Views of God 5

Celie starts out writing to God, but eventually changes and writes her letters to Nettie. At the beginning, she believed God was all she had after Nettie left her. Then, she loses hope even in God. Towards the middle of the novel, Shug and Celie have a Theological conversation about God--I believe one of the first real conversations concerning God in this novel. It begins when she realizes she no longer writes to God, when Shug asks why, she asks Shug what God has ever done for her. Shug answered, "Celie! Like she shock. He gave you life, good health, and a good woman who love you to death." Shug and Celie talk about sin and the devil and God. Celie admits, "...deep in my heart I care about God." I think one of the most profound statements is when Shug asks, "Celie, tell the truth, have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show." Celie doesn't really know what to believe about God. It is all quite a mystery to her. Shug, on the other hand, has her own unique ideas about everything. She tells Celie, "The thing I believe. God is inside you and inside everybody else. You come into the world with God. But only them that search for it inside find it.... I believe God is in everything." One other unique view Shug has that I found simply beautiful is: "I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it." Shug realizes that spirituality it beyond a set of rules, praying and going to church. She knows she has sinned, she knows she is lost, but she believes in God and believes he is inside her. I found this fascinating.