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 In The Editing of Historical
Documents, G. Thomas Tanselle states, “Changes, no matter how trivial, take the reader one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
^
8
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.