*Analyze the changes in Sofia and her interactions with the mayor's family. How does this situation speak to a larger theme within the novel?
*Discuss the cause/effect of Sofia's first visit home in five years. Note the not-so-subtle racism.
*Examine Shug's arrival at Celie's home for Christmas. Compare/contrast this visit with the last one. What is the effect on Albert and Celie?
*What is Shug's influence on Squeak?
*What new information does Shug give Celie about Albert? What factors in Shug's life may have influenced her current behavior?
*What do you find out about Albert through Nettie's letters?
*Discuss the family with whom Nettie lives and the changes in Nettie's life.
*How does Nettie describe Harlem and its effect on her? Compare/contrast her experiences there with Celie's life, who has only known racism, sexism, and oppression. What does Walker reveal through this contrast?
*Will Celie ever see her children again? How is her experience a reflection of slavery?
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Edith Wharton
John Steinbeck
Mark Twain
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ralph Ellison
Alice Walker
21 comments:
Shug comes to visit again. =)
This time she comes to visit for christmas, Shug treats her more like a sister of hers then a maid. When they lived together before Shug would sleep with Mr ____, She would make Celie Make her food, Clean after her, al those things a "maid" is entitled to do. This time Shug shows her the more intimate things that Celie and mr ___ should be doing. This creates somewhat of a bond between them. The bond is shown becasuse he no longer beats her, he treats her more as a wife, and is willing to somewhat please her.
A side note: This is a very graphic part in the novel, at least the part that I am reading, It also has a lot of meaning to what a realationship should be like, you should deffinately keep reading =)
Shug influences Squeak in many ways. Squeak has a passion for singing, but before Shug comes to town Squeak is too shy and timid to make a career out of it. Shug envies Squeak’s passion for singing and when Shug suggests that Squeak sing at Harpo’s, despite her first fears Squeak agrees and learns how much she truly loves the stage. Squeak envies Shug’s outgoing and fierce personality and begins to gain confidence and starts to stick up for her self. This can be seen when she tells Harpo to call her Mary Agnes instead of Squeak. Squeak’s life is changed for the better thanks to Shug’s influence over her.
When Shug arrives home for Christmas she introduces Grady, her husband, to Celie and Albert. Shug told them that she had a big surprise she was bringing home with her but no one expected her husband. As soon as Shug introduced Grady, both Albert and Celie had a grudge against him, simply because he had "taken away" the girl who they both loved. However, like Morgan said, Shug becomes extremely close and even intimate to Celie. Shug helps Celie become more comfortable with accepting who she is. Shug also helps reveal the letters from Nettie that Albert had been hiding. By doing this, Shug and Celie became even closer. Shug allowed Celie to come into contact with Nettie again, even though Nettie never received the letters that Celie replied to. Even when Nettie reveals that Albert is not their real father, Shug takes the role of comforting Celie and even offered Celie the idea of going back to live with her.
when sophia meets the mayors wife and sees how well shes doing with the kids, the wife automatically suggests that sophia work for her. this helped to show that not everybody thought that slavery was gone just because its not openly practiced. the sad thing is that sophia does end up working for the mayor anyway, so it didnt really matter that she stood up for herself like that
It is surprising that all Nettie did was go up to Corrine and Samuels house, and they let her live and work for them. That just shows that they are very generous people. I was a little confused when Nettie first describes them because I was under the impression that they were white by the way Nettie described them. Luckily, I found out that they were black.
Samuel and Corrine change Nettie's life because they are so religious. Their religious beliefs made Nettie more religious, and more happy. Nettie feels like she belongs there taking care of Samuel's and Corrine's children.
The very first letter, Nettie tells Celie what happened with her and Albert. Albert tried to kiss and drag Nettie into the woods but Nettie hit him and mad him mad. Then we find out what Albert was doing with the letters. Because Nettie made him mad he said Celie would never hear from Nettie again.
All this time Celie has needed to talk to her sister for comfort and she did not understand why she wasn’t able to. But when she found the letters in Albert’s trunk she now knows why. Albert was hiding the letters the whole time. This really upsets Celie and I think this is the first time she really hates Albert, even when he bosses her around all day. Albert has really outdone himself messing with his wife and her sister. Shug also reads the letter and sees a completely different side to Albert than before. This is also the point in the novel when Celie starts to not care what Albert tells her to do and slowly starts to rebel.
When SHug comes back for a visit, both Celie and Mr.___ think that she has a present for them. It turns out that the present is that fact that she is married. This comes as a very big shock to both Celie and Mr.___. They are both unhappy with this situation because they both love Shug. They both automatically hate Grady, without even giving him an opportunity to get to know them. Celie keeps hinting at the fact that Mr. ___ is very hurt and says that so is she.
I won't answer the will she see her children again part because I don't want to ruin the story for anyone else, but her experience is very much a reflection of slavery. Celie's kids were taken from her right as they were able to and given to another family. Celie has no idea who they have become, what they are doing, where they are, or anything about her own children. During slavery the families, sisters, brothers, parents, couples, were often seperated. THey would be sold to different households and never see their relatives again. If they were lucky they might catch a few words of how they were doing from another slave, but majority of the time they had no idea. It also is a reflection of slavery because there is nothing that Celie can do. She is stuck not knowing anythign about them just as people were stuck in slavery.
When Shug comes back, she comes back with a new husband named Grady, which kid of upsets Albert and Celie, because she's someone whom they both love.
Shug influences Squeak with her singing ability and encourages her to take the stage, which opens Squeak up to singing in front of people, and she loves it.
Shug reveals to Celie, that he has been hiding the letter from her sister away. Like anyone has said, this brings them even closer together (a little too close if you ask me though... nasty) and this reveals how much Shug has really become a more caring person because of Celie's influnce, I think, and how her love life has seemed to turn around.
Shug tells Celie all about how Mr. Albert used to be a fun life loving person. he would laugh and he would sing when they knew eachother before the story takes place. its aparent that Mr. Albert loves Shug and at one point she loved him just as much. i think the reason Mr. Albert changed in personality so much was because shug went on her own and left him on his own. so when Shug shows up again, Mr. Albert stops beating Celie. i think the reason is that the momory of the times with shug had an effect on him to stop beating Celie... because he is returning to that once happy person.
I believe that Shug as well as Celie have both gained attributes from each other by acting as a mirror. When Celie tells Shug about her sister Celie sees that she is sad. Celie realizes that she can be emotional about her own life even though she rarely is. Likewise, Shug gains a more forgiving manner after hearing the story. I think that each has an influence upon each other through their tight bond that will change their character traits even greater.
Shug arrives on Christmas with a surprise, a new husband. But this greatly dissapoints both Albert and Celie. Since they both "loved" Shug. However, during this visit Shug is much nicer to Celie. Their friendship even grows pretty intimate. Celie does not like Grady at all, though. She does not even know him but she hates him since he married Shug. Celie's and Shugs friendship grows a lot this visit.
Through Nettie's letters we learn that when Nettie left it was Mr.______ that followed her and tried to kiss her and presumably have sex with her. When Nettie refused it was also Mr._______ who tried to take her into the woods to presumably force her to have sex with him. This letter reveals why letters have been coming for Celie and why she isn't getting them, Mr._________ is holding them from her due to Nettie's refusal. I find this very interesting as Celie has been living with Mr._______ for a while now and this changes her mind set on what kind of man he is.
Through Nettie's letters you find out that when she left his house, he followed her and tried to seduce her, but she denied him and kept walking away. When she finally had to rest, he attempted to overpower her and rape her. She fights him off, and hurts him badly. He is enraged, and tells her that she will never hear from Celie again, and Celie will never hear from her.
And he stayed true to his promise- Celie only learns of this because of letters stolen from him.
"Not-so-subtle" racism is incredibly true. Miss Millie is obviously unable to fully operate a car, and forces Sofia and Celie to stop what they are doing and show her. Miss Millie is embarrassed by her reliance upon her black maid to operate her car, and will not accept a ride from any of Sofia's family. A depressing situation, especially since it is Sofia's first time back in five years. Owwch, racism is a terrible thing.
When Shug arrives at Celie's home for Christmas, she acts differently and has more respect for Celie now. When Shug comes, she brings her husband, Grady. She has, also, influenced the relationship between Mr. ____ and Celie, as he doesn't beat her anymore. Their relationship is now healthier and is more like a normal husband-wife relationship. Now, Nettie is living with Corrine and Samuel and seems to be living a happier, better life as they have influenced her in many ways.
It does not look like Celie will ever see her children again. This is a clear reflection of slavery. Celie's kids are immediately taken away from her after they are born. That happened alot with slavery. Mother's children were taken away from them and sold into slavery almost as soon as they were born. So Celie's dad taking away her kid was sadley taken from real life.
Shug becomes much more of a friend to Celie as opposed to her previous relationship with her. Celie is more informed of Shug's view of a marriage and thus improves her relationship with Mr. ___. Of course, Grady is quite disliked for his taking Shug away from them. ^^
This was actually a fun book, although I forgot about the posts. >.>
With Shug's respect for Celie comes Mr. ___'s respect for Celie. Along with this Shug and Celie become very close, like sisters.
Sofia’s visit home shows the impact that racism has on all of their lives. The Mayors Wife tries to do for something for Sofia, yet even in this action, she shows how little she thinks of her. Miss Millie feels that she is basically an amazing and generous person for promising Sofia a whole day with her kids and then granting only 15 minutes with them.
Nettie’s letters show the extent of how cruel Albert really can be. Over years he held that grudge against Nettie, and in turn, Celie. He had to have realized how rough Celie’s life was, and known what a lift it would be for her to receive Nettie’s letters. Yet, he remained firm in his stand of not giving them to her.
Shug tells Celie that Albert has been taking the letters that were sent from Nettie. Celie had originally thought that Nettie died, but now finds out that she is actually alive and that Celie's husband has been hiding the letters from her. Some factors in Shug's life that may have influenced her current behavior could be because she met Celie. Shug really starts to like Celie and it may have influenced Shug's life differently.
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