Razor incident:
'Shug got her hand on the razor now. She say, Oh it look dull anyway. She take it and sling it back in the shaving box.'
I think you'll agree - it pretty obvious why this incident occurs just after the revelation from Nettie that and her children are still alive.
Page 112:
Shug reveals her need to have sex with Albert's partners - this could be seen as a form of dominance over her lover's partner - she must prevail over any suitor to Albert.
Page 113:
They decide to go through all the letters.
Page 114:
The Epistolary style changes as Nettie becomes the narrator - although in the form of Celie's revealing the letter 'next one said'...
Nettie tells Celie that God might not be a white man - destroying Celie's ingrained image of the Christian religion as being a white man's domain - the laws and customs alien to her.
Page 120: 'It is the pictures in the bible that fool you'
Page 124:
Nettie reveals the truth about slavery to Celie.
Page 133 - 'now I know Nettie alive I begin to strut a little bit.' Her confidence improves as she learns the truth about Nettie.
==========================================
Nettie and Africa:
Nettie talks about her visit to Liberia and Senegal (P126); she talks about the exploitation of the native population by the dutch company regarding cocoa production: 'Besides, they don't own the cacoa fields, Celie, even president Tubman doesn't own them. People in a place called Holland do.' Nettie also speaks of the Pidgin English that is used (page 133), the people are surprised that missionaries could be black as most missionaries are white. The roofleaf becomes one of the most important commodities in the villager's lives (Olonka tribe) as it provides shelter from storms. On page 140 the Olinka woman explains how women's role is to have children - that she is nothing unless she has - Nettie realises another kind of prejudice exists in Africa:
'Why can't Tashi come to school? She (Olivia) asked me. When I told her the Olinka don't believe in educating girls she said, quick as a flash, They're like white people at home who don't want colored people to learn.' (p141)
Corinne suggests they call each other sister and not borrow each other's clothes. She worries that Nettie is seen as Samuel's other wife. Tashi (Olinka village child) starts to be affected by Olivia's attitude and the parents complain (p143).
'Our women are respected here, said the father. We would never let them tramp the world as American women do'.
Celie also learns that her real father was murdered by racists and that 'Pa is not our pa!' (page 159). Corrine becomes convinced Olivia and Adam are Samuel and Nettie's children, grows ill, Nettie manages to remind her of a meeting with Celie, but then Corinne dies anyway.
Page 232: Tashi and her Mother run away to the Mbele tribe who accept strangers and aim to attack the white man's dominance in Africa.
Page 161: Revisits 'Pa' and discovers he is with a fifteen year old (Daisy).
Pge 173: Celie talks of God:
...he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister I won't I probably won't ever see again. Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful and lowdown.'
Consider Celie's attitude towards God and religion in these pages. What does Shug do to influence and change her view?
1: How does Shug see God?
2: Why did Celie consider Shug 'evil' at first?
3: How is 'The Color Purple' a good title for the book?
