ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

The Color Purple 1322 Views


Share It!


Description:

In The Color Purple , Celie is abused by her father and husband. She leaves her father by marrying Mr. ________, and then leaves Mr. ______, too. But why does she really leave her husband? Is it the abuse, or are there other motives? Check out the video, and decide for yourself.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

The Color Purple, a la Shmoop: With Lavender and Mauve Right Behind.

00:09

Works of literature are filled with couples. Some go into the sunset together. . .

00:14

. . .while others go... somewhere else.

00:17

Celie and Mr... "blank"... from The Color Purple. . .

00:21

. . .had, what you might call, a dysfunctional relationship. . .

00:26

. . . until Celie had enough and left. After that, Mr Blank got his act together.

00:31

. .

00:31

. . .and turned into a halfway decent guy. He and Celie even started spending time together

00:38

again. So, if he was such a changed man. . .

00:42

. . .why did Celie refuse his marriage proposal at the end of the book?

00:47

Could be that after everything he'd done to hurt

00:49

her. . .

00:49

. . .maybe she just didn't want to give him another chance.

00:53

And, let's not forget, it wasn't exactly a love connection in the first place.

00:59

Or maybe it was because she was still in love with someone else.

01:04

After what she had with Shug. . .

01:06

. . .she didn't want to accept anything short of the real thing. . .

01:09

. . .and may have wanted to keep her options open if Shug ever did decide to settle down.

01:14

Then again, maybe she just didn't want to spoil a beautiful friendship.

01:18

After Mr Blank's big change. . .

01:20

. . .he and Celie had worked hard to become friends.

01:24

And maybe Celie just wanted to keep it that way.

01:29

Or perhaps her hard-fought independence wasn't worth giving up for any man.

01:33

C'mon, who are we kidding? . . .

01:34

. . .She would have said yes to him. But she had already proven that she didn't

01:38

need a man in her life. . .

01:40

. . .so maybe she just liked being on her own.

01:43

Okay, then, why do you think Celie said no? Was she too hurt to give Mr Blank another

01:50

chance. . .

01:51

. . .still in love with Shug. . .

01:52

. . .afraid of ruining their new-found friendship. . .

01:54

. . .or reluctant to give up her independence? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

Up Next

Utopias Becoming Dystopias
29763 Views

This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...

Related Videos

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123036 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

The Giver Summary
105891 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

Invisible Man (Ellison)
1818 Views

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1255 Views

Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...