Alice Walker’s epistolary novel The Color Purple tells the story of two sisters, Celie and Nettie, who are separated by the unfortunate circumstances of their lives and do not meet again for many years. Celie is forced to marry Albert (referred to for much of the book as Mr___), who views her as a lesser being and treats her like a servant; later, Celie meets Shug Avery, the woman Albert actually wanted to marry, and the two become first friends and then lovers. Nettie, on the other hand, flees their abusive father and becomes a missionary in Africa after becoming friends with a woman named Corinne; by some chance, Corinne is raising Celie’s children, who were taken from Celie after her father got her pregnant. Throughout their lives, the two sisters go through many changes in their perspectives on religion which eventually lead to the same ideas, as well as experiencing similar forms of gender inequality, though they react to it differently.
Based upon the different directions their lives take, it is apparent that Celie and Nettie begin with different views of God. Celie’s letters to God are written in the tone of a journal or diary. She seems to think of God as a confidante, perhaps with the idea that he is the only one who will listen to her problems. There is a point where she recounts a conversation with Nettie about Celie living with Albert (Mr ___), noting: “I just say, Never mine, never mine, long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along.” (17) It is clear that confiding in God helps Celie deal with what is happening to her. On the other hand, it seems probable that Nettie’s concept of God is different; based on the fact that she becomes a missionary and on some of her own statements, it appears that she views God more distantly. Although her situation at the start of the book is in many ways as bad as her sister’s, she never writes letters to God or any other such entity. Later on she mentions prayer, but this seems to be a more remote form of communication. This may have something to do with Nettie’s continued belief, while Celie goes through a second stage of religious development: the idea that there is no God at all. After Celie finds out that the man she knew as her father is not really, and learns the truth about her parents, she goes through a period of doubting God’s existence or willingness to help her. This is not thoroughly covered in her letters apart from her explanation of it to Shug, but it still clearly occurs. But Nettie, who watches the destruction of the Olinka people’s way of life, never stops believing in God. This may stem from her conception of him: because she sees God as a more distant figure, she does not blame him for the actions of selfish humans as Celie seems to.
The final view that both of them reach, however, is the same. There is no great detail in Nettie’s description of her changing viewpoint, only a brief description of the realization both she and Celie eventually reach:
“God is different to us now, after all these years in Africa. More spirit than ever before, and more internal. Most people think he has to look like something or someone—a roofleaf or Christ—but we don’t. And not being tied to what God looks like, frees us.” (257)
This is a more eloquent summary of the understanding of God that Celie also comes to—that God has no specific shape or appearance. It is in everything in some way, a spirit that infuses everything rather than a being that controls it. The fundamental reason for God’s creation of things, as explained by Shug to Celie, is that it, like everything else, wants to be loved. This version of God appeals to the sisters possibly because both of them have been in situations where they, too, wanted to be loved: Celie for most of her life before meeting Shug, and Nettie to some extent when Corinne is suspicious of her husband Samuel’s interactions with Nettie.
Both sisters also have experience with sexism, but they have encountered and responded to it in different ways. Celie, in fact, has dealt with it from the beginning: she is treated much like an object by the man she knows as her father, first sexually abused and then sent off to live with Albert in a way much reminiscent of someone trying to sell something. It is clear from what she records of people’s words that the men she knows treat their wives like property, just there to follow instructions. Albert, relatively early in the book, even states that he beats Celie just because she is his wife. Nettie’s experiences of this mentality occur in Africa rather than America, but in some ways what she sees is much the same. To begin with, of course, she also lives with their “father”, and witnesses his abuse of Celie; she has a similar incident with Albert but responds by fighting back, which leads to her being forced to leave his house. The following years, for Nettie, are not as rife with sexism as her sister’s, and Samuel seems to see her as an equal. It is only in Africa that she observes the same gender inequality Celie has been living with all along:
“[The men] listen just long enough to issue instructions. They don’t even look at women when women are speaking. They look at the ground and bend their heads toward the ground…[for the women] to ‘look in a man’s face’ is a brazen thing to do.” (162)
Among the Olinka as well as the people in the sisters’ hometown, the women are thought of and taught to think of themselves as inferior. The men assume that what women have to say is generally of little importance, and that they exist only to be ordered around. Female children in the Olinka village are not even allowed to go to school, due to the assumption that they will never use that education. In fact, this is another link to Celie’s experiences, as Celie is not allowed to go to school following her first pregnancy. It is clearly demonstrated that sexism is much the same for both sisters.
Although they see the same patterns in gender inequality, Celie and Nettie do not react to it in the same way. Celie first becomes extremely subdued, rarely speaking to anyone apart from her sister—at least partly because so many of the people in her life are men. After meeting Shug, Celie discovers her own lesbian feelings, and though it is not entirely certain, it seems that this may be partially influenced by her negative experiences with men. This is most clearly demonstrated by Celie’s response to being asked whether she dislikes Albert just because he is a man: “Take off they pants, I say, and men look like frogs to me. No matter how you kiss ’em, as far as I’m concern, frogs is what they stay.” (254) It becomes obvious, after this exchange and a later conversation on the same subject, that Celie will never be happy in a relationship with a man; of course, this is also clear in her interactions with Shug. But Nettie does not feel the same way, despite having experienced the same kind of sexism her sister has. Quite apart from being lesbian, Celie has a dislike for all men, but Nettie clearly does not make the same immediate judgment; she even marries Samuel after Corinne’s death. This may be because Nettie has not dealt with gender inequality as directly as Celie. She has merely observed it from the outside, without it being applied to her most of the time; her life is not defined by male supremacy as her sister’s is. Divergent experiences lead to unlike reactions and assumptions.
Even as their lives follow completely different courses, Celie and Nettie manage to draw the same conclusions about religion and God; they also see much the same kind of gender inequality, though Celie is more directly affected, which is probably why the sisters respond so differently. Nettie begins with a more distant view of God than her sister seems to have, but like Celie, she eventually comes to the realization that God has no set appearance and is in everything. Celie is a victim of sexism many times over, while Nettie only views it from the outside, and as a result Celie hates men while Nettie does not. Alice Walker’s point in creating these characters, therefore, seems to be at least partly in favor of fighting against gender inequality; Nettie fights from the beginning and her life is presented as being better, while Celie remains submissive until she leaves Albert’s house with Shug, at which point her life improves but not to the level of her sister’s. Celie and Nettie themselves, as characters, are simply products of their experiences and cannot be judged as anything else.
