-expression. Nettie tries to build Celie’s self-esteem by sharing Mr. ______'s compliments. Celie’s attempts at self-expression, like thanking Kate for a new dress, highlight her struggle with self-understanding. Celie admits to God that she’s become numb to adversity, pretending to be a tree to survive.
