Shug and Celie in The Color Purple The relationship between Shug and Celie is very deep. They both help each other become what they truly need to be. Both Celie and Shug were very downtrodden people. Celie was burdened by her lack of care and lack of self-esteem. Shug is trapped in other people's image of her. She is not free to become what she truly wants to be, which is a loving member of a loving family, which she has never truly had. This is demonstrated by the quote on page 125-6. "(Mom) never likes to do anything that has to do with touching anyone, she says. I try to kiss her, she turns her mouth away. Say, stop it, Lillie." Celie freed Shug from the role everyone wanted her to fit into, and Shug freed Celie from the psychological bonds that kept her from making her life what she wanted it to be, being a mix of friend, idol, lover, and teacher. Both Celie and Shug became what they were told they would. Celie was always told that she was ugly, that she was useless, that she was worthless. Alfonso and Mr. ----- never missed an opportunity to tell him. And so Celie became and believed herself to be ugly, useless and worthless. Even Shug, when he met her for the first time, exclaimed "You are really ugly" (p.48). Shug was told, first by her mother and then in the opinion of "respectable people", that she was a whore, that she was evil, and so she became something of a temptress. "Even the preacher put his mouth on Shug Avery, now she's down. He takes her condition to his message. He doesn't say names, but he doesn't have to. Everyone knows who he's referring to. Talk about a slut in skirts court, smoking cigarettes, drinking gin for money and taking other women. Talk about a slut, a slut and a scavenger (Page 46). so much that she dared to do and so little that anyone could do to stop her. However, neither of them necessarily wanted to take part in those roles, and both felt confined in them. Shug has a certain "Venus image" in the novel role of the seductive woman, the temptress, the devil.