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Similarities Between Celie And Shug Avery

Decent Essays

Throughout the novel The Color Purple, Alice Walker juxtaposes Celie and Shug Avery to demonstrate the variety of roles women had in the nineteen hundreds. These two women had many similarities, but their few differences lifted them into different levels of society. Celie, for example, was a black woman who faced much adversity starting at a young age. Celie grew up abused by her father only to be forced into an abusive marriage. Shug Avery, on the other hand, was a confident and bold Jazz singer who had a complicated relationship with Mr. Blank, Celie’s husband. While Celie is immediately perceived as a weak and subjugated young girl and Shug Avery is seen as a confident and all empowering woman, it is their relationship that allows both women to grow. Due to their friendship Celie gains the confidence to break free from societal oppression and Shug Avery grows into a kinder and more emphatic women. While Celie and Shug Avery are foil Characters it is their relationship that frees both women from various forms of oppression and allows them to grow. Celie is immediately introduced to the audience as a young fourteen year old girl with no ambition and many questions about her purpose in the world. She questions God by constantly writing him letters. She believes she is a good girl and does not understand why so much pain exists in her world. She lives with a daily fear of her father and with the constant reminder that “[she] better not never tell nobody but God. It 'd kill

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