Shug Avery: Sexuality, Androgyny, and Freedom in The Color Purple

Shug Avery is perhaps the most enthralling character in The Color Purple not only because she is described as being this way to all she meets, but also because she exudes a sense of freedom that is exceptional for an African-American living in early 1900s America, surrounded by racism, pain, and suffering constantly. Shug’s freedom is exhibited in many of her characteristics, including her success in singing, her relationship with Mr. ____ who would seem heartless if it wasn’t for her, and her blunt, take-charge way of living. Perhaps one of the biggest ways she remains more free of struggles and insecurities compared to the other characters is through her sexuality and how she shows no shame for it.

Celie falls for Shug before she even knows her, and eventually the two have a devoted romantic relationship that doesn’t lose its love even when Shug falls for other people and has relationships with them. Celie isn’t happy about the fact but understands that Shug is who she is, and the immense amount of love that Shug constantly feels for everyone around her cannot be contained. Shug is freedom.

Shug is the one who teaches Celie that sex isn’t always a horrible, traumatic experience. Up into Celie meets Shug, Celie’s knowledge of sex is that it’s a weapon, and all that she knows about sex is rape. But then, Shug introduces her to her own sexuality and through other discussions about God and joy, Celie begins to understand also that it doesn’t have to be dirty; it can just be love.

The closer Celie and Shug get, the more free Celie is. Shug is the one who convinces her to try wearing pants, which Celie falls in love with. She begins making pants for everyone she knows, and Shug is the one who convinces her to start her own business. Shug is the one who is with Celie when they find all of the hidden letters from Nettie. Shug is there for every major moment when Celie discovers more of herself and more ways she can be happy. Shug is even the reason that after all of the bad experiences Mr. ____ and Celie had, they can end up being friendly with one another and content in each other’s company. Losing Shug brings them close together despite how badly Mr. ____ always treated Celie.

There is a moment when Mr. ____ is talking to Celie about Shug and her androgynous nature comes up: “He say to tell the truth, Shug act more manly than most men. I mean she upright, honest. Speak her mind and the devil take the hindmost, he say… Mr. ____ think all this is stuff men do… What Shug got is womanly it seem like to me… Sofia and Shug not like men, he say, but they not like women either,” (Walker 269). Sofia and Shug are strong, confident, and take no prisoners. Mr. ____ and Celie have to agree that they are androgynous because the two of them are so vastly different compared to Sofia and Shug that they can’t even comprehend a definition for the two women. There is no label for who they are, besides strong. Celie and Mr. ____ are so caught up in their worries and past trauma that they are broken down by society’s expectations. Shug shows them a world they’d never seen before, and in that world, they are brought together despite their differences. Celie and Mr. ____ are not emotionally married, and the closest they get to it is when they both lose Shug’s company; they can finally stand one another’s company. Shug freed them from each other.


Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. London: Women's Press, 1992. Print.

Religion, God, and How They Change in The Color Purple

The Color Purple is written from Celie’s unique perspective, in letters addressed to God (for the most part). From the very beginning, it is clear that Celie’s relationship with God is not necessarily a loving, devoted one. The letters are written like journal entries, not prayers.

Writing to God gives Celie some direction. I don’t believe if she wrote simply journal entries, she would be getting the same amount of fulfillment out of it. She has to write to something rather than just write because she is so alone. At the very beginning, Celie is separated from her sister Nettie, and it is the biggest source of her pain throughout the novel. She is forced to marry, separated from Nettie, her father, and her children. The book takes place over such a long span of time it seems as if she’ll never see any of these characters in person again. So if she doesn’t have family, the only source of consistency in her life has to be God. She has nobody else to share her thoughts, feelings, and struggles with.

A major turning point in the book, however, is when Celie no longer writes to God, but writes to Nettie instead. It is implied that Celie doesn’t send these letters, likely because she doesn’t know Nettie’s exact location. Celie discusses God with Shug at this point in the book, who makes her look at God and religion differently: “Don’t look like nothing, she say. It ain’t a picture show. It ain’t something you can look at apart from anything else, including yourself. I believe God is everything, say Shug. Everything that is or ever was or ever will be. And when you can feel that, and be happy to feel that, you’ve found it,” (Walker 195).

From this moment on, Celie is much more spiritual even though she is no longer writing letters to God. Seeing Him as an “It” rather than as a “Him” made all the difference. The pressure she used to feel from religion changed to freedom; Shug’s character causes this shift from restriction to freedom multiple times for Celie in the book.

The last letter Celie writes is addressed to God; not only God, but also the stars, trees, sky, peoples, and everything (Walker 285). The moment she writes of is the one she’s always been waiting for. It is the perfect ending, and the only letter to God that is a prayer, beginning with “Thank you” and truly showing her character development.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. London: Women's Press, 1992. Print.

Why His Name is "Mr. ____" in The Color Purple

Alice Walker’s writing style is one of the most notable features of the novel The Color Purple, particularly because the unique, imperfect language and lack of punctuation would have been accurate for Celie’s character and her lack of education. The fact that she can read and write well and know so much about the world in the first place is a sort of novelty for her character.

Readers of The Color Purple realize from the get-go that there are virtually no last names used in the novel, with the exception of a few caucasian characters. Celie always refers to her husband as Mr. ____, and the reasons for why are what make Walker’s writing so powerful and true. When discussing this with my mom, she said to me: “Well, they’re basically slaves, aren’t they?” I shrugged in response, since I’d only read a few pages of the book at the time, but it’s clear that the characters in this book are not slaves. They are independent people with their own lives separate from caucasian people and with their own families. The closest we see to slavery is Sofia working as a servant to a white family at one point, but this is in replacement of her jail sentence; she is not a slave.

However, The Color Purple is a constant reminder of the painful, lasting effects of slavery. Along with Nettie’s letters from Africa and the racism that all the characters face, a major part of this reminder is the fact that these African-American people don’t have last names. The whole book is really focused on broken families, and truthfully, the fact that these characters have no knowledge of their family history may be a contributing factor to their constant familial issues.

Mr. ____ being known as Mr. ____ not only makes him feel very separate from Celie despite their marriage, it also creates the brutal atmosphere of early 1900s America. African-American people were facing the effects of slavery and the abuse their family members (that they never knew) daily. They were only identifiable by first name, making them all the more forgettable in society’s eyes.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. London: Women's Press, 1992. Print.