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Letter 74
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 begins to recognize that Grady is falling for Squeak, as they prepare (Grady and Squeak, and Celie and Shug) to leave for Memphis. Mr. ____ tries, halfheartedly, to make Celie stay, saying that she will come back from Memphis, broke, before too long. But Celie tells Mr. ____ that he will be punished in the afterlife for the hurt he has caused her, and that his attempts to imprison her, as a mother and a laborer, will only cause him to suffer in Hell.
An addendum to the curses Celie hurls at Mr. ____ in the previous chapter. Celie is motivated by a righteous anger, here, unseen in previous letters. She is speaking her mind so as to cause the same hurt in Mr. _____ that he caused in her. What she says is true, but it is also destructive, and it is important to note that this is not the end of Celie's journey in terms of finding herself and her strength. She must, and will, learn also to forgive.
Themes
