With Fonso's death, Nettie and Celie can enjoy financial security, a matter that the two sisters never considered before; in fact, they have never before had any place that they could call "home." In keeping with her basic, sturdy humility, Celie has never even thought about having a home of her own (homes always "belonged" to men), but the quick cedar smoke exorcism that she and Shug perform is a simple and powerful way of showing that Evil (of which Fonso is the most dramatic personification) has been purged from her life.
Evil has been purged, perhaps, but not pain. Very quickly, Celie is pained by Shug's taking a new lover, a male. Once again a man brings pain to Celie. For Walker to have made Shug doggedly loyal to Celie, however, would have been unrealistic. Shug enjoys men. She enjoys and loves Celie, but she enjoys men too, and she knows that eventually Germaine will hurt her "worse than I'm hurting you [Celie]." Shug needs a "last fling." Celie cannot understand Shug's needs, though. Celie is a simple woman, one who has been hurt very often and very deeply.
