T
hen, use this discussion guide to inspire in-depth thinking, and jump-start a conversation about this banned book. There’s plenty here to set your mental wheels in motion.

1. What is the significance of the color purple, and therefore the work’s title?
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2. What is the implication of Mr.___ asking if Celie’s cow comes with her to the marriage?
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3. What does Nettie mean when she tells Celie that leaving her with Mr.___ and his children is “like seeing you buried”?
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4. What is it mean that Celie calls her husband Mr.___ rather than by his name? And, when does she finally begin calling him Albert?
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5. Why is it so important to Harpo that Sofia mind him? And what advice does Celie give him to make her do so?
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6. Celie tells Nettie, “I don’t know how to fight. All I know how to do is stay alive.” What is the difference, and why does Celie say that?
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7. Why does Celie become emotional after hearing Shug sing “Miss Celie’s Song”?
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8. How do Shug and Celie figure out that Nettie had been writing to Celie? Where do they find the letters? And, what do they do with them?
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9. Celie admonishes Squeak to “make Harpo call you by your real name.” What does this indicate about Celie’s personal growth?
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10. How does Celie’s store change the lives of those around her?

#banned books        #Published 1980s      #Women’s History Month    #womanism    #The Color Purple     #Alice Walker