Letter 73:
Celie tells Shug that she has stopped writing to God and now writes letters to Nettie. She explains that God never listened to her when she was poor and black, so she wants to write to someone who might actually read her letters.
Celie and Shug talk about religion. Shug tells Celie that even though she has made mistakes in her life, she still believes in God. Shug says that God wants people to be happy and that she believes in a God who wants love and joy, not the one white people say she should believe in.
Shug asks Celie what her idea of God looks like. Celie says she thinks of God as a white man. Shug explains that this is a problem because God can be whatever Celie wants. She tells Celie not to accept a version of God that was made up by white people. Celie remembers Nettie once saying that Jesus had hair “like lamb’s wool” and thinks Shug’s idea makes sense.
Shug shares that when she was younger, she thought God was a white man, but later she believed God is in nature and in human pleasure. She tells Celie that God just wants to love and be loved. At first, Celie finds this hard to believe and wonders if Shug is wrong, but Shug explains that God’s main wish is to love and be loved.
In her letter to Nettie, Celie says she is trying to find God in nature, like in rocks, trees, and grass, instead of in the ideas she learned from white Christian teachings. It’s hard work for her because she has to unlearn everything she was taught, but she is trying her best to follow Shug’s way of finding spirituality.
Letter 74:
Sofia has finished her twelve-year job early and is coming back to live with Celie and Mr. ____. Her children have grown up seeing Squeak as their mother and hardly recognize Sofia. They call her “Miss” instead of “Mom.”
One evening, Shug tells everyone that she, Celie, and Grady are going to move to Memphis. Mr. ____ says he won’t let Celie go, but Celie stands up to him. She tells him he’s a terrible person for hiding Nettie’s letters and that she’s tired of taking care of his unpleasant children and living in his house. Everyone at the table is shocked and supports Celie.
Celie also tells Harpo that he is partly to blame for Sofia having to work for the mayor’s family. She says Sofia wouldn’t have left him if he hadn’t tried to control and hurt her.
Shug also announces that Squeak will come with them to Memphis to try singing professionally. Eleanor Jane, a girl from the mayor’s family, shows up and talks to Sofia. She says her family is having problems, and Sofia, even though she no longer works for them, still helps them out with advice.
After talking to Eleanor Jane, Sofia agrees to take care of Squeak’s youngest child, Suzie Q, and the other kids while Squeak is in Memphis. Suzie Q likes Sofia a lot and doesn’t know she’s her father’s first wife.
Letter 75:
As Celie gets ready to leave for Memphis with Shug and Grady, she notices that Grady seems to like Squeak. Mr. ____ tries to convince Celie to stay, saying she will come back from Memphis without any money.
But Celie tells Mr. ____ that he will face punishment in the afterlife for all the pain he has caused her. She says that his efforts to keep her trapped as a mother and a worker will only lead to his suffering in Hell.
Letter 76:
Celie really likes Shug’s big, pink house in Memphis. It has a round shape and feels very special. When Shug and Celie have free time, they dream about and draw pictures of their perfect house.
When Shug is home, she cooks big meals for Celie, Grady, and Squeak. But when Shug is away working and singing, she doesn’t eat well and is very busy. While Shug is gone, Celie starts making pants in Shug’s house. She makes all kinds of pants with different shapes, sizes, and fabrics. Making these pants makes Celie feel happy and gives her a chance to be creative.
Shug encourages Celie to make even more pants and to think about starting a small business to sell them. This is the first time Celie has a job where she gets to work for herself and make some money. Making pants makes Celie very happy, and her love for Shug makes her even happier.
Letter 77:
Celie decides to hire two older women to help her make the pants she designs. One of the women tries to teach Celie how to speak and write in proper English with correct grammar. But Celie tells her that she is too old to change the way she speaks and writes now.
Letter 78:
Celie goes back to Georgia to visit Harpo and Sofia. They are arguing a bit, just like before, but they seem to have settled into a stable relationship. Celie isn’t sure if it’s still romantic. She asks about Suzie Q., who is doing well in school, and Henrietta, another of Harpo’s children, who Harpo says is a bit troublesome.
Celie tells Harpo and Sofia that in Memphis, Grady and Squeak have been smoking a lot of marijuana that Grady grows behind Shug’s house. Celie brings some with her, and they all smoke it together. Later, Celie goes to Sofia’s mother’s funeral. During this visit to Georgia, Celie feels much happier and has more affection for Harpo and Sofia.
Letter 79:
At Sofia’s mother’s funeral, Celie sees Mr. ____. He seems to have found religion and wants to make up for his past mistakes. Mr. ____ tells Celie that Henrietta has a disease, probably sickle-cell anemia, which makes her sick sometimes. This illness can be treated with a lot of yams, cooked in different ways. Henrietta doesn’t like yams, so she needs to be tricked into eating them to get better.
Celie remembers Nettie mentioning “African sickness” in a letter, and realizes that Henrietta’s sickness is the same as what Nettie talked about.
Later, Sofia shares with Celie how Mr. ____ and Harpo were very sad after Celie and Squeak left for Memphis. They spent their days lying around and not doing much. Feeling sorry for them, Sofia helped them get back on track by making sure they ate well and started working again. Now, Mr. ____ is very committed to his Christian faith and is trying to live a better life.
Letter 80:
Celie reads another letter from Nettie. Nettie tells her that she has married Samuel. She explains what has been happening.
The Olinka people were moved to new land by the British rubber company. The British destroyed their special roofleaf plants, which the Olinkans worshiped as a god. They replaced their roofs with hot tin that baked in the sun. The Olinkans were very upset because they loved the roofleaf plants.
Life became very hard for the Olinkans. They had to buy water from the British, which made things worse. So, Samuel, Nettie, and the two children decided to go back to England to find a way to help their village and stop it from being completely ruined.
On the boat to England, they met a white woman named Doris. Doris had black grandchildren and told them she was once rich in England. She became a missionary to Africa and was honored by a village chief who gave her “wives.” These wives had children, so Doris became a special grandparent to many Africans.
Samuel tells Nettie and the children about how he met Corrine. Both Samuel and Corrine had aunts who were missionaries in Africa. When they were teenagers, they listened to their aunts’ stories about Africa and laughed about how their aunts had changed from being strict missionaries to living comfortably in Georgia.
Samuel and Corrine went to college and promised each other they would go to Africa to help the people there. They hoped to make things better for the Olinka people, but now Samuel wonders if their work really helped. The Olinkans still seem indifferent to them and might even know that Samuel’s ancestors were sold into slavery by Africans.
During their time in England, Samuel and Nettie fall in love and get married. They tell Adam and Olivia that Nettie is their real aunt and Celie is their real mother. The children are happy about this news.
Adam is upset because Tashi, whom he loves, was going to have her face scarred and undergo a painful ritual to become a “real” Olinka woman. Adam doesn’t want her to go through these rituals because he thinks they are unfair to women, but Tashi wants to do them to be accepted in her culture.
Letter 81:
When Nettie, Samuel, and the two children return to Africa, they look for Tashi in the village. They find out that Tashi has had a special Olinka ritual done on her face, which is a traditional practice in her culture. Now, Tashi feels very self-conscious and ashamed of her face.
Adam is very kind to Tashi. He helps her with her wounds and takes good care of her. However, Nettie writes to Celie that Tashi is upset about what she has done. Tashi is worried that she won’t be able to love Adam, who is African American, because she feels embarrassed by the traditional markings on her face that remind her of the culture she now finds old-fashioned and troubling.
