Mr. __ asserts, "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."".
Unfortunately for Harpo, this is not an easy task: his wife is much bigger than he is and when he tries to hit her, she retaliates, teaching him the lesson of obedience. Though Celie also told Harpo to beat his wife, she admires Sofia for being such a strong woman. Celie realizes that she can never be this strong. But Celie feels profoundly guilty for telling Harpo to beat her and she has constant nightmares about her sin. Soon Sofia confronts Celie about what she said. Celie concedes that she didn't mean what she said, and after a long discussion, the two women become friends. .
The rest of the section is devoted to the arrival of Shug Avery. The woman is very sick and comes to live with Mr. __ and the rest of the family. At first she is very hostile to Celie, calling her ugly, but eventually these two women also become good friends. It's soon revealed that Shug has had three children with Mr. __. As before, this news doesn't bother Celie at all.
Chapter 3.
The beginning of this section is marked with the arrival of Mr. __'s father. This man hates Shug and tries to discourage the family from letting her stay. He even suggests that Shug has a sexually transmitted disease, something he calls the "nasty woman disease."" .
Yet Mr. __'s love for Shug knows no bounds. This love seems to be contagious " quickly Celie also develops a love for her husband's lover. She admits, "For the first time in my life, I feel just right."".
Soon both Celie and Sofia realize that Harpo is going on an eating binge. Quickly the young, once skinny man grows a sizable pot-belly. After a few days of mystery, it becomes apparent that Harpo is trying to grow larger than Sofia, so that he's able to beat her into submission. This enrages Sofia, who decides to take her children and live with her sister.