key quotes

Question 1

Celie - ‘Us both be hitting..’

Answer 1

‘Us both be hitting Nettie’s schoolbooks pretty hard, cause us know we got to be smart to git away’
PAGE 11

Question 2

Celie - ‘I look at..’

Answer 2

‘I look at women, tho, cause I’m not scared of them’
PAGE 7

Question 3

Nettie - ‘One day she..’

Answer 3

‘One day she started in on an ‘Uncle Remus’ tale, only to discover Tashi had the original version of it!’
PAGE 149

Question 4

Celie - ‘Shug don’t actually say..’

Answer 4

‘Shug don’t actually say making love. She say something nasty. She say fuck.’
PAGE 102

Question 5

Sofia - ‘I’ll kill..’

Answer 5

‘I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me’
PAGE 39

Question 6

Celie - ‘I sin against..’

Answer 6

‘I sin against Sofia spirit.’
PAGE 38

Question 7

Celie - ‘the God I been..’

Answer 7

‘The God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful, and lowdown.’
PAGE 173

Question 9

Celie - ‘Here us is..’

Answer 9

‘Here us is, I thought, two old fools left over from love, keeping each other company under the stars.’
PAGE 246

Question 10

Celie - ‘I know white people..’

Answer 10

‘I know white people never listen to colored, period. If they do, they only listen long enough to be able to tell you what to do.’
PAGE 177

Question 11

Mayor’s wife - ‘All your..’

Answer 11

‘All your children so clean, she say, would you like to work for me, be my maid?’
PAGE 81

Question 12

Celie - ‘Mr– marry me..’

Answer 12

‘Mr– marry me to take care of his children. I marry him cause my daddy made me. I don’t love Mr– and he don’t love me.’
PAGE 61

Question 13

Celie - ‘The man..’

Answer 13

‘The man us knowed as Pa is dead.’
PAGE 220

Question 14

Celie - ‘I wash..’

Answer 14

‘I wash her body, it feel like I’m praying.’
PAGE 47

Question 15

Celie - ‘Dear God. Dear stars..’

Answer 15

‘Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear Everything. Dear God.’
PAGE 259

Question 16

Nettie - ‘The people prayed..’

Answer 16

‘The people prayed to their gods and waited impatiently for the seasons to change’
PAGE 138

Question 17

Celie - ‘He ain’t..’

Answer 17

‘He ain’t Shug, but he begin to be somebody I can talk to.’
PAGE 250

Question 18

(page for first of Nettie’s letters)

Answer 18

Page 107

Question 19

Nettie - ‘A grown child..’

Answer 19

‘A grown child is a dangerous thing, especially since, among the Olinka, the husband has life and death power over the wife.’
PAGE 151

Question 20

Celie - ‘Harpo want..’

Answer 20

‘Harpo want to know what to do to make Sofia mind’
PAGE 35

Question 21

Celie - ‘When I see..’

Answer 21

‘When I see Sofia, I don’t know why she still alive. They crack her skull, they crack her ribs.’
PAGE 82

Question 22

Celie - ‘You gonna do..’

Answer 22

‘You gonna do what your mammy wouldn’t’
PAGE 3

Question 23

Celie - ‘My daddy..’

Answer 23

‘My daddy lynch. My mama crazy. All my little half-brothers and sisters no kin to me. My children not my sister and brother. Pa not pa.’
PAGE 160

Question 24

Shug - ‘You making..’

Answer 24

‘You making your living, Celie, she say. Girl, you on your way.’
PAGE 193

Question 25

Celie - 'Everytime I saw..'

Answer 25

'Everytime I saw him coming with the scissors and the comb and the stool, I start to cry.' PAGE 103

Question 26

Shug - 'I think it..'

Answer 26

'I think it pisses God off if you walk past the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.' PAGE 177

Question 27

Celie -'You better not..'

Answer 27

'You better not never tell nobody but God. It'd kill your mammy.' PAGE 3

Question 28

Nettie - 'We know a..'

Answer 28

'We know a roofleaf is not Jesus Christ, but in its own humble way, is it not God?' PAGE 139

Question 29

Nettie - 'as tired as they are..'

Answer 29

'As tired as they are, they sing! Celie. Just like we do at home' PAGE 127

Question 30

Celie - 'You a lowdown..'

Answer 30

'You a lowdown dog is what's wrong, I say. It's time I leave you and enter into the Creation. And your dead body is just the welcome mat I need.' PAGE 180

Question 31

Celie - 'Then she cackle..'

Answer 31

'Then she cackle. Sound like a death rattle.' PAGE 44

Question 32

(page for Celie's starting to sew)

Answer 32

Page 131

Question 33

Mr-- - 'Wives is like...'

Answer 33

'Wives is like children. You have to let 'em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating.' PAGE 35

Question 34

Celie - 'He beat me..'

Answer 34

'He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church' PAGE 7

Question 35

Celie - 'He never had..'

Answer 35

'He never had a kine word to say to me' PAGE 3

Question 36

Nettie - 'The Olinka do not..'

Answer 36

'The Olinka do not believe girls should be educated...A girl is nothing to herself; only to her husband can she become something.' PAGE 140