Themes and social concerns in The Third Life anticipate those treated in Meridian (1976) and The Color Purple. Meridian Hill's involvement in the Civil Rights Movement takes up where The Third Life ends. Her realization that she would kill to save "the best that has been produced" is comparable to Grange's murder of Brownfield at the end of The Third Life.

The Color Purple examines abusive relationships between black fathers and daughters, and between husbands and wives, but in this later novel, Walker focuses not on the theme of manhood but on empowering relationships among black women.

Nevertheless, elements of The Color Purple have parallels in The Third Life.

Until Shug Avery tells Celie that her husband's name is "Albert," Celie refers to him as "Mr." In The Third Life of Grange Cope/and, Brownfield tells Mem that she should call him "Mister," to acknowledge his manhood...