Main characters:
Celie - initially a shy, submissive woman, who gradually develops into a woman of independent meansand mind. She gradually breaks down the dominant role that men have played in her life.
Nettie - Celie's sister. The two girls have a very close relationship, which does not disappear after their forced separation.
Pa - Celie's stepfather. He is also the father of Celie's two children, Olivia and Adam. He is a hard, cruel man who abuses his stepdaughters after his wife has refused him.
Mr.- - Celie's husband. Before he married Celie he was a widower with three children. He thinks he can play the dominant husband. He has been in love with Shug Avery, but was not allowed to marry her. After Celie has left him he changes for the good.
Shug Avery - a blues singer. She has been Mr.-'s love from her youth. She thoroughly enjoys life. She is the one who gradually makes Celie aware of her personality. She marries Grady but remains independent because she has lovers whenever she wants to.
Harpo - Mr.-'s son, who at first does not like Celie at all. He marries Sofia, who leaves him when he beats her. His relationship with Celie gets bet ter as he grows older.
Sofia - Harpo's wife. The first female boxing champion. She hits back when someone beats her. This gets her into trouble when she knocks down the mayor of the town
Squeak - Harpo's woman after Sofia has left. Her real name is Mary Agnes. She joins Shug and Celie when they go to Memphis to become a singer just like Shug Avery.
Corinne - a childless couple who adopt Olivia and Adam.
and They become missionaries and move to Africa, takSamueling Nettie and Celie's children with them. Nettie marries Samuel after Corinne's death.
The story is set in the small town of Eatonton in the state of Georgia in the south of the USA. The story begins somewhere in the 19OOs and ends when the second World War has started.
Many of the characters are based on some of Alice Walker's ancestors.
The main theme of the book:
The struggle of a woman to become free from male dominance. The important thing about this is that it is not done by means of violence. As appears from the book, violence will get you nowhere. The world will turn against those who use it.
Language:
The language is that of the simple farming communities in the south of the USA. It is direct, grammatically not always correct, but humorous.
Outline of the story:
Celie, 14, is made pregnant twice by her stepfather who is refused sexual intercourse by his wife. The two children, Olivia and Adam, are taken away from Celie. Celie is married off to Mr.-, who really wanted to marry Nettie, but she cannot marry Mr.- because her father wants her to become a teacher. Mr.-'s children do not accept Celie. Harpo even throws a stone at her when she arrives at Mr.-'s house.
Some years later, when she is in town, Celie thinks she sees her daughter, now 7. Celie sees a picture of Shug Avery and is fascinated by her. Nettie comes to stay with Mr.- and Celie, for she could not keep her stepfather away from her. After some time Mr.-decides that Nettie has got to leave. Mr.-'s treatment of Celie is bad, he beats her regularly, he does not allow her to buy new clothes. Celie says to one of Mr.-'s sisters that she would like a purple dress, something like she has seen Shug Avery wear in the picture.
One day Shug Avery comes to sing in the neighbourhood and Mr.- goes to see her. He stays away the whole weekend. After that he does not work in the fields any more, he just sits on the veranda. This means that Celie and Harpo have to do everything.
Harpo's girlfriend, Sofia, is pregnant. Harpo, however, is not allowed to marry her, so she leaves to go and live with her sister. After some time they marry, but their marriage is like a boxing match with producing babies between the rounds. Sofia gets very angry with Celie because she had told Harpo to beat his wife when she would not listen to him.
In the mean time Shug Avery, who has fallen ill, is taken into the house by Mr.- to be taken care of. She thinks Mr.- too wet.
Sofia leaves Harpo, who turns their house into a jukejoint. The place does not run well in the beginning, but when Shug, who has recovered, performs there, things get better. Celie finally gets the chance to see Shug perform; she even dedicates a song to Celie.
Shug goes on tour again, but only after she has made sure that Mr.- will not beat Celie again. Shug makes Celie discover her body. This is something new for Celie, whose body had until then only been used by men.
Sofia's prize-fighting abilities get her into trouble: first she knocks out two of Squeak's teeth when she visits Harpo's jukejoint; then she knocks down the mayor whose wife had asked Sofia to come and work for her, an offer which Sofia bluntly refuses. She is put to work in the prison laundry. After some time she is forced to work for the mayor's wife.
Shug, in the mean time, has made a successful comeback and has married Grady. She even persuades Squeak to sing.
One day, Celie gets a letter from Nettie, who is somewhere abroad. It turns out that Nettie had written quite a lot of letters. They had all been hidden away from Celie by Mr.-.
Nettie tells about Corinne and Samuel, who could not get any children, so they adopted a boy and a girl. She goes with them to Liberia in Africa to help the blacks. They go as missionaries, who normally are white people. She tells of the journey to New York and about the city of New York. They travel to Africa via England. Nettie wonders why the English have taken the blacks away from their continent. She also describes the strong feelings that the first sight of Africa brought about in them. They arrive at Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, a country founded by ex-slaves from the USA.
Celie sleeps with Shug; they are going to make some new clothes for Celie, especially pants, something that Mr.- does not like at all, because he thinks that a woman should wear a dress. In the mean time Celie also reads the many letters she has finally discovered.
Nettie, Corinne and Samuel are working with the Olinka people, who think that education is only for boys, since the role of girls is simply to be the mother of the future husband's children. Corinne does not really feel at ease in Africa. A road is constructed through their village, which has suddenly become the possession of an English rubber company. Corinne notices that Olivia and Adam both look like Nettie. Samuel tells Nettie how he had got Olivia and Adam. He also tells about their stepfather. Celie and Nettie's real father was lynched and their mother died crazy. Their real father was the owner of a store in town.
Shug takes Celie with her to look up their stepfather and to see her parents' graves.
Nettie tells Celie the true story about Olivia and Adam. Corinne remembers seeing Celie in town and she says how afraid she was that Celie would ask the children back. Corinne dies shortly afterwards of fever.
Celie no longer writes to God, but to Nettie. She has her doubts about God, who is depicted as a man, and, in her eyes, behaves like other men; moreover, he is white, according to the Bible. Shug says she lost interest in God when she noticed that. Shug feels close to nature and her body. In her opinion God accepts people enjoying physical love. She tells Celie to put men out of her mind.
Sofia is set free after eleven and a half years. At a family gathering Shug announces that she will take Celie with her to live with her in Memphis. Mr.- protests but Celie finally speaks up against him. Squeak (Mary Agnes) is going with them. When Shug goes on a tour, Celie takes care of the house. She also starts making pants and selling them, thus trying to make money and become independent.
When she goes back to her home town to attend the funeral of Sofia's mother, she sees Mr.- again. He has changed considerably. He is not the lazybones anymore that he used to be. It appears that Harpo has helped him through this difficult period.
Nettie has married Samuel. They decide to go back to America. They also feel they have not really been accepted by the Olinka people. Adam has a girlfriends, Tashi. He is really disappointed to see one day that Tashi has identification marks on her face, as is the custom with the Olinka people. Besides, the English Rubber Company has taken over the whole village now.
Their stepfather has died, leaving their mother's belongings (land, house, the store of their real father) to Nettie and Celie.
Shug has found a new lover, Grady and Mary Agnes have left for Panama to run a plantation. Mr.- still hopes to be reconciled with Celie, but Celie says:"Men look like frogs to me. No matter how you kiss 'em, as far as I'm concern, frogs is what they stay."
Tashi has run off into the jungle. Adam goes to look for her. He finally returns with her. They get married and decide to return to America.
Celie misses Shug, who has found a new lover. Mr.- seems to be only one who understands her. Celie says she likes Shug so much because she shows what she has gone through. Mr.- tells her that Shug's frankness made him realize he had done things wrongs; he also feels sorry for having kept Nettie and Celie apart. Celie's small business thrives. Celie tells Mr.- what the Africans think about religion and what they think about the relgion that was brought to them by the whites. When Shug comes to visit Celie she even feel jealous about the quiet life Celie leads.
Finally Nettie and Celie are reunited. They have a family reunion every year on 4th July.
Some questions.
1. What women play an important role in Celie's life?
Explain why.
2. What effect does the fact that their wives leave them have on Harpo and Mr.-?
3. What is the relationship husband/wife like in these communities?
4. What role does religion play in the book?
Does the importance of it change?
5. Why is Celie's husband called Mr.- by her?
6. Which aspect, very important in the book, is lost in the film?
7. Have a look at the following groups of persons and compare them:
Harpo and Mr.-Sofia and Shug
Celie and Nettie
8. Why do Corinne and Adam especially not feel at home among the Olinka people?
9. Why does Adam decide to take the identification marks, a common practice among the Olinka people?
10. What is the relationship between the words "white" and "naked" in the Olinka language?
What does that have to do with religion?
Read the following passages from The Color Purple and answer the questions that go with them.
Passage 1:
Give a detailed description of the position of women in those days.
Passage 2:
Why is education important?
Passage 3:
What can you say about the title of the book when you read this passage?
Passage 4:
What is Celie's reaction when Shug arrives?
Passage 5:
What influence does Celie have on Shug?
Passage 6:
Comment on Harpo's and Henry Broadnax's behaviour towards women.
Passage 7:
What did Shug's parents think of her behaviour? Explain.
Passage 8:
Compare the Olinka world to Celie's world.
Passage 9:
What does Tashi's father think of non-African people?
Passage 10:
What happened to black people who were very successful?
Passage 11:
What does Celie think about God?
Passage 12:
What kind of God is God in Shug's opinion?
Passage 13:
Pick out the ironic elements in this passage.
Passage 14:
What has happened to Mr.-
Passage 15:
Why does Celie not want to accept the property at first?
Passage 16:
How is the way Mr.- is described different from the way he is depicted in the film?
Passage 17:
In what respect do the Olinka people do the same thing as the whites?