Quote 1
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 when I had the chance. (27.11)
Mr.__ proclaims his love for Shug Avery to his father, while Celie watches. At this point in his life, he uses his love for Shug as an excuse to treat everyone else in his life inconsiderately.
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 saw that, I say.
I saw it, he said, just too big a fool to let myself care.
Well, I say, us lived through it.
We still man and wife, you know, he say.
Naw, I say, we never was. (84.9-14)
Though Mr.__ and Celie are still legally married, Celie states definitively that they were never spiritually or emotionally married.
Sofia and Shug not like men, he say, but they not like women either.
You mean they not like you or me.
They hold they own, he say. And it’s different.
What I love bet bout Shug is what she been through, I say. When you look in Shug’s eyes you know where been where she been, seen what she seen, did what she did. And now she know. (87.90-93)
Mr.__ and Celie discuss how Sofia and Shug, regardless of their gender, have managed to carve out a unique identity for themselves.