The Color Purple

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The Color Purple (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)

The Novel

The Color Purple is an epistolary novel made up of letters written by the heroine, Celie, to God, and letters exchanged between Celie and her sister Nettie. The correspondence tells the life story of Celie, beginning at age fourteen, when she is raped by a man “us knowed as Pa” and ending three decades later, when Celie has overcome shame and low self-esteem.

Letter writing for Celie begins when her rapist stepfather tells her, “You’d better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.” Soon thereafter, Celie’s mother dies, and the...

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• The Color Purple (Masterplots II: African American Literature Series)
• The Color Purple (Censorship (Ready Reference series))
• The Color Purple (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
• The Color Purple (Magill’s Choice: American Ethnic Writers)
• The Color Purple (Magill Book Reviews)
• The Color Purple (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
• The Color Purple (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
• The Color Purple (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
• The Color Purple (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)

See Also:

• - For teachers, the The Color Purple Lesson Plan.
• - The Color Purple summary and study guide in the eNotes.