Celie's selflessness here, thinking only of Harpo, is almost saint-like. She realizes now that she can never replace Annie Julia, Harpo's mother, just as she herself knew so well, long ago, that Fonso's new wife could never replace Celie's own mother.
As a stepmother herself now, Celie knows for a certainty that she doesn't love Mr._______'s children, and yet that realization does not deter her from acting lovingly toward them. This contradiction in not loving but acting lovingly, as well as the many contradictions of justice and injustice that Celie witnesses every day, coalesce finally in Celie's thoughts about the contradictory nature of Harpo's unwed, pregnant girlfriend, Sofia. Sofia, Celie says, is gentle, yet strong — pregnant and unwed, yet not troubled about the fact. To Celie, Sofia's headstrong, contradictory independence is simply one more fact to be reckoned with. But to Harpo and Mr. _______, Sofia's headstrong independence is an alien and frightening omen.
