The Color Purple Events Quotes

He [Pa] never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t. First he put his thing up gainst my hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties....

She [Mama] got sicker an sicker. Finally she ast Where it is? I say God took it. He took it. He took it while I was sleeping. Kilt it out there in the woods. Kill this one too, if he can. (2.4-7)

He come home with a girl from round Gray. She be my age but they married. He be on her all the time. She walk round like she don’t know what hit her. I think she thought she love him. But he...

He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink. I don’t even look at mens. (5.1)

Mr.________ come finally one day looking all drug out. The woman he had helping him done quit. His mammy done said No more. He say, Let me see her again. Pa call me. Celie, he say. Like it wasnR...

I was in town sitting on the wagon while Mr._________ was in the dry good store. I seen my baby girl. I knowed it was her. She look just like me and my daddy. Like more us than us is ourself. She b...

When a woman marry she spose to keep a decent house and a clean family. (12.5)

Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr._______ say, Cause he my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for—he don’t finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind me...

Everybody say how good I is to Mr._________ children. I be good to them. But I don’t feel nothing for them. Patting Harpo back not even like patting a dog. It more like patting another piece...

Harpo want to know what to do to make Sofia mind. He sit out on the porch with Mr._________. He say, I tell her one thing, she do another. Never do what I say. Always backtalk. To tell the truth, h...

[Harpo and Sofia] fighting like two mens. Every piece of furniture they got is turned over. Every plate look like it broke. The looking glass hang crooked, the curtains torn. The bed look like the...

You told Harpo to beat me, she said. No I didn’t, I said. Don’t lie, she said. I didn’t mean it, I said. Then what you say it for? she ast. She standing there looking me straight...

They have made three babies together but he squeamish bout giving her a bath. Maybe he figure he start thinking about things he shouldn’t. But what bout me? First time I got the full sight of...

Mr._______ turn his head slow, watch his daddy drink. Then say, real sad, You ain’t got it in you to understand, he say. I love Shug Avery. Always have, always will. I should have married her...

Some womens can’t be beat, I say. Sofia one of them. Besides, Sofia love you. She probably be happy to do most of what you say if you ast her right. She not mean, she not spiteful. She don...

I don’t like to go to bed with him no more, she [Sofia] say. Used to be when he touch me I’d go all out my head. Now when he touch me I just don’t want to be bothered. Once he git...

He love looking at Shug. I love looking at Shug. But Shug don’t love looking at but one of us. Him. But that the way it spose to be. I know that. But if that so, why my heart hurt me so? (33....

She ast me, Tell me the truth, she say, do you mind if Albert sleep with me? I think, I don’t care who Albert sleep with. But I don’t say that. I say, You might git big again. She say,...

All the men got they eyes glued to Shug’s bosom. I got my eyes glued there too. I feel my nipples harden under my dress. My little button sort of perk up too. Shug, I say to her in my mind, G...

Sofia and the prizefighter don’t say nothing. Wait for her to pass. Mayor wait too, stand back and tap his foot, watch her with a little smile. Now Millie, he say. Always going on over colored. M...

She seem like a right sweet little thing, I say to Sofia. Who is? She frown. The little girl, I say. What they call her, Eleanor Jane? Yeah, say Sofia, with a real puzzle look on her face, I wonder...

Yes ma’am, I say. I’m slaving away cleaning that big post they got down at the bottom of the stair. They act real funny bout that post. No finger prints is sposed to be on it, ever. Do...

She say, I love you, Miss Celie. And then she haul off and kiss me on the mouth. Um, she say, like she surprise. I kiss her back, say, um, too. Us kiss and kiss till us can’t hardly kiss no m...

Oh, Celie, there are colored people in the world who want us to know! Want us to grow and see the light! They are not all mean like Pa and Albert, or beaten down like Ma was. Corrine and Samuel hav...

Think what it means that Ethiopia is Africa! All the Ethiopians in the bible were colored. It had never occurred to me, though when you read the bible it is perfectly plain if you pay attention onl...

Millions and millions of Africans were captured and sold into slavery—you and me, Celie! And whole cities were destroyed by slave catching wars. Today the people of Africa—having murder...

They are the blackest people I have ever seen, Celie. They are black like the people we are talking about when we say, "So and so is black than black, he’s blueblack." They are so black, Celi...

We know a roofleaf is not Jesus Christ, but in its own humble way, is it not God? (61.28)

Why can’t Tashi come to school? she [Olivia] asked me. When I told her the Olinka don’t believe in educating girls she said, quick as a flash, They’re like white people at home wh...

Tashi is very intelligent, I said. She could be a teacher. A nurse. She could help the people in the village. There is no place here for a woman to do those things, he said. Then we should leave, I...

Dear Nettie, I don’t write to God no more. I write to you. What happen to God? ast Shug. Who that? I say. She look at me serious. Big a devil as you is, I say, you not worried bout no God, su...

I curse you, I say. What that mean? He say. I say, Until you do right by me, everything you touch will crumble. He laugh. Who you think you is? He say. You can’t curse nobody. Look at you. Yo...

The first thing I notice about Mr.______ is how clean he is. His skin shine. His hair brush back. When he walk by the casket to review Sofia mother’s body he stop, whisper something to her. P...

My heart broke. Shug love somebody else. (83.1-2)

You know, he say, you use to remind me of a bird. Way back when you first come to live with me. You was so skinny, Lord, he say. And the least little thing happen, you looked about to fly away. You...

God is different to use now, after all these years in Africa. More spirit than never before, and more internal. Most people think he has to look like something or someone—a roofleaf or Christ...

I just don’t understand, say Miss Eleanor Jane. All the other colored women I know love children. The way you feel is something unnatural. I love children, say Sofia. But all the colored women th...

Hard not to love Shug, I say. She know how to love somebody back. (89.20)