The Color Purple Character Analysis Essay

Shug Avery, a main character in The Color Purple, is a promiscuous, attentive, independent woman. None of these words, however, can describe the protagonist Celie. Shug was a role model for Celie; she taught Celie that she didn't have to put up with being taken advantage of and that love and sex were real and could be enjoyable. All the lessons that Shug taught Celie were meant to help her new best friend see that her life was not what it should be. Celie was in an abusive relationship with her husband Mr._. Her husband, who only married her because he was desperate for someone to care for his children, did not appreciate or respect Celie. Mr._ simply kept her around because she did the chores and provided sex. When unsatisfied he would let Celie know by physically hurting her. Mr._ brought his close friend of years, Shug Avery, home one day and Celie was ecstatic. Shug was someone Celie dreamed of meeting and after a while both the women
Before getting married Celie lived with her step-father who was abusive. She was repeatedly raped and mistreated by him. After being a victim of rape she believed that was the reality of sex. She described sex with Mr._ as him getting on top of her, doing his business, and then getting off. Sex brought no enjoyment to Celie and she didn’t know that it could until Shug taught her that. Celie didn't understand sex completely, but Shug helped her with that by explaining a woman's body to her. After learning that Celie never had enjoyable sex Shug slept with her and demonstrated why she loved sex so much. This lesson was a huge one for Celie. All her life she never knew what real intimate love was like and didn’t even know it existed. No one had ever loved Celie besides her sister, and after living with an abusive husband and a horrible step-father she thought that someone else admiring her was impossible but Shug showed her it