The Color Purple Shug Character Analysis

Life in Southern America as we know wasn's the easiest in the past, where the patriarchy ruled and women found themselves under appreciated. kind of left at the mercy of men. Some chose to fight back and stand for themselves, but most ended up lost as slaves to their husbands. Celie clearly belonged to the second group. In such tough life, she always was a follower, she never stood up for herself. A total opposite of that, belonging to the 1st group, was Shug. Celie first came across to know Shug from a picture she found. Ever since that first glance she felt a sudden burst of admiration. In her eyes she was a role model. Shug was what Celie forever dreamed of being. Later on when she actually met Shug that admiration didn't disappear but it
grew with time. Shug became her source of inspiration and strength. They started spending more and more time together. The more time they got to spent together, the closer they got. In those circumstances, where Celie was surrounded by people who mistreated her, who made her feel down and didn't love her, the only spark of light and love for her was indeed Shug. Being away from her sister, Shug kind of took that place in Celie's life. She shared her thoughts, problems and feelings with her and no one else and frankly she was the only one she could open up with. With that whenever Shug was around she became her safe-zone, her safety blanket if I can say so. In the hard times Celie had been being constantly dictated and beaten by her husband, a motherly protection was what Shug provided for her.
When Shug was there her husband didn't beat her and treated her slightly different, slightly nicer. Celie's relationship with Shug started of with Celie seeing that mother-figure in her, ever since the first time she saw her picture. It evolves with them sharing everyday problems and feeling, doing everyday things together where they felt a sisterhood bond. The emotional and physical gap Celie felt ever since Nettie left her was fulfilled with the presence of Shug. When Shug found the letters Nettie had sent to Celie, that meant the world to her, Shug's value in Celie's like grew even bigger, making Shug become the saver of her lost relationship with the person she sacrificed for and loved the most. The culmination of Celie and Shug's relationship came when the feelings of sisters-love turned into something more. They turned to feeling of just pure love, the love which Celie was supposed to feel about her other half, about the man in her life but it turned out that it was a woman. A woman that made her happy, which was a feeling she had kind of given up on and didn't have hopes about. That sparkle of hope that was awaken by
Shug. After sharing intimate moments as the ones happening in the bathroom, Celie rubbing her back, getting through deep feelings together, looking out for each other the inevitable happened. They became romantically and sexually involved. At this point not only Shug was a replacement of her sister, but of her husband too. It didnt end on that note though. It resolved with Celie finally becoming strong enough to confront her husband and stand up for herself, using everything Shug thought her and becoming independent for the 1st time in her life. At this point Shug was the woman who motivated her to find her inner strength and fight for her rights. For the 1st time she wasnt just a follower, but a brave individual. Celie still cared deeply about Shug, but she no longer misread that care as feelings one would have for their significant other. She was Celie's rock she could always lean on.
This relationship helps build up Celie's character, which starts up with her being weak, leading to what she became at the end. It adds depth into her character and it's a big factor that helps the character grow and evolve throughout the book. It's sets strong basis for the character development of Celie.