MovieChat Forums > The Color Purple (1986) Discussion > Sophia's own fault

Sophia's own fault

posted 14 years ago by Arimas01
142 replies | jump to latest

The whole thing that Sophia went through was her own fault. that lady just offered her employment, did she have to be so nasty about it? True, the punishment was too much but she could have avoided all that by just saying "no" and walking away. I mean the lady did ask her nicely and i don't think she was meaning to disrespect her in anyway. Surely there must have been other women who were maids back then. It's not like she was walking around with a P.H.D. She was a single black mother with three kids in the south in the 1920's or 40's what other job offer was she thinking that she was going to get?

[–] saikano_75 9 years ago

She was kind of disrespecting her by putting her hands all over Sophia's kids faces and trying to kiss them like they were her grandkids. And even if she did nicely say no, she probably would have still been ganged up on. History is not my strong point but I don't think back then black people were allowed to say no, nicely or not, to white people.

[–] Born_Tomorrow 9 years ago

She was kind of disrespecting her by putting her hands all over Sophia's kids faces and trying to kiss them like they were her grandkids. And even if she did nicely say no, she probably would have still been ganged up on. History is not my strong point but I don't think back then black people were allowed to say no, nicely or not, to white people.

No this wasn't during the slave era, it was closer to the depression era. If Sophia had simple said "no thank you" or even just "no". She wouldn't have forced her, she would have just found someone else to do that job. At that point most black women didn't have much of an education and they were raised and taught to know how to keep house and also by that being the depression era, Millie would have had women lined up at her door wanting that job, simply because by working for the mayor and his family would have been a stable and reliable source of income. Plus if she had done a really good job, particularly cooking, she would have easily been able to find extra work by the wives of the mayor's colleagues and other house guest that they would entertain and even the possibility of another job offer with more pay. So no she wouldn't have been forced into labor and that wasn't why she was attacked. She was attacked for the way she turned down the job and her blatant disrespect for a white woman and the mayors wife, at that.

I woke up this way...

[–] EmElleCee 8 years ago

I really am thinking you had to be joking when you made this comment. For that woman to have assumed she wanted to be her maid was downright degrading. Ask her nicely? Do you remember when Mrs. Millie, this supposedly nice woman said "I've always gone out of my way for coloreds"? As if black people needed her pity. Mrs Millie was either clueless or just didn't give a you know what like you

[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

I really am thinking you had to be joking when you made this comment. For that woman to have assumed she wanted to be her maid was downright degrading. Ask her nicely? Do you remember when Mrs. Millie, this supposedly nice woman said "I've always gone out of my way for coloreds"? As if black people needed her pity. Mrs Millie was either clueless or just didn't give a you know what like you

Again, you're speaking as if this happened in 2016. You're applying a 2016 mentality towards a 1920's or 30's way of life. Of course if the same situation happened today then the response would be different. However, today you're not likely to end up swinging from a tree or going to prison for cussing at white women. Miss Millie was as polite, if not more polite than any other white women would have been when offering employment to a black woman. I don't understand what's so hard to understand about that.

I woke up this way...

[–] vfx_girl 8 years ago

Oh man, I hate to admit this because I truly think violence in the end only causes more violence but, I was SO *beep* HAPPY when Sophia slugged that guy!! I was actually hoping that she had taken several of his teeth with her!!!

(It really pissed me off that the piece of garbage woman had the audacity to ask Oprah if she wanted to be her maid after the remark "Oh, your children are so clean" implying that it was a surprise that they weren't filthy!)