Click on the links below to read information on the key quotations for . . .
Below are the ten most important quotations from letters sixty-one to
seventy-five 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.
"You know how rotten my back teeth are. And in England I was
struck by the English people’s teeth. So crooked, usually, and blackish
with decay."
Letter 61, poetic justice as nature seemingly retaliates for the
white man’s wrong.
"We know a roofleaf is not Jesus Christ, but in its own humble
way, is it not God?"
Letter 61, a source of protection, this love of nature ties in
with Shug’s idea of God.
"A girl is nothing to herself."
Letter 62, the ideas of the Olinka tribe do not vary much from
those in Georgia.
"They are like white people at home who didn’t want colored
people to learn."
Letter 62, the young Olivia voices her concern at the sexist attitudes of Olinka. It is up to her
generation to stop gender
traditions perpetuating throughout world.
"No wonder the men are often childish. And a grown child is a
dangerous thing . . ."
Letter 64, like Harpo and Albert, though men are not the most
sensible, they often have the greatest control.
"I think Africans are very much like white people back home, in
that they think they are the center of the universe and that everything
done is done for them."
Letter 65, Alice Walker shows us that self-centredness and selfishness works
on all fronts.
"My daddy lynch. My mama crazy. All my little half-brothers and
sisters no kin to me. My children not my sister and brother. Pa not
pa."
Letter 68 and Celie is enlightened.
"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a
field somewhere and don’t notice it"
Letter 73, Shug tries to prize Celie away from the "grey-bearded"
stereotype. God is an "It" and wants to please us rather than
make us do things for Him.
"You a lowdown dog is what’s wrong, I say. It’s time for me to
leave you and enter into Creation."
Letter 74, Celie rises up against Mr. _______ and decides to leave
him.
"I’m pore, I’m black, I may be ugly and can’t cook, a voice
say to everything listening. But I’m here."
Letter 75, in a profound speech, Celie makes her voice heard,
it is however more of a political stand against all oppressors rather than
merely a spurt of personal angst.
Written by Matthew Kane [2001]
Click here to
return 