However, when Albert is with Shug, he is obviously an expert and exciting lover. Instead, he hides Nettie's letters, an act that defines him indelibly as a coward.Īlbert has sex with Celie in a callous and uncaring way. He is not strong enough to tell Celie that Nettie refused his offer and fought off his sexual advances. He hides the letters that Nettie writes to Celie to hurt both Nettie and Celie. Celie suffers terribly at Albert's hands. In assessing Albert's character, one always returns, ultimately, to his cruelty to Celie. Albert had to take second-best, Fonso's 'spoiled' daughter. Celie wasn't 'valuable' she wasn't a virgin. Nettie was not flashy like Shug, but she was pretty and young. When he first approached Fonso, Celie and Nettie's stepfather, it was Nettie whom he wanted to marry. Albert is much more concerned with what Shug will think and that her health will improve.Īlbert, of course, never really wanted to marry Celie. But note that he is totally unconcerned about what his dutiful wife, Celie, will think. Then he goes to her and brings her to his home. Eventually Albert does go to Shug, but he waits - until Shug is weak and sick. She came to him when she wanted to be involved with him. If this is true, then perhaps he was too afraid to ask her to marry him.

It is possible that Albert is both very frightened and very awed by Shug. In contrast, his first wife was driven to take a lover because she received so little attention from Albert. When Albert became a man, he used his father for a role model and evolved into a self-centered, irrational individual.įor example, note that Albert never asks Shug to marry him, although he openly declares his love for her. Albert's father didn't rear him to be independent, but rather to be subservient to his father's own interests. The roots of his evil nature come from his not knowing himself. Of all the central ideas in this novel, the key to understanding many of the characters lies in their lack of self-knowledge and in their gradually learning to know themselves and value themselves. And yet his adoration of Shug Avery humanizes him. His mistreatment of Celie is unthinkable today - and totally unnecessary. One usually thinks of an evil person as being a strong person, but in Albert's case, this is not true.

Mister color purple