Letter 46:
During Christmas, Mr. ____ and Grady spend their time drinking, while Shug and Celie sit together and talk. Shug has become very famous and successful. She sings all over the country, and she has bought cars and a house in Memphis. She met Grady when he was fixing her car, and they got married soon after.
Shug asks Celie if Mr. ____ still hits her. Celie says that Mr. ____ is generally nicer to her now, but he still hits her sometimes. Their time together has gotten better, with Mr. ____ trying harder to make Celie happy. However, Celie tells Shug that she still feels like a “virgin” in terms of her own pleasure, which means she hasn’t felt completely happy or had an orgasm with Mr. ____.
Letter 47:
One day, Mr. ____ and Grady went out together, so Celie and Shug had some time to talk. Shug asked Celie about the father of Celie’s children.
Celie then shared something very sad. When she was 14, her father asked her to cut his hair. After she started, he hurt her. When he was done, he asked her to finish cutting his hair.
As Celie talked, she started to cry because she was remembering how sad and difficult things had been for her. She also talked about how her mother had passed away, how her sister Nettie had left, and how hard it was to take care of Mr. ____’s children, who didn’t like her except for Harpo.
After Celie finished talking, Shug gave her a kiss and told her she loved her. It seemed like Shug and Celie then became very close.
Letter 48:
When Grady and Mr. ____ come back, Mr. ____ tells Shug to leave the bed she’s sharing with Celie so that he can sleep with Celie and Shug can sleep with Grady.
While Shug is staying at Celie’s house, she starts encouraging Squeak to sing. Shug believes that singing will help Squeak feel better and become more confident. She thinks that Squeak’s unique and interesting voice could be really popular at Harpo’s bar.
Harpo isn’t sure about the idea of Squeak singing, but Shug assures him that it will be fine. She says she will help Squeak and that Squeak’s singing will bring a lot of money to the bar and to Harpo. This convinces Harpo to let Squeak try singing.
Letter 49:
In this letter, Celie finds a message from her sister Nettie. Nettie writes that she is safe and happy, and so are Olivia and Adam. The letter suggests that Nettie has been sending letters to Celie for a long time, but they haven’t reached Celie because Celie hasn’t replied to them.
We don’t know exactly when Nettie wrote this letter, but it seems she wrote it soon after she left Mr. ____’s house and moved in with Samuel and Corrine.
Shug tells Celie that she saw Mr. ____ at the mailbox. He was taking letters with “funny stamps” and hiding them, not letting Celie see them. Shug asks Celie about her sister Nettie—like if she was smart and what she looked like—because Shug knows that Nettie is the only woman Celie has ever loved besides Shug.
Shug and Celie start to think that Mr. ____ might have been hiding Nettie’s letters from Celie. Celie didn’t even know that Nettie was alive and writing to her.
Letter 50:
Shug and Mr. ____ become close again, which makes Grady and Celie upset because they both love Shug. Celie is shocked that Mr. ____ would hide Nettie’s letters from her. Shug tells Celie that Mr. ____ can be really mean and that she should try to find the letters and read them.
One day, Celie gets so angry with Mr. ____ that she picks up a razor and thinks about hurting him, but Shug stops her. Shug takes the razor away before Mr. ____ notices anything.
That night, Shug stays with Celie and talks to her. Celie is still very upset about Mr. ____. Shug shares that she once loved Mr. ____, who was charming and a good dancer. Now, Mr. ____ has changed and is no longer like he used to be.
Shug explains that Mr. ____ married Annie Julia because his parents didn’t want him to marry her. Shug kept seeing Mr. ____ even though he was married. She used to keep him away from Annie Julia for weeks.
Shug says that when she first came to Celie’s house, she only wanted to come between Celie and Mr. ____. But then, she realized how much she cared about Celie and saw that Mr. ____ had changed into a lazy and unkind man. Shug found out she really cared for Celie as a friend and more.
Letter 51:
Shug and Celie find out that Mr. ____ keeps Nettie’s letters in a trunk in his bedroom. They decide to take the letters out when Mr. ____ and Grady are not home. Their plan is to carefully open the letters and read them one by one.
They begin with the very first letter from Nettie, which is the next letter you will read in the story.
Letter 52:
Nettie’s first letter talks about what happened right after she left Celie’s house. Mr. ____ chased her down the road and tried to pull her into the woods to hurt her. Nettie fought hard, and Mr. ____ said she would never be able to send letters to Celie again.
Nettie ran to the town and went to the Reverend’s house, just like Celie told her to. At the Reverend’s house, Nettie saw a young girl named Olivia, who had the same eyes as Celie.
Letter 53:
In Nettie’s next letter, she says she is now living with Samuel and Corrine, who are the Reverend and his wife. Nettie wonders if Celie will get her letters and write back, but she thinks it might be too soon for a reply.
Nettie tells Celie that her two children are living with Samuel and Corrine and their names are Olivia and Adam. Nettie promises she will take good care of Olivia and Adam while Celie is not with them.
Letter 54:
In Nettie’s next letter, she is worried that Mr. ____ is hiding her letters and not giving them to Celie. She thinks this is stopping Celie from writing back to her. Nettie also says that Samuel won’t let her visit Celie because he believes it’s wrong to “come between a man and his wife.” Nettie asks Celie to write back and even includes some stamps in her letter to make it easier for Celie to reply.
