The Color Purple questions, English homework help

letters 43-51

Question1: Many critics believe that Celie’s anger over learning that Mr._______ has been hiding Nettie’s letters is the climax of the story. Why do you think this is?

letters 52-59

Question 1: Why does Nettie continue to write letters to Celie even though she knows Albert is preventing Celie from receiving them?

Questions 2: What is the attitude of the Caucasian missionaries toward African people? How do Samuel, Corrine, and Nettie respond to this attitude?

letters 60-78

Question 1: Shug suggests that Celie make herself a pair of pants to help distract her from wanting to kill Albert for hiding Nettie’s letters. Similarly, making the quilt helps Shug feel better when she is recovering from her illness. State a theme for this story based on the importance of sewing in the lives of the women.

Question 2: How does Nettie convince Corrine that she is Olivia and Adam’s aunt, not their mother?

letters 79-82

Question 1 : Based on the references to the color purple in these letters, what is the significance of the title of this novel?

Question 2: List the changes Celie notices in Mr._______ when he returns home for the funeral.

Letters 83-90

Question 1: Find a passage in these letters illustrating the idea that Celie is not now, and never will be, romantically interested in men. Explain.

Question 2: Explain the life lesson Celie is referring to in the following passage:

And then, just when I know I can live content without Shug, just when Mr.____ done ast me to marry him again, this time in the spirit as well as in the flesh, and just after I say Naw, I still don’t like frogs, but lets us be friends. Shug write me as she coming home. Now is this life or not? I be so calm. If she come, I be happy. If she don’t, I be content. And then I figure this the lesson I was suppose to learn.