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With the aid of her "amazon" sisters Sofia leaves Harpo.
Celie decides to give the hand-made quilt to Sofia, as she is unsure of
the conditions she will have to live in while at Odessa’s house. Despite
disowning his familiarity with household chores, Harpo still changes the
baby’s nappy before Sofia and her sisters climb into the truck and leave
him.
Half a year passes and Harpo begins a new life, building and opening a jukejoint where their old house used to be. It is hoped that people will come from town to hear music be played. Unfortunately for Harpo they do not. One day while Shug and Albert visit the jukejoint, Harpo asks Shug whether she would sing a tune. She agrees and though Albert is opposed to letting Celie go Shug cajoles him into allowing her to go. Both sit and listen to Shug sing an old Bessie Smith number before she croons ‘Miss Celie’s Song’, the tune that Celie drew from her mind when she was ill.
Shug Avery is well again and believes that it will soon be time for her to leave Albert’s house. When she tells Celie this, Celie informs her that Albert beats her, taking his own frustration at not being able to marry Shug out on her. Shug tells Celie she will not leave yet. At the same time however, Shug and Albert begin to sleep together, and Celie becomes jealous, not of Shug’s experiences with Albert but of Albert’s experiences with Shug. In discussion with Shug Avery Celie tells her how she does not mind that she sleeps with Albert and confesses that she has never enjoyed sex with men. To this Shug replies "you still a virgin" and begins to make her more self-aware.
The next time they visit Harpo’s, Sofia returns with her new lover, a prizefighter known as Henry Broadnax. Sofia acquaints herself again with Celie and counters criticisms from both Albert and Harpo. We learn that Sofia has now given birth to her sixth child. While Shug sings we are introduced to Squeak, Harpo’s new girlfriend. Once Harpo and Sofia are on the dance floor, Squeak becomes jealous and both women are involved in a bitter fracas – Sofia is slapped and Squeak is then knocked to the floor.
Despite this however, Squeak is remorseful to hear of Sofia’s altercation with the Mayor and his wife. While in town, Sofia attracted the attention of Miss Millie who attempted to buy the services of Sofia, in view of her children’s appearances. Hurt and angered Sofia rejected the offer, received a slap from her husband before punching the Mayor. When the police arrive, Sofia is dragged to the ground and the children left in the care of Henry Broadnax. On visiting Sofia, Albert, Celie et al notice the demoralised state of Sofia.
Her job involves washing prison uniforms. We learn that since being convicted Sofia has been forced to submit to the wishes of the prison guards. She has been imprisoned for twelve years. After supper the next day the group devise a plan to get Sofia out of prison. Both Harpo and Buster offer suggestions, and Celie dreams of God coming from above to rescue Sofia. It is agreed that Squeak will go to the prison as a relation of the prison guard. She will protest that Sofia is quite capable of performing her current role and feels that justice should be served. So Shug and Celie dress Squeak as a white woman with instructions to let the warden "see the Hodges" in her.
Written by Matthew Kane [2001]
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