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Letter 3
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
Celie's father marries a girl (not named; referred to as Celie's stepmother) who is nearly the same age as Celie and from the nearby town of Gray, and brings her back to the house to live with Celie and Nettie. Nettie begins dating an older man, a widower referred to only as Mr. ____, but Celie advises Nettie to keep studying and not to marry Mr. ____, who will make her care for his three motherless children.
More evidence is here supplied that Pa has a penchant for young woman. Much later in the novel, when Celie visits Pa to learn the truth about her family, she finds him married to another young girl—Daisy, who seems to think that her husband is an upstanding gentleman, who merely wants to help the young women in his life.
Themes
