Character & Relationship Development in 21 letters of ... · Character & Relationship Development...

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Character & Relationship Development in 21 letters of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple Manuscript 5/1/2015 Quamesha Hayes

Transcript of Character & Relationship Development in 21 letters of ... · Character & Relationship Development...

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Character & Relationship Development in 21 letters of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple Manuscript 5/1/2015 Quamesha Hayes

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Contents

Rationale ................................................ 2

Transcription .......................................... 6

Comparisons ........................................ 27

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Rationale The purpose of this project is to show the development of Alice Walker’s characters in

her novel, The Color Purple. The relationship development between the characters is equally

important to the purpose of this project. I will show these developments by comparing 21 pages

of Walker’s notebook manuscript of The Color Purple to the same passages in the iBook version

of the novel, which is a digitized versioin of the first published edition of The Color Purple. This

will primarily be done in the Comparison section following the diplomatic transcription. Below

is an example of what to expect:

The photo on the left is from Walker’s notebook manuscript of The Color Purple. The

notebook manuscript is handwritten using a green ink pen and subsequent edits are done in

purple ink or pencil. The photo on the right is a screenshot of the first published edition of The

Color Purple (ibook format). The purple highlighted text in the screenshot corresponds to one or

more passages in the letter on the left. I will be using a black arrow to indicate where the

screenshot corresponds to the manuscript. Annotation appears in the light purple text box in the

screenshot. This is where I make comments on the changes between the manuscript on the left

and the printed edition on the right.

With consideration to the purpose of the project, the reliability of the manuscript is

crucial to the comparisons, as the reliability will allow us to see and understand the changes

Walker made to arrive at the published state of The Color Purple. In The Editing of Historical

Documents, G. Thomas Tanselle states, “Changes, no matter how trivial, take the reader one

remove from the author. An author's own punctuation, his cancellations and interlineations, even

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his misspellings, play a part in expressing mood or pervenality. Retained, they make a text no

more difficult to read than an everyday letter from a friend. And even if an occasional passage

could be made clearer by changing it, such exceptions are not, in our opinion, balanced by the

total loss.” I have not “corrected” or changed any features of the original manuscript. The only

changes that occur are Walker’s doing. As part of my effort to ensure the reliability of the

manuscript, all symbols, such as ^, 8, + are from the author. The superscripts or subscripts that

appear in the diplomatic transcription are also attributed to the author, as well as passages circled

for deletion or rearrangement. Because the only changes that are made between the manuscript

and the screenshots from the published edition are Walker’s, every change is important to this

project and will be documented in the comparison section. In the diplomatic transcription, every

effort has been made to transcribe Walker’s manuscript exactly as it appeared in the notebook, in

accordance with the characteristics of a typographical facsimile. In Mary Jo Kline’s Guide to

Documentary Editing, she states that “Typographic facsimile has always been the method of

choice for reproducing printed documentary source texts. Even editors who took substantial

liberties with manuscript source texts did their best to reproduce as exactly as possible the

appearance of printed sources…(chapter 5, section II).” Misspellings, strikeouts of text, color

changes of text (which may be a part of Walker’s editing method), and even writings in the

margin or between lines has been included in the diplomatic transcription.

You will notice that Walker spells a word in standard English and then goes back and

changes the word to the spelling consistent with the Southern, African-American vernacular of

her characters, which also accentuates the pronunciation of the word. For example, on the tenth

page of the manuscript Walker changes is to at in a sentence where is would be the correct word

to use in standard English. Throughout the manuscript, the spelling and pronunciation of “No” is

spelled and pronounced as “Naw.”

Another area to pay significant attention to is color changes in text. The text color change

to purple on page 16 is significant to the character development of the character we know as

Shug Avery (in the manuscript, she is called Shug Perry). This section of text also acts as a seed

to the development of Shug and Celie’s friendship by showing that although Celie was Mr.’s

wife; she still admired Shug, who had a romantic relationship with Mr.

The intentional misspellings and grammar mistakes make the characters dynamic, and at

that early stage in the manuscript, those elements of Southern African-American vernacular

really made the characters who they are. Much of that success hinges on the dynamicism of the

characters from their speech patterns, which come about through the changes Walker made in

her Manuscript. For example, the conversation between Celie and Harpo regarding Sofia’s

brightness (on the second page of the manuscript/transcript) enlighten the reader about the

importance skin tone has in not only the general society, but even in the African-American

community. The reliability of the diplomatic transcription allows us to see how The Color Purple

eventually became the literary success that it was – and continues to be – in the world.

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Text Color Possible Meaning

Green ink Original writing ,”1st draft”

Purple ink Walker reads through the manuscript to

make changes

Pencil Walker reads through a second time to

make changes or simply uses pencil instead of purple.

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Author Biography

In 1944, Alice Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the youngest of eight children

whose parents were sharecroppers. At age 8 Walker lost sight in her right eye after a game of

“Cowboys & Indians” wherein she was shot in the eye with a BB gun. Walker cites this moment

as the catalyst for her becoming a writer. Her sense of self was shattered and she became

withdrawn from her family and community. The segregated social conditions of the southern

United States contributed to Walker’s feelings of being an outcaste and by the time she was 14

years old, she went to live with an older brother in Boston for the summer.

It was in Boston that she had the scar tissue removed from her right eye, though it

remained permanently blind. After the scar tissue removal, Walker became more outgoing back

in Georgia. In high school she was voted most popular and was the prom queen and valedictorian

of her class. Drawing on inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Walker chose to stay in the

South for college and fight for equality rather than moving to the North. Walker eventually

transferred to Sarah Lawrence because she felt her college was not as progressive as it should

have been.

After a trip to Kenya in 1965, Walker returned to Sarah Lawrence pregnant. Walker

suffered from depression and was suicidal due to the unexpected pregnancy. Although abortions

were illegal at the time, she found a way to have the procedure. Walker believes that the

depression and sadness she felt during this period fueled her writing. In 1968 she published a

collection of poetry entitled Once. Later publications include The life of Grange Copeland,

Meridian and the American classic, The Color Purple. All these works are connected to events in

Walker’s life.

This brief autobiographical information is important to this project because The Color

Purple draws from personal moments in Walker’s life. The BB gun accident is the inspiration for

the scene in The Color Purple movie wherein Celie is hit in the eye by children playing

Cowboys and & Indians. As a result of being hit in the eye, Celie covers that eye with a patch for

a few scenes. Walker’s 1st pregnancy and the lack of authority she had over her own body – not

being able to get a legal abortion – is manifested in Celie’s multiple rapes and pregnancies by her

step-father, who gives the children away immediately after their birth, taking away Celie’s

authority of her body. Lastly, the fact that both Walker and Celie become better writers through

painful experiences is another indicator of the connection between Walker’s life and her

writings, specifically, The Color Purple.

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Transcription He start to call, Mama, Mama. It wake me up. Charlee, Billie +

Bub cry like they mama just die. Mama died. Harpo come to,

shaking.

I light the lamp + stand over him patting his back.

It not her fault somebody kill her, he say. It not! It not!

N8, I say. It not.

Everybody always say how good I am is to Mr_____’s

children. I dobe good to them. But I don’t feel anything nothing

at all for them. I thought bout that while I was patting Harpo

back. It wasn’t even like patting a dog. It more like patting

another piece of wood. Not a living tree, but a table, a

chifferobe. But here the funny part. They ^all^ claim they love

me like a mother. And they don’t love me neither, no matter how

good I is.

But they don’t mind. Cept for Harpo they won’t work. The

girls face always toward the road. Bub he out all times of

night, drinking with the big boys. They daddy puff on his pipe.

Harpo mind be on Cassie Mrs. Sophia Sofia.

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She pretty, he tell me. Bright.

She smart?

Naw. Bright skin. She smart too though. I think. Sometimes

we ^ git her away from her daddy.

I should have him (stop?)^right then

The next thing be she big.

If she so smart, how come she big? I ast.

Harpo tell me all his love business now. His mind on

SofiaButler

day and night.

She can’t git out the house no other way, he say. Mr_____

won’t let us marry. Say I’m not good enough to come in his

parlour. But if she big I got a right to be with her, good

enough or not.

Where y’all gon stay?

They got a big house, farm. I can stay with them. They a

big family. When we marry I’ll just be just part of it. another

one of them.(____?)me. (____?) the family.

I think you dreaming, I say. Mr_____ didn’t like you before

she big, he ain’t gonna like you cause she big.

place, he say

say.

Humph,.

can

^

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Harpo look trouble.

Talk to Mr_______, I say. He your daddy. Maybe he got some

good advice. Maybe not. I think.

Harpo bring her by to meet his daddy. Mr______ say he want

to have a look at her. I see’em coming way down up the road,

sthey be just marching, hand in hand, like going to war. She in

front a little. They come up on the porch, I speak + move some

chairs closer to the railing. She sit down with a plop, put

down her pocketbook + start to fan herself with a hankerchief.

It sure is hot, she say. Mr._______ don’t say nothing. He just

look at her up + down. She bout seven or eight months pregnant,

bout to bust out her dress. Harpo so black he think she bright,

but she ain’t that bright. Clear medium brown skin, glow on ^it

like on^ good furniture. Hair notty bt a lot of it, tied up on

her head in a big ball. She not quite as tall as Harpo but much

bigger, + scary + ruddy looking, like her mama fed her. brought

her up on pork.

She say, How you? Mr________.

(_______?) firm,

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He say, look like you done got yourself in trouble.

Naw suh, she say. I ain’t in no trouble. Pregnant, though.

She smooth the wrinkles out from her stomach with the flats of

her hands.

Who the father? He ast.

She look surprise. Harpo, she say.

How he knows that?

He know. She say

Young womens no good these days, he say. Got they legs open

to every Tom, Dick and Harry.

Harpo look at him daddy like he never seen him before. But

he don’t say nothing. Not a peep.

Mr.______say, you needn’t think I’m gon let my boy marry

you just cause you in the family way. He young + stupid. Pretty

gal like you could put anything over on him.

Harpo still don’t say nothing.

Sofia face git more ruddy. The skin move back on her

forehead. Her ears raise.

No need

to

dumb

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She laugh. She look at Harpo sitting there with his down

+ his hands between his knees.

She say, what I need to marry Harpo for? He still living

here with you. What food + clothes he git, you buy.

He say, your daddy done throwed you out. Ready to live in

the streets I guess.

She say, naw. I ain’t living in the street. I’m living with

my sister + her husband. They say I can live with them the rest

of my life. She stand up, big strong healthy pregnant girl, +

she say, well, nice visiting. I’m going home.

Harpo get up to come. She say Naw, Harpo, you stay here.

Where you free, me + the baby be waiting.

He sort of hang there between them a while, then he sit

down again. I look at her face real quick then, + seem like a

shadow go cross it. Then she say to me, Mrs_________, I’d thank

you for a glass of water before I go, if you please.don’t mind.

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The bucket on the shelf right there on the porch. I git a

clean glass out the safe + pour her ^UP some water. She drink it

down, almost in one swallow. Then she rub her hands over her

belly again + she take off. Look like the army change direction,

+ she heading off to catch up.

Harpo never git up from his chair. Him + his daddy sit

there + sit there + sit there. They never talk. They never move.

Finally I have supper and go to bed. I git up in the morning it

feel like they still sitting there. But Harpo be in the

outhouse, Mr.______ be shaving.

dip

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Dear God,

Harpo went + brought Sofia + the baby home. They got

married in Sofia sister house. Sister’s husband best man. Other

sister sneak way from home to be best bridesmaid. Another sister

come + to hold the baby. Say he cry right through the service,

hismama stop everything to nurse him. Finish saying I do with a

big ole nursing baby in her arms.

Harpo fix up the little creek house for his + his family.

Mr. ______s daddy used it for a shed. But it sound. Got windows

now, a porch, back door. Plus it cool + green down by the creek.

He ast me to make some curtains + I make some out of flower

sack. It not big, but it homey. Got a bed, a dresser, a mirror,

a couple of chairs. Harpo daddy give him wages for

working now. He say Harpo wasn’t working hard like he should.

Maybe little money go restore his interest.

Harpo told me, Miss

Celie, I’m goint on strike.

On what?

I’m not going to work.

another sister

sister

Cookstove for cookin + eating too.

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And he don’t. He come to the field, pull two ears of corn,

let the birds + weevil eat two hundred. We don’t make nothing

much this year.

But now Sofia coming, He always busy. He chop, he hammer,

he plow. He sing + whistle.

Sofia look half her size. But she still a big strong girl.

Arms got muscle. Legs, too. She swing that baby about like it

nothing. She got a little pat on her now, make her look like a

woman and she give you the feeling that she all there. And

solid. Like if she sit down on something, it be mash.

She tell Harpo hold the baby while she come back in the

house with me to git some thread. She making some sheets. He

take the baby, give it a kiss, chuck it under it chin. Grin,

look up ^

At his daddy. Mr._______ ^say, yeah. I see now she gon

switch the roles on you.

On the

porch

Blow smoke,look down at him +

places

traces

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Dear God,

Harpo want to know what to do to make Sofia mind. He sit

out on the porch with Mr_______. He say, I tell her one thing,

she do another. Never do what I say. Always backtalk.

Mr______ don’t say nothing. Blow smoke.

I tell her she can’t be all the time going to visit her

sister. We married now, I tell her. Your place is here with the

children. She say, I’ll take the children with me. I say, your

place is here with me. She say, you want to come? She keep

primping in front of the mirror, getting the children ready at

the same time.

You ever hit her? Mr_______ ast.

Harpo look down at his hands. Naw suh, he say low,

embarrass.

Well how you spect to make her mind? Wives is like

children. You have to let’em know who got the upper hand.

Nothing can do that better than a good sound beating.

He puff on his pipe.

glass

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Sofia think too much of herself anyway, she need to be

taken down a peg or two.

I like Sofia, but she don’t act like me at all. If she

talking when men come in the room, she keep right on. If they

askt her where something isat she say she don’t know. Keep

talking.

I think bout this when Harpo ast me what he ought to do

to her to make her mind. I don’t make him see how happy he is

now. How three years have pass + he still (sayin?) song +

whistling. I think bout how everytime I jump when Mr______ call

me. She look surprise. And like she pity me.

Beat her. I say.

Next time we see Harpo his face a mess of bruises. His lip

cut. One ^of his eyes shut like a fist. He walk stiff + say his

teef ache.

I say what happen to you, Harpo?

He say, Oh, me and that mule. She fractions, you know. She

went crazy in the field the other day.Bby time I got her to head

for home I was all banged up.

mention

whistle + sing

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to the children by the creek, walk^ on up back home.

Saturday morning early, we hear the wagon. Harpo, sofia,

the two babies be singing + laughing off for the weekend. to

visit Sofia sister.

Dear God,

For over a month now I have trouble sleeping. I stay up

late as I can before Mr _______ start complaining bout the price

of kerosene, then I soak myself in a warm bath of Epson salts,

then I sprinkle little witch hazel on my pillow + cut out all

the moonlight. Sometimes I git a couple of hours sleep. Then

past when it look loke it ought to be gitting good, I wake up.

At first I’d sit up quick + drink some milk. Then I thought

about counting fence posts, then I thought bout the bible. So

now I sit up in the front room reading the your bible in the

middle of the night. Mr_______ be sleep but he keep a check on

the kerosene, so I made me some yellow fallow candles.

What is it? I ast myself.

A little voice says something you

word

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Did wrong. Somebody ^spirit

you sin against.

Way late it come to me. Sofia. I sin against Sofia spirit.

Maybe she won’t find out, I pray.

But she do.

Dear God –

Sofia found out. Harpo told. The minute sheofia found out

she come marching up the road. Little cut all black + red under

her eye. Carrying a sack.

She say. Just want you to know I looked to you for help.

Ain’t I been helpful? I ast. I made you curtains, neat

stuff You don’t even have to pay it back.

She open up her sack. Here your curtains, she say. Here

your thread. Here a dollar for rent. the

They yours, I say. Trying to push them back to her. I’m

glad to help out. Do what I can.

You told Harpo to beat me, she said.

No I din’t, I liedsaid.

Don’t lie. She said.

I didn’t mean it, I say.aid.

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Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr____ say, Cause she

my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for.... He don’t

finish. He just tuck his chin over the paper like he do. Remind

me of Pa.

Harpo ast me, How come you stubborn? He don’t ast, How come

you his wife? Don’t nobody ast that. They rather set in the

church and talk about God joining people.

I say, Just born that was I guess.

He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t never

hardly beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. And I git it. The

children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all

I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie,

you are a tree. But that’s the first time I understood know how

much trees fear men.

Harpo say, I love somebody. ^ A girl.

I say, you do?

He say, Yeah. We plan to marry.

Marry, I say. You not old enough to marry.

I is, he say. I’m seventeen, she fifteen. old enough.

Reckon.

How come

I say, huh? He say,

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What her mama say. I ast.

Ain’t talk to her mama.

What her daddy say?

Ain’t talk to him neither.

Well, what she say?

We ain’t never spoke. He duck his head. He aint so bad looking,

tall + skinny, black like his mama, with great big bug eyes.

Where y’ouall see each other? I ast. I see her in church. She

see me outdoors.

She like you?

I don’t know. I wink at her. She act like she scared to look.

She is scared. I say.

What she scared of? He ast.

Where her daddy while all this going on?

Amen corner, he say.

What your daddy do if Charlee or Billie look back at some boy?

Oh, yeah, he say.

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Dear God,

Shug Perry is coming to town! She coming with her

orchestra. She a big time singer. She going to sing in The Lucky

Star out on Coralfield road. Mr______ going to hear her. He

dress all up in front of the glass, look at himself, then

undress and dress all over again. He slick back his hair with

pomade, then wash it out again. He been spitting on his shoes +

hitting it with a quick rag.

He tell me, wash this. Iron that. Look for this. Look for

that. Find this. Find that. He groan over holes in his sock.

I’m not spose to know what going on.

I move round from one thing to another. Anything happening?

I ast.

Whatumean? He say, like he mad. Just trying to git some of

the hick farmer off myself for a change. Any other woman be

glad.

I’m ^ glad, I say.

Whatumean? He ast.

You looks nice, I say. Handsome. Any woman be proud.

Darning + ironing, finding

hankerchiefs

is

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You think so? First time he ast me.

I’m so sur

prise, by time I say yeah, he out on the porch,

trying to shine where the light better.

I walk round all day with the announcement in my pocket. It

pink. The trees tween the turn off to our road + the store is

lit up with them. He got bout five dozen in his trunk.

Lord, I wants to go so bad. Not to dance, Not to drink. Not

to play card. Not even to hear Shug Perry sing. I just grateful

to be able to lay eyes on her.

Shug Perry standing upside a piano, elbow crook, hand on

her hip. She wearing a hat like Indian chiefs. Her mouth open

showing her teef and don’t nothing seem to be troubling her

mind. Come one, come all, it say. The Queen’s back in town.

thankful

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Dear God,

Mr______ be gone all night Saturday, all night Sunday and

mostly all day Monday. Shug Perry in town for the weekend. He

stagger in, throw himself in the bed. He exhausted. He tired. He

sad. He weak. He cry. Then he sleep the rest of the day and all

night.

He wake up while I’m in the field. I been chopping cotton

three hours by time he come. Us don’t say nothing to each other.

But I got a million questions to ast. What she wear? Is she

still the same ole Shug, like my picture? How her hair is? What

kind lipstick? Wig? She stout? She skinny? She sound well?

Tired? Sick? Where you all children at while she singing all

over the country? Do she miss’em? Questions be running all back

and forth through my mind.Feel like snakes.

I pray for strength, bite

the insides of my jaws.

Mr________ pick up a hoe + start to chop. He chop bout

three chops then he don’t chop again. for twenty years. He

then right back on his heel, go get him a cool drink of water,

git his pipe, sit on the porch + stare off into space. I follow

cause I think he sick. Then he say, He never beat me again. You

better git on back to the field.

drop the hoe

walk back to the house

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Dear God,

Harpo is better at fighting his daddy back than me. Every

day his daddy git up, sit on the porch, look at nothing.

Sometimes look at the trees out front the house. Look at a

butterfly if it light on the rail. Drink a little water in the

day. A little wine in the evening. But mostly never none.

Harpo complain bout all the plowing he have to do.

His daddy say, you gonna do it. Harpo nearly big as his

daddy. He strong in body but weak in will. He scared.

Me + him out in the field all day. We sweat, chopping and

plowing. I’m coffeebean

colored now. He black as the inside

of a chimney. His eyes besad +

thoughtful, his face begin to look

like a woman face.

Why you don’t work no more? He ast his daddy.

No reason for me to. His daddy say. You here ain’t you? He

say this nasty. Harpo feelings be hurt.

Plus, he still in love.

roasted

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Dear God,

Harpo girl daddy say Harpo not good enough for her. Harpo

been courting the girl a while. He say he sit in the parlour

with her, the daddy sit right in the corner till everybody

feel terrible. Then he go sit on the porch in front the open

door where he can hear everything. Nine o’clock come, he handing

Harpo his hat.

Why I’m not good enough, Harpo ast Mr_______. Mr______ say,

your mammy.

Harpo say, what wrong with my mammy?

Mr_______ say, Somebody kill her.

Harpo he trouble with nightmares. He see his mama running

cross the pasture trying to git home. Mr._______ theman they say

her boyfriend, catch up with her. She got Harpo by the hand,

they both running and running. He grab hold of her shoulder, say

you can’t quit me now. You mine. She say, no I aint. My place is

with my children. He say,whore,

you ain’t got no place. He shoot

her in the stomach. She fall down. The man run. Harpo grab her

in his arms, put her head in his lap.

>th

ere

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Dear God,

Just when I was bout to call out that I was coming in the

yard, I hear something crash. It coming from inside the house so

I run up on the porch. The two children be making mud pies on

the edge of the creek, they don’t even look up.

I open the door, thinking bout robbers and murderers.

Hoodlums and ghosts. But it Harpo and Sofia. They fighting like

two men. Every piece of furniture they got is turned over. Every

plate look like it broke. The mirror hang crooked, the curtains

torn. The bed look like the stuffing pulled out. They don’t

notice. They fight. He try to slap her. What he do that for. She

neal down + grab one of his shoes + whack him cross the eyes. He

punch her in the stomach, she double over groaning but come up

with both hands lock right under his privates. He roll on the

floor. He grab her (scratch out) dress tail + pull. She stand

there naked. in her slip. She never blink an eye. He jump up to

put a hammer lock under her chin, she throw him over her back.

He fall bam up against the stove.

I don’t know how long this been going on. I don’t know when

they spect to conclude. I ease back out, wave

horsethieves

looking glass

in her slip.

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Then when I got home, I walked smack dab into the crib

door. Hit my eye and sscratched my chin. Then when that storm

come up last night I shut the window on my hand.

Well, I say, after all that, I don’t spect you had a chance

to see if you could make Sofia mind.

Nome, he say.

But he keep trying.

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Comparisons

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Works Cited

Fitzgerald, Stephanie. Alice Walker: Author and Social Activist. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point, 2008.

Print.

Kline, Mary-Jo. A Guide to Documentary Editing. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1987. Print.

Lister, Rachel. Alice Walker, the Color Purple. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave

Macmillan, 2010. Print.

Tanselle, Thomas. "The Editing of Historical Documents." The Editing of Historical Documents. HIUS

401, n.d. Web. 01 May 2015.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple: A Novel. 1st ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982. Apple

IBook. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.