study questions Color Purple p. 57-155

Question 1

Why does Celie cherish the quilt she and Sofia are making?

Answer 1

Because Shug donated her old yellow dress, the colour makes her happy and the fact that it came from Shug makes it even more special.

Question 2

What strange habit does Harpo suddenly develop and why?

Answer 2

He starts eating a lot, all the time. He does this to get strong and big enough so that he can make Sofia do what he wants without getting beat up.

Question 3

Why does Sofia leave Harpo? Where does she go?

Answer 3

because he wants to take away her independence. She goes to stay with her sister.

Question 4

What kind of a business does Harpo start, and where does he open it?

Answer 4

He starts a Juke joint in the old house of him and Sofia.

Question 5

Shug sings a song for Celie. What is the song about?

Answer 5

About an unimportant man not treating a woman right. She sings this after Celie tells Shug about the hitting

Question 6

Celie tells Shug that Mr. will beat her when she is gone. When Shug asks why, what is Celie’s response?

Answer 6

She tells Shug that he does it because Celie is Celie, and not Shug

Question 7

Shug asks Celie if it bothers her when Albert and Shug sleep together. Celie tells her she doesn’t mind. What are Celie’s true feelings toward Shug?

Answer 7

• She does care, because Celie loves/likes Shug.
• She becomes sad because Shug makes her feel differently about sex.

Question 8

Who is Squeak, and how did she lose two of her teeth?

Answer 8

She is the new girlfriend of Harpo, and she is jealous of Sofia and calls her a bitch, Sofia hits back and Squeak lost her teeth in this fight.

Question 9

Why is Sofia in jail?

Answer 9

She got into a fight with the mayor.

Question 10

What is Sofia’s job in jail? What is her attitude and mental state?

Answer 10

-Her job is to work in the prison laundry.
-Her attitude is to do anything they say and be a good prisoner, but al she can think about is murdering someone. Her personality is completely gone.

Question 11

Who takes care of Sofia’s children while she is in jail?

Answer 11

Her sister Odessa and Squeak.

Question 12

What is the plan for getting Sofia out of jail?

Answer 12

They want Squeak, who is a nice of the warden, to gain Sofia’s release on the basis of their relation.

Question 13

Why is Squeak sent to talk to the warden? What happens while Squeak is with him?

Answer 13

She is related to the warden, and has to talk to him in the hopes of getting Sofia out of jail. But the warden instead rapes Squeak.

Question 14

For whom does Sofia work when she is released from jail?

Answer 14

For the mayor and his wife. Squeak helps her with the Mayor’s children. She begins to sing songs, Shug’s and her own.

Question 15

When Sofia finally gets to see her family after five years, how long does she get to visit with them? Why?

Answer 15

-gets to see her family for 15 minutes
-because Miz Millie didn’t know how to drive in reverse and she didn’t want to be driven home by a coloured man, so Sofia had to drive her home.

Question 16

What about Shug’s Christmas visit surprises Albert and Celie?

Answer 16

She comes back married with a man called Grady

Question 17

What happens between Shug and Celie when Albert and Grady take the car for a long drive?

Answer 17

• celie tells shug about her life
• afterwards they kiss

Question 18

What does Shug discover that Albert has been keeping from Celie?

Answer 18

All the letters that Nettie wrote to Celie over the years. And that Mr.___ has been keeping from her.

Question 19

What does Celie want to do when she discovers Mr. has been keeping her letters from Nettie all these years?

Answer 19

She wants to kill him for revenge

Question 20

Why didn’t Albert marry Shug after she had his three children?

Answer 20

Because his family didn’t approve of Shug.

Question 21

How do Celie and Shug get the rest of Nettie’s letters without Albert’s realizing they have them?

Answer 21

They take the letters but put the envelopes back so he won’t notice that the letters are gone.

Question 22

Why did Albert keep Nettie’s letters from Celie?

Answer 22

to hurt both Nettie and Celie , because Nettie refused Mr.___ and he got so mad that he said that she would never hear from Celie again.

Question 23

According to her letter, with whom does Nettie live?

Answer 23

She lives with the reverend and his wife and children.

Question 24

Where does Nettie go with the Reverend and his family? Why?

Answer 24

She is going to Africa because the reverend and his wife are going there as missionaries and they need a nanny for the kids

Question 25

Nettie thanks her old schoolteacher for something. What?

Answer 25

For keeping the desire to know in her alive and teach her to learn for herself

Question 26

What does Celie discover about the two children she had with her father?

Answer 26

That they are very much alive, are being brought up with love and are called Olivia and Adam. they are the adopted kids of Samuel and Corrine

Question 27

What surprises Nettie about slavery?

Answer 27

that the africans used to capture their own people and sell them into slavery. they sold their own sisters and brothers.

Question 28

Why does Shug suggest making pants for Celie?

Answer 28

Because she works a lot and that is very difficult to do in a dress. to give her more freedom of movement.

Question 29

Why is Nettie so certain that their missionary work will be successful?

Answer 29

Because she looks like the people from the village.

Question 30

How do the Olinka people first react to Nettie and the other missionaries?

Answer 30

They are welcoming and build them a house

Question 31

What special gift did the Olinka people give to the missionaries at the end of the welcoming ceremony?

Answer 31

Roof leaf.