In The Color Purple, Alice Walker explores the life of a defeated black woman triumphantly finding her way in life, Celie. He writes letters to God, then moves on to letters to his sister Nettie throughout the story. The book begins with Celie at age 14 and ends with her at age 55. At a young age, she is raped by her "father" and then forced to marry a man named Mr.___, or otherwise known as Albert. Celie is a sensitive woman who learns to deal with the difficulties thrown at her. She raises Mr. ___'s children, loses her sister, and suffers regular beatings from her husband. Shug Avery is soon introduced; she is Mr. ___'s longtime lover, a blues singer and lover. Celie and Shug's relationship gets off to a rocky start, but they end up becoming sisters. Shug is central to Celie's growth throughout the book. Celie has the most control over her life, grows a strong backbone, and becomes a successful woman on her own. In Celie's life she was only loved by one person, her sister Nettie, until she met Shug Avery. Shug is Celie's teacher, he teaches her how. At Thanksgiving dinner, the two women tell the rest of the family their plan, Mr.___ is indignant, Harpo is in shock, Sofia is surprised and proud of Celie for having resisted Mr.___. At the same time, Mr. ___ tries to stop Celie from leaving by slapping her in the face, but she unexpectedly stabs him in the hand, "I stick the knife in his hand" (203). Now, the silent character we learned about at the beginning of the book is now cursing Mr.____, “Until you do right by me, everything you touch will crumble,” “Every lick you hit me you will suffer twice” ( 209 ). In summary, Celie leaves for Memphis with a newfound confidence and Mr.___'s world begins to crumble little by little