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Early Life Events
Celie writes about how she was abused physically, sexually, and verbally by her stepfather. He abuses her because her mother is ill and cannot 'please' the stepfather anymore. She soon dies due to her illness. She gets pregnant ('big') twice, and her children are taken away from her. -
Period: to
The Color Purple
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Marriage and Shug Avery
Celie is forced to marry Mr.__. Celie's wedding night is horrible. Mr.__'s son throws a rock at her and she gets a bad head wound and she spends hours untangling his daughter's hair. Celie sees a picture of Shug Avery; Mr.__'s ex; and comstantly thinks and wonders about her. -
Spotting Olivia
Celie thinks she sees one of her children that got taken away when she is out shopping at a fabric store. She doesn't say anything about it, but interacts with the woman her suposed daughter is with. -
Nettie
Nettie (Celie's sister) runs away from Alphonso's (their stepdad) house, and comes to live with Celie and Mr.. However, Mr. makes threats to Nettie because she doesn't let him have sex with her. Celie never sees her again, and thinks Mr.__ killed her. -
Harpo and Sofia
Harpo (Mr.__'s son) meets Sofia. Sofia is a very strong woman. Celie describes Sofia and her sisters as 'Amazons' because of their stature and their strong personalities. Because Sofia is so strong, she won't put up with Harpo trying to take control of her and beat her. She fights back. Sofia soon leaves Harpo. -
Meeting Shug Avery
Celie still thinks about Shug a lot. One day Mr.__ comes home with someone along with him. Since Shug is a singer on the road, she has no where else to go. She is very sick and stays with Celie and Mr.__ for a while. Celie and Shug start to get really close and become friends. They have deep discussions about their lives and this shows how fdifferent their personalities are. -
Sofia's Violence Streak
Squeak is Harpo's new wife. Squeak (as Harpo calls her or her real name Mary Agnes) and Sofia get into an argument and it ends with Sofia slapping/punching Squeak in the face and then leaving. Sofia also has a run in with the mayor and his wife; Miss Millie. The mayor's wife asks Sofia to be their maid and she responds with 'Hell no' and gets slapped by the mayor and sent to prison. -
Shug and Celie
Shug and Celie have very heartfelt conversations while they sleep together in Celie's bed. Their relationship continues to get closer as if they are sisters. Celie tells Shug about her life, and Shug is surprised because she didn't know Celie had it so hard. -
Nettie's Letters
Celie doesn't truely believe that Nettie is dead. Mr.__ always acts suspicious when the mail comes and hides letters. These hidden letters are believed to be Nettie's. Celie tells Shug more about Nettie and also about how she thinks that Mr.__ is hiding the letters from her. Shug helps her get the letters that locked in Mr.__'s trunk and they begin to read them. -
Africa
Celie and Shug start to read all the letters they found in Mr.__'s trunk from Nettie. They find out that Nettie is in Africa. Celie is really intrigued because she knows nothing about Africa, and wasn't even sure it existed. She learns a lot from Nettie's letters. -
Nettie in Africa
Reading through all Nettie's letters Celie gets to know who Nettie has been spending her life with all this time. She finds out that Nettie is with her lost children; Adam and Olivia. She meets Corrine and her husband Samuel. Nettie went to Aftica with them for missionary work, to build schools and teach the children of the Olinka villiage. -
About God
Celie tells Shug and Nettie about what she thinks of God. Shug tries to help Celie change how she sees God. Celie doesn't like men, and she sees God as a man. Shug tells her to not see God as anything, to see it as all creation. Or as nature. -
Nettie's Stories
Nettie tells Celie in her letters a lot of stories about her day. Nettie also tells Celie that she finds out Alphonso isn't their real father. Instead of adressing her letters to God, Celie starts to write to Nettie instead. -
Celie Stands Up
At dinner one night with eveyone, Shug announces that Shug, her husband, and Celie are moving to Memphis. Mr.__ says there is no way Celie is going anywhere. This is the first time we see Celie speak her true thoughts and stand up to Mr.__.
Celie now lives with Shug in her house in Memphis. Even though Shug goes on the road a lot, Celie still stays there. Celie starts making a living by making pants. -
Heartbreak
Shug meets someone on the road and when she breaks the news to Celie, she is heartbroken. Shug leaves to go adventure for about 6 months with her new lover, and she sends Celie postcards.
There is one thing Celie and Mr.__ have in common. They both love Shug. Now that she is gone, Celie and Mr.__ spend a lot of time together and for the first time actually have a conversation. -
Nettie is Home
Nettie shows up with Celie's two children back in the U.S. Celie is in shock and is feeling so many emotions. But is mostly excited to have her sister finally back home.
