Book report The Color Purple – Alice Walker
Summary
After Celie’s mother dies, Celie gives birth and Alphonso, her father, takes the baby away but he
doesn’t kill it. Celie suspects that he sold it to a married couple. Celie is left to suffer the effects of
childbirth on her body, with no baby to care for. Celie worries that Alphonso might start raping her
younger sister, Nettie, after their mother’s death and she promises her that she will protect her.
Soon, Alphonso brings home a new wife who is of Celie’s age. Celie notes that this does not end the
sexual abuse that he forces her to. One day, Alphonso beats her for winking at a boy in church
although Celie confesses that she wasn’t actually winking and that she only had something in her
eye. He later beats her again for dressing inappropriately. A man from church, whom Celie only
refers to as Mister (Mr.), soon begins to show an interest in Nettie. Mister is a widower with three
children of his own. His wife was recently killed by her lover. Alphonso’s new wife also tells the girls
that Mister has a lover of his own named Shug Avery. The girls see a photo of Shug who is a pretty,
glamorous woman that Celie finds very fascinating. Celie encourages Nettie to accept Mister’s
attentions as she is concerned that their father may start sexually abusing her soon and wishes to
find a way to get her out of the house. Alphonso, however, refuses to allow Mister to marry Nettie as
he insists that she is too young to marry a man with three children.
Nettie and Alphonso’s new wife realize that Alphonso is sexually abusing Celie. Nettie is so disgusted
when Celie confirms this, that she vomits. Alphonso’s new wife begins to cry. Alphonso offers to let
Mister marry Celie instead, although he mentions that she is ugly. Mister agrees to marry Celie
instead. Celie is not happy as she does not want to get married and she wants to stay in school. Her
father tells her that she is too dumb to learn anything anyway and sends her away to get married.
On the day of her wedding, Celie must care for Mister’s children. Mister’s oldest son, Harpo is twelve
years old and has been emotionally disturbed since his mother died in his arms. He throws rocks at
Celie and hits her until she bleeds. Celie discovers that Mister actually has four children and not
three. She spends the day caring for them and ignores the curses and kicks of his daughters as she
tries to comb their hair. One day, while in town, Celie sees a small girl that she feels may be her
daughter, whom she named Olivia. She thinks that her child looks just like her. She speaks to the
girl’s mother and offers to take her back home in Mister’s wagon. Celie asks some questions about
the child and learns that her named is Pauline and that she is almost seven.
Soon, Nettie runs away from home and stays with Celie and Mister. It soon becomes clear that
Mister is still interested in Nettie and she tells Celie that he has been making compliments towards
her. Nettie rejects Mister and he decides to kick her out. Celie cannot stop him but she tells Nettie to
go into town and find Pauline’s parents, the Reverend and his wife, and ask to stay with them. Celie
reassures her sister that she will be okay but reveals in the letter’s that she never hears from her
again.
Two of Mister’s sisters, Kate and Carrie come to visit and they are very kind to Celie. They tell her
that Mister’s previous wife, Annie Julia was a terrible housekeeper and a bad mother but tell Celie
that she is doing a great job. They tell her that Mister used to run away with Shug Avery for days at a
time and leave his wife. Kate is ashamed of her brother for not buying Celie any new clothes and
Mister seems to be surprised to learn that his wife has any needs at all. However, he allows Kate to
take Celie shopping. While Kate and Celie are shopping they discuss what color Shug Avery would
wear and Celie suggests purple because she thinks of Shug Avery as kind of a queen. Later, when
Kate leaves she instructs Celie to fight Mister whenever she feels that she is being wronged. But Celie
wonders what good fighting him would do.
Shug Avery comes back to town to sing at a local bar and Celie longs to go see her but Mister is the
only member of the family who ever sees Shug. Mister spends the weekend with Shug and when he
returns home Celie must resist the urge to throw questions at him about the mysterious woman.
Mister’s oldest son, Harpo confesses to Celie that he has fallen in love with a local girl named Sofia
but that Sofia’s parents will not allow him to court her because of the scandal in his family. However,
Sofia soon becomes pregnant and marriage between her and Harpo is inevitable.
Celie begins helping the new couple repair an old shack on Mister’s land so that they may live in it.
Harpo quickly becomes fed up with his new wife’s personality and asks his father and Celie how he
should go about getting her to behave. Mister tells his son to beat his wife and Celie agrees out of
habit. It is only later that Celie regrets advising Harpo to beat Sofia and wonders if she has sinned
against Sofia’s spirit. Celie can’t stop thinking about this and begins to have trouble sleeping. Harpo’s
attempts to discipline his wife with punishment do not go as planned and she ends up hurting him
more than he hurts her. When Sofia discovers that Celie was the one that advised Harpo to beat her
she confronts her and Celie admits that she is jealous of the way Sofia stands up to her husband.
Sofia begins to feel sorry for Celie and the two become friends again. This relieves Celie’s guilt and
she begins sleeping again.
Soon, Shug Avery becomes sick and is suspected around town that her illness is the result of a
sexually transmitted disease. This scandal causes the town to turn on her and her mother and father
refuse to take her in and care for her. Mister brings a weak, undernourished Shug back to his house.
Though she is weak, Shug is still sarcastic and caustic. Her first words upon meeting Celie are: “You
sure is ugly”. However, this acquaintance with Shug’s actual personality does not sour Celie on her
obsession with the woman but, in fact, only makes it stronger.
Celie grows more and more infatuated with the woman until she eventually sees Shug naked for the
first time and admits in her letters that she feels sexually attracted to her. As Shug’s condition
improves, she and Celie begin to become friends. Celie sees the relationship between Shug and
Mister for the first time and learns that the woman not only calls him by his first name: Albert but
also treats him in an adversarial, strong way.
Harpo confesses that he has been attempting to build muscle and fat to get as big as his wife so that
he may beat her into submission. This time, however, Celie advises him not to beat his wife and not
to base his marriage off of the loveless one between herself and his father. However, Sofia and
Harpo’s marriage becomes further strained and she eventually leaves to live with her sister, taking
their child with her.
This upsets Harpo and Celie sees him secretly crying.
Shug recovers so much that she begins readying herself to leave. This upsets Celie as she has grown
close to Shug and feels that she loves her. Celie confesses to Shug that Mister beats her when she is
not around and admits that she feels that he treats her this was because she is not Shug. Shug agrees
to stay until she knows for sure that Mister will no longer beat Celie. Shug begins trying to bring Celie
and gets her to talk about sex for the first time. Celie admits that she does not enjoy sex and usually
pretends that she is somewhere else when she is forced to have sex with Mister. Shug gives Celie the
idea to look at her own sexual organs for the first time in a mirror. Celie admits that she is glad that
she did this because she has fully seen herself now.
Sofia is soon seen in town with a new boyfriend. She is seen dancing with Harpo by Harpo’s new
girlfriend, Squeak and she attempts to punch Sofia but is badly hurt by the other girl instead.
However, Sofia’s independent spirit soon gets her in trouble with the law when she is asked to be a
maid in the mayor’s house and refuses, curtly. The mayor slaps Sofia across the face for her insolence
and she knocks him down, landing herself in jail. Celie visits Sofia in jail and finds her badly beaten
and bruised.
Back home, the family decides that they have to do something to get Sofia out of jail. Squeak admits
that she is the niece of the white prison warden and the others dress her up nicely so that she can go
speak to him and plead Sofia’s case. However, instead of releasing Sofia the warden brutally rapes
Squeak and she returns home covered in blood and limping. Sofia is sentenced to work as a maid for
the mayor’s wife and Squeak decides to help her, requesting that she be referred to by her real
name, Mary Agnes.
Shug announces to the family that she has a big surprise. She has married a man named Grady. Both
Mister and Celie immediately dislike Grady and feel desolate that Shug has married someone else.
Shug’s singing career has also grown until she has become somewhat famous. She asks Celie if her
sex life has gotten any better. Celie tells her that it hasn’t. Shug sleeps in Celie’s bed that night and
the two begin talking. Celie confesses her life story to Shug for the first time. She eventually begins
crying and Shug kisses her which turns to them having sex.
Celie discovers with Shug’s help that Mister has been hiding letters that Celie has been receiving
from Nettie. Shug helps Celie find the letters and read them. Nettie reveals in the letters that years
before, when she first left Celie’s house, Mister followed her and tried to rape her. When she
managed to get away he yelled after her that she would never see Celie again. Nettie went to live
with the Reverend and his wife who is named Corrine. Eventually, they traveled to Africa to do
missionary work. Nettie learned that the couple’s two children, Pauline (whom they call ‘Olivia’) and
Adam are indeed Celie’s children that her father gave away.
Celie becomes overwhelmed with rage that Mister would hide her sister’s letters from her. She feels
for the first time like she is not afraid of Mister and decides to leave him when Nettie returns to the
United States. Through reading Nettie’s letters, Celie discovers via a conversation that Nettie had
with the Reverend that Alphonso is not her natural father and that her mother had remarried after
Nettie was born. It is through the Reverend’s relationship with Alphonso that he became the choice
for adopting Celie’s two children but he says that he was told they were Alphonso’s wife’s children.
At this point in the novel, Celie is so overwhelmed to learn that her father is not who she thought he
was that she stops writing her letters to God and begins writing to Nettie instead.
Shug makes the decision to move to Tennessee and asks that Celie comes with her. Celie agrees but
wants to go and see Alphonso before she leaves. When they go to Alphonso’s house they find that he
has built a new house and remarried and a 15-year-old girl named Daisy. Alphonso admits to Celie
that he was her stepfather and that her real father was lynched. Celie and Shug then go to the local
cemetery but are not able to find her father’s grave.
Nettie confesses to the Reverend and his wife that she is the children’s aunt but Corrine, having been
suspicious that Nettie was sleeping with the Reverend, does not believe her at first. Nettie convinces
her and reminds her of the day that she met Celie. Corrine dies of an illness shortly after this. Celie
admits to Shug that she no longer writes to God and Shug attempts to get her to re-imagine God as
something different than an old white man.
Meanwhile, after eleven years, Sofia’s service to the mayor finally ends and she is released. However,
she does not know where to go and discovers that the children she had to give up are now all
married and moved away. Harpo and Squeak have since married and now have a daughter of their
own.
One night, with everyone is visiting, Shug announces to Mister that she and her husband are taking
Celie to Tennessee. Celie finally gets angry and tells Mister to his face that he has mistreated her for
years and that he needs to make amends. The others are all shocked by Celie’s outburst except
Squeak who announces that she is going with them to Tennessee.
In Tennessee, Celie begins sewing and eventually starts her own business with Shug’s help. Sofia’s
mother dies and Celie returns to Georgia to attend the funeral. She finds that Mister is very much
changed and now works hard and cleans his own house. She learns that he became sick after she left
and Harpo was the one who nursed him back to health. Sofia and Harpo have resumed their
marriage.
Alphonso has died and Celie has inherited his land and home. She moves into the home. Nettie and
the Reverend have married and are returning to the United States. However, Adam has fallen in love
with an African girl and married her. Celie finds out that Shug is considering having an affair with a
much younger man and is hurt. She realizes that Mister is the only one who knows the pain of Shug’s
rejection since she cheated on him, too. Celie realizes that she no longer hates Mister because Shug
loved him.
Nettie returns to the United States and she and her family arrive at Celie’s house unannounced with
Adam’s new wife. The homecoming is very emotional and Celie and Nettie are particularly
speechless. Though Celie feels old because her children are fully grown she realizes that this is also
the youngest she has ever felt.
Characters analysis
Celie
Celie is the main character of the novel. The story is about Celie’s life from the age of 14 to 44. Celie
starts the novel as a young girl who is suffering sexual and physical abuse from her father. Since her
father tells her that the only person she is allowed to tell about the abuse is God, Celie begins writing
letters to God asking him why her life is this way.
Throughout the novel, Celie’s belief in God is weakened by the events of her life and at one point she
seems to give up on it entirely. Towards the end of the novel, after enduring rape and abuse not only
from her father but from her husband as well, Celie begins addressing her letters to her sister, Nettie
instead.
Mister
Mister is Celie’s husband. Mister’s real first name is Albert, although his last name is never revealed.
Mister is a divisive character. He has the same motivations as Celie and it is through their mutual love
of Shug Avery that the two eventually bond and are able to become friends. However, in his dealings
with everyone else, and particularly Celie, Mister is a despicable tyrant who insists on getting his own
way and does not view women as equals or, for that matter, even people.
Shug Avery
She is a jazz singer who becomes well known throughout the book. Shug is Mister’s mistress and
Celie’s first love. She causes Celie to realize that she is attracted to women. Shug is also portrayed as
somewhat of a wise woman who always has the right advice to give Celie in any situation.
Regardless, Shug is a confident woman who is very sure of herself. Celie seems to worship her for this
as well as love her.
Shug can be mean, and comments on Celie’s beauty negatively the first time she meets her. She can
also be selfish in the way she deals with her sexual affairs.
Nettie
Nettie is Celie’s younger sister. At the beginning of the novel, Celie confesses that she often protects
Nettie in any way she can from their father and Nettie is said to still be in school after Celie was
forced to leave due to pregnancy. Nettie enjoys education and stays in school for as long as she can.
Nettie escapes her first home when she discovers that her father may be planning to sexually abuse
her the same way that he did with Celie.
After she is forced to leave Mister’s house, Nettie bravely makes a life for herself living with the
Reverend and his wife and eventually travels to Africa with them to do missionary work. Although
Celie and Nettie had not seen each other for years, Nettie writes to Celie religiously and does not get
discouraged when she doesn’t get an answer.
Alphonso
He is Celie and Nettie’s father. Toward the end of the book, the girls, who are women now, discover
that Alphonso was actually their mother’s second husband and so, that means that he is nót their
biological father. Alphonso, like Mister, is a selfish, despicable man who regularly rapes Celie.
Alphonso seems to be a pedophile as he not only takes advantage of Celie but later marries two
teenage girls. When Alphonso is confronted by Celie at the end of the novel he only says: “Now you
know”. He dies before the end of the novel.
Opinion on The Color Purple
The Color Purple is an interesting book about love, masculinity and different races. The book is very
detailed, although somewhat difficult to read, but it explains very clearly how masculinity was a big
thing in the 20th century. It clearly shows that men ranked themselves higher than women, it didn’t
matter whether it was their wife or a stranger. Also, the book mentions the division between white
and black (called niggers in the book). White is seen as superior, the book notes that people assume
that Jesus is white after reading the bible, even if there’s no proof. Furthermore, most of the black
people also know that the white is superior and they seem to agree with that, although they often
don’t know why the white are considered superior. The book is clearly a novel about feminism, it
shows how strong women can be when they are together. Besides that, it also shows that love
between two women can be even stronger than the love between a man and a woman.
My overall opinion on the book is what I’d call neutral. The book’s plot is very original and daring, for
its time. During the time the book was written, feminism was something most men (and even some
women) wouldn’t appreciate. I’d not say that the book has thrilling events, although there are some
cases of rape and sexual abuse. But, there are no house fires, like in Jane Eyre.