Use this discussion guide to inspire in-depth thinking, and jump-start a conversation about The Color Purple by Alice Walker. 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?

Have a gander at  our take on
The Color Purple: Defining Text of Womanism

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