CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND NOTES

CHAPTER 17

Summary

Harpo courts the girl from church, but her father does not think he is good enough for his daughter. Harpo asks Albert why he is not accepted by others. His father tells him it is because Harpo's mother was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. As a result, Harpo begins to have nightmares about his mother's death. In his dream he and his mother are running from her boyfriend in a pasture. She tells the boyfriend her place is with her children, but he insists her place is with him. He shoots her and runs away. Harpo holds his dying mother and screams out for her in his sleep, waking the other children. They all cry as if she had just died. Harpo insists that it was not her fault that she died; Celie feels sorry for her stepson and reassures him that it was not his fault.

Celie tells God that everyone notices how good she is to Albert's children. Even so, she does not feel anything for them, nor do they feel anything for her. Harpo, however, confides in Celie about his love life, telling her that he thinks of Sofia Butler all the time. He speaks of her in glowing terms and adds that they have been able to find time away from her father. Celie realizes that Sofia is pregnant with Harpo's child. She questions the young man and asks where they will live. Harpo thinks they can live at her father's place. Celie warns him that Sofia's father is going to be upset; she also advises him to talk to Albert.

Harpo brings Sofia home to meet his father. Sofia makes conversation with Albert, but he ignores her words and stares at her. Then, he begins to insult her about her being pregnant and implies that she has no place to go and is only looking for Harpo to take care of her. Harpo sits silently through his father's insults. Sofia laughs and tells Albert she is being taken care of without Harpo. She then tells Harpo that he needs to free himself from his father; only then can she accept him. Before she leaves, Celie gives Sofia a glass of water. Harpo and his father sit on the porch for hours, saying nothing to each other.

Notes

This letter reveals one of the primary reasons Walker brings in the Sofia/Harpo subplot. Unlike Celie, who has been beaten down since she was very young and thereby conditioned to accept abuse as her proper lot in life, Sofia is more assertive and headstrong. When Albert treats her rudely, she does not tolerate it, but promptly leaves. Albert does not think that she acts the way a woman 'should.'

Celie knows that she does not love Albert's children, but she feels responsible for them, in spite of their selfish, unkind ways; she also treats them with respect, unlike their father. As a result, she would like to speak out for Sofia and Harpo, but does not have any power in the family; therefore, she cannot have any say in what happens between the two young lovers.

The silence between Albert and Harpo on the porch is deadening and reveals their lack of closeness. Sofia has told Harpo that she will have nothing to do with him if he does not free himself from his father, but the young man stays on the farm, unable to think of a life without Albert; he has been the single source of power and authority in Harpo's life. Celie realizes that Harpo is basically "weak in will" even though he is a big, strong boy.

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