In the epistolary novel, The Color Purple, Alice Walker portrays a young Celie who lives her life suppressed but develops into a strong, influential woman. Celie has a sister, Nettie, who she is separated from early on in her life. Celie’s abusive husband hid all of Nettie’s letters from Celie, leaving her wondering what had happened to her sister for many, many years. Finally, after a long time, she finds all of Nettie’s past letters and finds that she had made a name for herself. She developed her own views, based on her own life, while Celie developed her own. Celie came to an idea that God was mostly a person to talk to in her time of need, when she was alone. She had a shallow relation to god in a religious way. On the other hand, Nettie preaches god’s words as a missionary. Also, Celie faces a more direct downplay of women’s rights; she is physically and mentally abused, while Nettie faces a women’s suppression in Africa where girls were not allowed to go to school. They each have very different views on religion and life but both go through a much similar lifeline.
As a child, Celie was molested by her stepfather. When he does so, he tells her. “You better not tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.” (Page 1) and this is what sparks her writings to god. She writes to god out of a lack of anyone else to talk to. She just got into the habit of doing so, in order to express her feelings. She rarely ever asks for anything from god, unlike what people usually do when they pray. Also, she finds that Nettie is still alive, she stops writing to god and to Nellie instead. Anyway, her “religious” views helped her move on and survive life.
Celie faces a lifetime of abuses. She is raped by her stepfather, and then married off to a man that she didn’t even like, who beat her all the time, just out of a lack of things to do. For a while, she accepts this concept as a way of life, and doesn’t retaliate. She also tells her step son to hit his own wife. She then meets Shug Avery. She helps shape Celie’s ideas, and refines her as a woman. She gave Celie strength and guided her to breaking free from the bonds her husband had on her. She had an influential hero that led her to success and power within herself.
Nettie, on the other hand, is a missionary and believes greatly in god’s power. She states that god sent Olivia and Adam to Corrine and Samuel, and that she was sent to them by god .
And then, they say, “God” sent thim Olivia and Adam.. I wanted to say, “God” has sent you their sister and aunt, but I didn’t. Yes, their children, sent by “God” are your children…(page 133)
She has a heavy belief that God will always be there and help her through out her life. This is greatly different from Celie's view because Celie rarely asks for anything and says that god gave her a really messed up family. Also, Nettie proves her devotion by going on a trip to Africa , and making a difference in the community teaching at schools. This shows that she is willing to work, and contribute to the community.
There, Nettie faces many gender discriminations. First of all, men had many wives. Also, women and girls are not allowed to go to school. This was part of their culture, and the missionaries didn’t press too hard on changing it. But with the help of Samuel, Nettie enhanced the system, to which girls were allowed to attend school.
Both Nettie and Celie faced inequalities of gender, and they both used their religion to push on through life when it got hard. Also, they both had someone in their lives that helped them develop and make a name for themselves. Nettie had Samuel, and Celie had Shug. All of these differences and similarities were sparked by the difference in community and environment, but the similarities were based on their blood relation. These sisters had so much in common even though they were separated and put into completely different environments.
