The Color Purple is an epistolary novel—a novel told in letter form—in which Alice Walker traces the gradual liberation of Celie, a poor, Black woman who must overcome abuse and separation from her beloved sister Nettie. Set in the South and an unnamed African country during the 1930 to 1940s, the novel is a study in the ways in which Black women use their faith, relationships, and creativity to survive racial and sexual oppression. Several of Walker’s later novels, The Temple of My Familiar (1989) and Possessing the Secret of Joy (1992), contain characters from The Color Purple.

The novel was critically acclaimed, garnering Walker the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the National Book Award for fiction. It was adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in 1985. It was also developed into a musical in 2005, which was revived on Broadway in 2017, earning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. This musical was turned into a film in 2023, which Spielberg and Winfrey returned to produce.

This guide is based on the 1982 Penguin print edition.

Content warning: The source text and this guide discuss rape, racism, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and child loss.

Plot Summary

At 14, Celie begins writing to God about her life after Alphonso, the man she believes to be her father, rapes her and threatens her not to tell anyone. Celie has two children as a result of the rapes, and Alphonso takes each child away after birth. Celie’s only love is Nettie, her clever little sister. Celie eventually marries an older man, Albert, after her father declines to let Albert marry Nettie.

As a 20-year-old mother to Albert’s many children from previous relationships, Celie is as downtrodden as ever. Albert beats her, verbally abuses her, and is infatuated with the blues singer Shug Avery, a woman he has loved his entire life but cannot marry. Albert’s eldest son, Harpo, treats her with just as much disrespect as his father does. Nettie comes to stay with Celie when Alphonso begins to abuse her, but Albert throws her out when she rejects his advances as well.

When Nettie leaves, she promises to write, but Celie never receives any letters. Nettie goes to stay in town with Samuel, a minister, and Corrine, Samuel’s wife, on Celie’s advice. Celie met the couple in town one day and believes that they have adopted her two children, now named Olivia and Adam. Nettie follows the family to Africa as a missionary among the Olinka tribe.

Celie’s household is thrown into upheaval when Albert brings an ailing Shug home for Celie to nurse to health. Celie manages to heal Shug with good food and leisure, and the two women strike up an unlikely friendship that puzzles and scandalizes their family and acquaintances. Several years later, Harpo marries a bold young woman named Sofia, but their marriage ends when Harpo tries to abuse Sofia; he reinvents himself as a juke joint owner and partner to another woman, Mary Agnes ( “Squeak”). When the white mayor and his wife suggest that Sofia work for them as their maid, Sofia curses at them and slaps the mayor. She is imprisoned, but she does later become their domestic worker.

Celie stands by as Shug heals and resumes her affair with Albert. Celie learns to love Shug, who teaches Celie about her own pleasure and uncovers the fact that Albert has been intercepting and hiding letters from Nettie for years. Celie reads years and years of letters in which Nettie recounts how the village of the Olinka was destroyed when an English rubber company took over the land.

Corrine becomes ill and—suspecting that Samuel and Nettie are having an affair—rejects the children because she assumes that Nettie is their mother. However, She dies finally knowing the truth. Samuel and Nettie marry, and their mission among the Olinka winds down as the Olinka die out. Adam marries an Olinka girl, and the family head back to America.

Celie’s life changes dramatically over the years as well. She lives with Shug in Memphis for a time after Albert’s betrayal of hiding the letters becomes too much to bear. She starts her own company and becomes Shug’s lover and companion. Shug goes on the road again and is not home so much, but Celie thrives as she asserts control over her life. She returns to Georgia for visits and watches as Albert mellows out and becomes something like a friend to her. Celie discovers in one of the letters from Nettie that Alphonso is not actually her biological father; Nettie discovers the truth from Samuel, who tells the story of how he came to have the children.

When Alphonso dies, Celie and Nettie inherit a store, a fine house, and land. Celie experiences heartbreak, however, when Shug leaves Celie for a younger man. Celie also receives word that the ship carrying Nettie and the children sank after hitting a German land mine. This news turns out to be false, however, since Celie still receives letters from her sister. Shug eventually turns up, ready to take up life with Celie again, while Nettie, Olivia, and Adam at last make it to Georgia to reunite with Celie.