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Introduction

Walker's presentation of Celie and Shug's growing relationship Pages 68-70 Alice Walker uses a variety of techniques in 'The Color Purple' to present the growing relationship between Celie and Shug. Using pages 68-70 as a starting point I will be exploring attitudes towards sexuality as well as a number of lexical, grammatical and phonological choices. As soon as Celie encounters Shug Avery, we get the sense that she already has a sub-conscious sexual desire for her. "First time I got the full sight of Shug Avery" she says, "I thought I had turned into a man," and from this description we can see that Shug Avery is a big factor in expanding Celie's mind and feelings towards other desires and ideas. This point in then developed by a subsequent sentence, "I wash her body, it feel like I'm praying." Celie, being a strict believer in God, is obviously moved in new and different ways by the presence of Shug. Celie uses prayer to escape from her life and talk about issues that have, or are currently, troubling her. Thus, the presence of Shug allows Celie to mentally free herself; even though Shug is slightly bitter towards Celie. Later on in the novel Celie discusses her frequent rapes by Alphonso; thus reinforcing the point that Celie is able to discuss private and sensitive issues with Shug only. A close and personal link is created by Celie and Shug's first physical encounter. ...read more.

Middle

Celie now begins to see Shug as a close personal friend; Nettie was the only female Celie had a close relationship with; Shug has now taken this role. The first section of the letter on pages 68-70 conveys Celie's jealousy towards the relationship between Shug and Albert. The first sentence shows that Celie is still upset that Shug is leaving; Celie then turns this sadness into anger through realising that Shug is sleeping with Albert. "Now we all know she going sometime soon, they sleep together at night." The two diverse issues mentioned show that Celie is confused and does not know what to think of Shug. The alliteration of 'sometime soon' and also the consonance on the 's' sound create a feeling of pace and rhythm, this conveys that Celie is willing to move onto another subject as the current one brings much sadness. The second part of the sentence shows Celie's hatred, the consonance on the 't' and its plosive edge portrays Celie's anger and frustration on the matter. This part of the sentence is also monosyllabic except for the word 'together', as this word contains three syllables we get the feeling that Celie is running this word over in her mind and picturing the relationship between Shug and Albert. As the rest of the section is monosyllabic it shows Celie does not wish to elaborate and so is shocked at the actions of Shug. ...read more.

Conclusion

"I say, You might git big again." Celie does not wish to directly confront Shug and say that she doesn't want her to sleep with Albert, as Celie does not wish to hurt Shug emotionally. Instead, Celie moves around this issue and tries to discourage Shug from sleeping with a man who wouldn't care if a woman was pregnant. This quote is very plosive with consonance on the 'g' and also the 't' sounds. It creates a feeling that Celie has hidden or repressed anger which she is trying to hide behind what she is saying. There is still an obvious desire for Celie to be with Shug. Throughout the rest of the letter Celie describes how she dislikes sleeping with Albert; Shug begins to explain to Celie sexually arousing experiences to which Celie becomes recognised with. The concluding section of the letter sees Celie very upset and distressed over the issue of Shug sleeping with Albert. From the beginning it is clear that Celie has deep feelings for Shug which continue to develop as the novel progresses. However, as Celie begins to realise that Shug is sleeping with Albert, jealousy begins to kick in and hatred for Albert, and occasionally Shug, begins to develop. Nonetheless, Celie still desires to have a relationship with Shug even though it becomes less apparent. The physical sexual relation between Celie and Shug increases as Shug explains sexual issues with Celie. However, Celie is still upset at Shug's relationship with Albert. Robert McEwan ...read more.

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