Click on the links below to read information on the key quotations for . . .
Below are the ten most important quotations from letters sixteen to thirty
in the novel. Learning, knowing and having the ability to recall important
quotations in an AS Level examination puts you in an advantageous
position, as it saves you the time of having to search through the book in
attempt to find a relevant reference.
"Every day his daddy git up, sit on the porch, look at nothing.
Sometime look at the trees out front the house. Look at a little butterfly
if it light on the rail."
Letter 16, though oblivious to Harpo’s love for Sofia and Celie’s
feelings for Nettie, Mr. _______ pines for the love of Shug Avery.
"I see ‘em coming way off up the road. They be marching, hand in
hand, like going to war."
Letter 17 and Sofia is invited to Mr. _______’s house.
"Beat her, I say."
Letter 18, Celie, jealous of Sofia’s gall, gives Harpo permission
to hit his wife.
"All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to
fight my brothers. I had to fight my cousins and uncles."
Letter 21, Sofia, pitying the defenceless Celie, gives her feminist
‘testimony.’
"You sure is ugly, she say, like she ain’t believed it."
Letter 22, Celie is introduced to Shug, and her physical
inferiority is again highlighted.
"She weak as a kitten. But her mouth just pack with claws."
Letter 24, Vulnerable yet vicious, this letter emphasises
the two sides of Shug.
"Next time he come I put a little Shug Avery pee in his glass. See
how he like that."
Letter 27 sees Celie retaliate for the first time. Strangely, this
is not in light of her own troubles but in someone else’s.
"Mr. _______ look up at me, our eyes meet. This the closest us
ever felt."
Letter 27, though termed "black as tar" and "nappy
headed" Shug Avery is the natural bridge between Celie and Mr.
_______.
"It a nice pattern called Sister’s Choice."
Letter 28, Sofia and Celie physically and verbally quilt, sewing
different life-experiences together is a major symbol in the novel.
"Once he git on top of me I think bout how that’s where he
always want to be."
Letter 30, Sofia confides in Celie as Harpo tries to emulate his
father.
Written by Matthew Kane [2001]
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