Letter 21, then, is a key letter; it contains one of the most significant scenes in the novel: Sofia confronts Celie. Sofia has learned that Celie told Harpo to beat her, and she reveals how terribly betrayed she feels. It is one thing to have a man try to beat you; it is quite another thing to have a woman betray another woman. Sofia trusted Celie because Celie seemed like a kind woman. Sofia believed that there was a special bond between them, as women, and now she has learned that a woman urged a man to do her harm. A woman should know better; as Sofia says, "A girl child ain't safe in a family of men."
This raw exchange between the two women is significant because of their well-defined, vividly contrasting characters. Sofia is a fighter — loudly independent and sharply decisive. Celie is a timid shadow — quietly anguished as she admits to having been a fool. Sofia cannot understand Celie's motivation; both women were reared in similar domestic situations, but Sofia has always been filled with angry aggressiveness, diametrically unlike the passive, mother-like, spiritual Celie. Sofia's advice to Celie is loud and clear: "You ought to bash Mr. ________ head open. Think about heaven later."
Laughing together, the two women are reconciled finally because there has been an honest exchange of viewpoints between them, and their reconciliation is symbolized by the quilt that they decide to make together. A quilt, after all, is a collection of many colors and fabrics sewn by a single thread, and the new union between Celie and Sofia will be sewn with a new, strong thread of love and trust.
