The Colour Purple Flashcards
quotations
Celie being encouraged to keep fighting by other inspirational female characters, but she doubts herself due to Nettie.
“You’ve got to fight them, Celie… I can’t do it for you… I think about Nettie, dead. She fight, she run away. What good it do? I don’t fight, I stay where I’m told. But I’m alive.”
Physical description of Sofia
“Strong and ruddy looking”
Misters interpretation of women and wives
“Wives is like children. You have to let ‘em know who got the upper hand”
Harpo’s feelings towards his mother. Shows his mother as someone who has been shamed and crticised for a situation beyond her control, women being blamed for men’s violence.
“It not her fault somebody kill her”
Celie admitting she is envious of Sofia as Sofia has the power to do something Celie cannot.
“I say it cause I’m jealous of you… What that?… Fight.”
Sofia showing Celie just how empowering girls relationships can be through her own upbringing.
“but all the girls stick together”
Celies first instance of opening up to someone about her family, and how she feels at peace once she does, representation of sisterhood and girls supporting eachother.
“Not much funny to me. That funny… Then us both laugh so hard us flop down on the step… I sleep like a baby now”
Mister’s father criticising mister, showing the disapproval he has of Shug.
“Just couldn’t rest till you got her in your house, could you?”
Celie not seeing herself as deserving enough of perfect things, representing her insecurities.
“If the quilt turn out perfect, maybe I give it to her, if it not perfect, maybe I keep”
Celie realising how helpful a support system can be, Sofia being able to lean back on her support system when her marriage begins to fall apart. Celie doesn’t get this same escape.
“He don’t want a wife, he want a dog… He your husband… Got to stay with thim… Odessa love children… Maybe I go stay with them.”
“I think bout my sister Nettie… Somebody to run to… It seem too sweet to bear”
Sofia feeling like Celie whilst she is in prison in the sense that she has to be silent and submissive. Links to Freuds psychoanalysis as she has to repress her emotions to survive, leading to her unconscious presenting these thoughts in her dreams.
“Miss Celie, I act like I’m you… I dream of murder sleep or wake”
Celie viewing God and angels as white, christianity being seen as a ‘white persons religion’ and this being negative and due to white patriarchal figures.
“Angels in all white… God all white too”
Mary Agnes gaining back her voice through singing, she was previously defined by her mixed race, and she is trying to reclaim back her voice and identity.
“She stand up. My name is Mary Agnes”
“They calls me yellow like yellow be my name”
A representation of how black people view white people in The Colour Purple, with there being an ‘us versus them’ mentality.
“Why we ain’t already kill them off”
Sofia viewing all white people the same, being unable to differentiate between them, shown through Miss Millie’s children.
“Sofia never notice, she as deef to the little girl as she is to her brother.”
The white saviour complex through the abolishment of slavery.
“They have the nerve to try to make us think slavery fell through because of us”
Complicated power dynamics between the characters, despite Sofia being less powerful than Miss Millie, she still lacks in power in comparison to her husband. Concept of womanism –> even though Millie oppresses black women, she can also be oppressed by her husband. –> Scapegoating (Freud) being created as marxists say we look at eachother and fight rather than looking at the system itself and the people in power, creating false class consciousness.
“He refuses to show her how to drive it… How you enjoying ‘er Miz Millie”
Black people being dehumanised and objectified through the use of an article and white people being seen as ‘default’, a mentality like ‘white people and everyone else’.
“Have you ever seen a white person and a colored sitting side by side in a car”
Celie finding comfort in her female friendships and feeling safe enough to open up to Shug about her emotions –> a support system being created.
“I start to cry too. I cry and cry and cry”
Unusual family dynamics being represented through the household Celie lives in (letter 48).
“Shug like Squeak.. help her sing… Harpo cook dinner… me and Mr- and prizefighter…”
“It nice”
Netties letter telling Celie she was always writing to her, and suspects Albert was hiding them.
Shug and Celie find Nettie’s hidden letters in Alberts trunk, when people deliberately hide things, psychoanalytic perspectives suggests it represents a persons subconscious. Therefore, suggesting Mister knows what he is doing is wrong, yet continues to do them, so putting the items in the trunk could be a symbol of him repressing his guilt.
“Albert go in his trunk… keep it locked up tight… Us find… Shug’s underclothes, nasty picture postcards, and… Nettie’s letters”
Nettie being shown that she was supposed to be initially Celie’s support system, but that got taken away by Albert, leaving Celie to defend for herself.
“the first letter say, You’ve got to fight”
Unconventional family units through Nettie’s new family.
“very good to me… always try to include me in everything they do, so I don’t feel so left out and alone”
Nettie choosing to believe that Albert isn’t giving Celie her letters, she has trust and unconditional love into Celie, and believes she wouldn’t deliberately ignore her, so she decides to stick that Albert is hiding the letters despite not knowing the truth.
“He is not giving you my letters.”
Nettie remembering that Celie uses her letters to address her trauma and life like a diary, and realising when she writes to Celie that she feels the same way. An example of the metafictional: writing about writing.
“I remember one time you said your life made you feel so ashamed you couldn’t even talk about it to God, you had to write it… I know what you meant”
Nettie saying she writes her letters like how she would pray, so she feels the same way when she doesn’t write like when she wouldn’t pray. You pray to be close to God, and she imitates the way she prays in her letters to instead be closer to Celie –> she feels unconditional love to Celie and feels like she can tell her anything, despite whether or not she actually recieves and reads the letters.
“when I don’t write to you I feel as bad as I do when I don’t pray, locked up in myself and choking on my own heart.”
Despite Nettie feeling lonely without Celie, she is able to fully express and feel her emotions as she still has a support system with Samuel and Corrine, meaning she can express her emotions in her letters. However, Celie doesn’t originally have access to any support system as it is taken away from her by Mister, so even her letters don’t exactly provide her relief completely, shown as she cries when she does open up to Shug.
“I am so lonely, Celie”
