The Color Purple

• Blog – What do you make of the end of this letter? Does it feel peaceful? Angry? Resilient?


This was a letter from Celie to her sister, Nettie. The letter talked about God and Celie’s relationship with him. From this letter I feel that Celie’s faith is strong but it is dependent on what other people have told her about God. At first Celie thought that God was a white male, because that is what everyone around her said. This changes when Shug tells her that God has no race or gender. “It? I ast. Yeah. It. God ain’t a he or a she, but a It. But what do it look like? I ast. Don’t look like nothing, she say.” (Pg. 2456) After hearing this Celie’s faith is now based on her interpretation of God, not one she learned from someone else. Shug has helped Celie open her view on religion but how Celie chooses to express it is up to her.
I think that there is some anger at the end of this letter. At the end of the letter Celie learns to respect life and everything it has to offer. This was learned after Shug told her to look at the flowers and embrace their beauty. “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” (Pg. 2457) However I think that Celie is angry because men see themselves as God. She has felt oppressed by men for too long. She feels as though she has done everything she can to please God and he just won’t listen.