Jail and Cars and Africa, Oh My!

This section of The Color Purple was better than the last part, especially because Nettie is alive! Celie and Shug Avery found the letters that Nettie had written her in the bottom of Mr. ____'s chest. Nettie explains that when Mr. ____ was walking her off the property, he was making advances on her and she completely blew him off which severly angered him. She said in her letter to Celie, "He said because of what I'd done I'd never hear from you again, and you would never hear from me," (Walker 126). Celie and Shug start reading some of Nettie's letters, but have to stop because Mr. ____ and Shug's husband, Grady, come home from Mr. ____'s driving lesson. They replace the letters, but vow to read more and Celie says to Shug, "How I gon keep from from killing him?" (Walker 144).

I like how the author chose to develop a friendship between Celie and Shug Avery. At first, Shug had nothing nice to say to Celie, and the first time she saw her, she said, "You sure is ugly," (Walker 46). But, they begin to form a relationship after she sings to Celie in Harpo's jukejoint. I think that this is an important part of the novel's progression because Nettie was the only person who ever loved Celie and thought she was someone. But Mr. ____ sent Nettie away and Celie was back on her own. Then Shug Avery came along, and finally someone else thought that Celie was special. In the song, Shug refers to Celie as her "Sister" and sings, "I hope that you think you're something too." Here is the video of Shug singing to Celie that began their friendship:




Most of the book has been devoted to Celie, but now Alice Walker has brought Nettie back into the story through letters that Mr. ____ kept hidden from Celie. After Nettie escaped from Mr. ____, she arrived in town, and someone pointed her in the direction of the Reverend Mr. ____'s house. The Reverend's name is Samuel, his wife's name is Corrine, and they have two adopted children named Olivia and Adam. Although Nettie does not know it yet, the two children are Celie's. They take her in, and soon they leave the United States to become missionaries in Africa. Here is a website that they probably would have visited if they lived in the present: http://www.missionariesofafrica.org/. The group set up a school for the Olinka tribe in which Adam and Olivia, Olivia being the only girl, attend.

The reader can obviously tell by the difference in narration that Nettie is far more intelligent and sophisticated than Celie. For example, her grammar is perfect compared to Celie's and her use of language is much more complex. Even though the Olinka tribe is being oppressed by the white colonists, Nettie can sense the fact that there is oppression in the Olinka community also. Olivia befriends a girl named Tashi and wants her to be able to attend the school also, but the Olinka tribe disagrees. Through this, I think Walker is trying to convey that suffrage is universal, especially oppression in women, because after Tashi's father dies, the persecution of her mother parallels that of Celie. Lastly, I find it interesting that the Olinka tribe doesn't seem to care that slavery occured in the United States. They even sold some of their own people to slavery. Even though it's fictional, I still wonder why they acted that way towards their fellow tribesman.