Study Questions

1. What reasons does Celie give for eating?

2. What is clabber?

3. List what Harpo eats when he visits Celie.

4. What is meant when Harpo is asked “When is it due?”

5. Where does Harpo end up sleeping after his fight with Sofia?

6. After Harpo and Sofia fight, Harpo appears at Celie’s house with two black eyes. What bruises does Sofia have?

7. When Mr.____ and Celie have sex, how long does it take for both of them to fall asleep?

8. What does Sofia take when she leaves?

9. Describe Sofia’s sisters.

10. What does Harpo pretend to do while Sofia packs up her things?

Answers

1. Celie says that some people eat because “food taste good,” while others “love to feel they mouth work.” Sometimes, it also “might be a case of being undernourish.”

2. Clabber is the thick, sour milk that collects on a butter churn.

3. Harpo eats a piece of fried chicken, a slice of blueberry pie, a glass of clabber, and a slice of cornbread.

4. Harpo has become so fat that he begins to look like he is pregnant.

5. Harpo sleeps in a bed next to Shug’s room.

6. Sofia has only a scratch on her wrist.

7. Both Celie and Mr.____ are asleep in ten minutes.

8. Sofia takes the children and their clothes, as well as her own clothes. In addition she takes a mattress, a looking glass, and a rocking chair.

9. To Celie, Sofia’s sisters “look like amazons.”

10. Harpo is pretending to make a fish net while he is waiting for Sofia to leave.