The epistolary novel, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, is mainly about the life of a brave woman named Celie. Since her childhood, Celie had had to put up with abusive men. First her father, then her “husband” who she was forced to marry. Celie was separated from her sister Nettie, who she thought was the only person that loved her. Celie and Nettie were very close sisters who grew up together. They were very similar, but at the same time, they still had their differences. For example, Celie was way more religious than Nettie. Also, Celie suffered abuse and ignorance throughout most of her life. These differences are what separate Celie from Nettie. Celie and Nettie are similar in some ways, but their major differences in religion and the abuse they have experienced affects their education, their life, and their relationship.
Celie is a strong believer in god. She writes letters to him hoping that one day her life will turn out the way she wants. In her letters, she writes about major events in her life and the optimistic future she hopes one day will come. Even though writing to god does not solve her problems, she still does it because it gives her a sense of power that makes her feel loved, understood, and protected. In the beginning of the book, Celie writes something very interesting in the beginning of her letter, “You better not never tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy” (Pg.1). This quote shows just how much trust she puts into god. She probably wrote this because since her mom was dying at the moment, she thought it was best to keep all her thoughts to herself and god. Because everything in her life has been calamity, she believes that the only one to turn to now is god. This is the reason she is so religious, to feel like there is a being somewhere out there that cares about her. Along with writing to god, Celie goes to church and prays to obtain the same hope in her life. Nettie, on the other hand, is not as religious as Celie is. She’s just an average believer who just prays and goes to church. Later in her life, she became a missionary in Africa and educated children.
Compared to Nettie, Celie’s life was a complete disaster. Celie was unhappy from the beginning of the book. When she was fourteen, her father used to rape her. Not much later she was forced to marry a man known as Mr.______. Mr.______ was abusive in every way. He used to beat her, rape her, and manipulate her for his own benefit. In their society, a woman was destined to raise children, cook, clean the house, and be a wife while the husband spent all day doing whatever he wanted. That was the type of relationship Celie had with Mr.______. Celie wrote in a letter to god about how Mr.______ beat her as well as his children. “He beat me like he beat the children. Cept he don’t never hardy beat them. He say, Celie, git the belt. The children be outside the room peeking through the cracks. It all I can do to not cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how I know trees fear man,” (Pg.23). This demonstrates Celie’s life with her “husband”. He beats her in front of his children and thinks it is okay because she’s his wife. The problem is that Celie does not stand up for herself. She is just way too afraid of Mr.______. Fortunately, Nettie never experienced this kind of abuse. Unlike Celie, Nettie had a choice to either get married or not, and she chose not to. However, she was really close the being raped by Mr.______ as she was walking through the woods somewhere. She was being followed by Mr.______, and right when he was about to do it, she kicked him in the balls and ran away. This literally saved her life! If Nettie would not have done what she did, who knows what other path her life would have taken, and how would it affect Celie’s? Nettie took a huge step in standing up to that guy, and only in a matter of minutes. It took Celie almost a lifetime to do the same.
Both Celie and Nettie have different levels of education, but that is not their fault. It’s not that one of them is dumber than the other one; it’s just that one of them had more chaos in their life. Because of the struggles Celie had to experience, she was not able to go to school and make something out of her life. To add on, she wasn’t even allowed to go to school. Again, she had to be a “wife”; it’s what their society expected of women. Another thing was that her father never believed in her. “The first time I got big Pa took me out of school. He never care that I love it. Nettie stood there at the gate holding tight to my hand. I was all dress for first day. You too dumb to keep going to school, Pa say. Nettie the clever one is in this bunch.” (Pg.9) Celie wrote this in one of her letters, and it shows how her father supports Nettie more than her. Because of this, Nettie had a chance to try her best in her life and Celie was to do whatever she was told. Luckily, Nettie taught Celie everything she learned in school. Celie was a fast learner, but everything was destroyed when Nettie was forced to leave by Mr.______.
As you can see, Celie and Nettie are very different. Their main differences were in religion and abuse, which affected almost their entire lives. The way Celie’s life rolled out could have been avoided though, if only she would have stood up for herself. I noticed how she began to draw away from god when Shug Avery came in. Shug taught Celie a whole lot about herself. She made her smile and feel alive for once in her life. When Celie realized how happy she was with Shug, she earned enough dignity to walk away from Mr.______. Maybe all those letters to god was just a waste of time. Maybe it was just a distraction keeping her from actually doing something with her life. No matter how safe Celie felt when she was writing those letters, she was still going to be abused by her husband, and she probably already knew that. At the end of the day, it was love and companion that turned her life around. Not god. Maybe that’s the message Alice Walker was trying to introduce to the reader.
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