Introduction

This epistolary novel traces the development of Celie from an immature, naive, unhappy girl to a contented, self-confident, sexually aware woman. As the story is written as it happens, these changes are reflected in Celie's language as well as shown through the events and her thoughts.

The first few letters have been written a long time apart. They cover a long period of time and are very brief. As she develops she writes longer letters and gives more detail. Sometimes (as with the incident with Mary Agnes and the warden) one incident is spread over two letters.

Her first letter describes her rape. The language stresses her naivety: 'pushes his thing' and 'sort of wriggles it' are very graphic but, at the same time, childlike. She doesn't know what is happening to her. She uses adult colloquial language without realising that it is considered vulgar ('pussy'). Her changing attitude to sex is revealed through her language. Sex is not pleasant for her; she describes Albert as 'doing his business', which as Shug says, sounds like he's going to the toilet. At this stage Celie is shocked that Shug says 'fuck'. Later on when she has sex with Shug, she describes them as behaving like 'lost babies'. As with 'business' this is also a euphemism but a much tenderer one. She now sees sex as something positive.

Celie becomes much more self-assertive. In the early letters Celie doesn't report much of what she's said; she doesn't speak very often to anyone except Nettie. She doesn't address men directly, saying 'I don't even look at mens'. By the time she leaves Albert, she is able to speak her mind in a resounding style: 'Every lick you hit me you will suffer twice'. Here she sounds like an old testament prophet. The phrases have a solemn resonant quality, lacking in her earlier speech.