The Color Purple Contents
- The Color Purple: Social and political context
- The Color Purple: Religious and philosophical context
- The Color Purple: Literary context
- Textual help
- Letter 1
- Letter 2
- Letter 3
- Letter 4
- Letter 5
- Letter 6
- Letter 7
- Letter 8
- Letter 9
- Letter 10
- Letter 11
- Letter 12
- Letter 13
- Letter 14
- Letter 15
- Letter 16
- Letter 17
- Letter 18
- Letter 19
- Letter 20
- Letter 21
- Letter 22
- Letter 23
- Letter 24
- Letter 25
- Letter 26
- Letter 27
- Letter 28
- Letter 29
- Letter 30
- Letter 31
- Letter 32
- Letter 33
- Letter 34
- Letter 35
- Letter 36
- Letter 37
- Letter 38
- Letter 39
- Letter 40
- Letter 41
- Letter 42
- Letter 43
- Letter 44
- Letter 45
- Letter 46
- Letter 47
- Letter 48
- Letter 49
- Letter 50
- Letter 51
- Letter 52
- Letter 53
- Letter 54
- Letter 55
- Letter 56
- Letter 57
- Letter 58
- Letter 59
- Letter 60
- Letter 61
- Letter 62
- Letter 63
- Letter 64
- Letter 65
- Letter 66
- Letter 67
- Letter 68
- Letter 69
- Letter 70
- Letter 71
- Letter 72
- Letter 73
- Letter 74
- Letter 75
- Letter 76
- Letter 77
- Letter 78
- Letter 79
- Letter 80
- Letter 81
- Letter 82
- Letter 83
- Letter 84
- Letter 85
- Letter 86
- Letter 87
- Letter 88
- Letter 89
- Letter 90
Textual help
Publishing history
The Color Purple was published in America in 1982 and in Britain by the Women’s Press, London, in 1983. A new preface was added in 1992 to mark the tenth anniversary of the novel’s publication. These synopses and the detailed commentaries are based on the text of the British edition.
The letters between Celie and her sister Nettie are not numbered in any edition of the novel, so for individual study purposes it is useful for students to number the letters in the text. Letters that are quoted within letters should not be numbered. Each letter in the novel begins on a fresh page.
A chronology of The Color Purple
The dates of the following are inevitably approximate:
| Year | Event | Celie's age |
| 1904 | Celie begins first letter | 14 |
| 1905 | Bears 1st child (Olivia) | 15 |
| 1906 | Mama's death | 16 |
| 1908? | Bears 2nd child | 18? |
| 1910 | Celie marries Albert (Mr_) | 20 |
| 1911 | Celie sees her daughter Olivia (now six years old) | 21 |
| 1912 | Nettie runs away | 22 |
| 1913-14 | Nettie goes to Africa with Samuel and Corrine | 23-24 |
| 1917 | Harpo and Sofia marry | 27 |
| 1921 | Shug comes to stay with Albert and Celie | 31 |
| 1922/3 | Sofia leaves Harpo | 32/3 |
| 1924 | Sofia in jail | 34 |
| 1927 | Sofia becomes housemaid in Mayor's household | 37 |
| 1934 | Shug now married to Grady. Visits for Christmas. | 44 |
| 1935 | Nettie's first letter given to Celie | 45 |
| 1936 | Sofia released from prison. Corrine dies. Nettie marries Samuel | 46 |
| 1941 | Sisters reunited. All relationships resolved | 51 |
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