Previous
Letter 38
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Color Purple, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
God and Spirituality
Race and Racism
Men, Women, and Gender Roles
Violence and Suffering
Self-Discovery
Summary
Analysis
At dinner later, Mr. ____, Celie, Shug, Odessa, Buster, and the rest of the family think of how to get Sofia out of prison sooner, since they worry she will die from her backbreaking labor before the sentence is over. It is discovered that Squeak is related to the prison warden, whose family has hidden the secret of its partially African-American heritage. Mr. ____ tells Squeak that she needs to go to the warden, who is technically her uncle, and plead on Sofia's behalf.
A glancing reference to the reality of couplings between white and black people in Southern society. These couplings were common, although the children of these romantic relationships were often not acknowledged as being part of "white" society. Indeed, anyone of partially black parentage was considered, simply, "black."
Themes
