The Color Purple Contents
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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