NAME: PRERNA NAMBIAR
ROLL NO: 1413063
JPENG
QUESTION: HOW DOES THE SUBPLOT OF NETTIE IN
AFRICA RELATE AND IMPACT THE MAIN PLOT OF
CELIE?
The 1982 epistolary novel which was written by Alice walker
surrounds itself within various themes such as gender roles,
sexuality, and power of strong female relationships and opens a
window for the readers to indulge in a journey which highlights
the life story of black Americans, especially the females in
particular. When looked into carefully, it can be seen that The
Color Purple, accompanies two stories of two women, who
though are of the same family background experience a life which
is poles apart and that is incomparable.
The main protagonist, Celie can be seen as a submissive child,
who throughout her life never got a say in any matter. Her self
esteem is sunk to the point where the sole purpose of her being
becomes to stay alive. Even within her own household she has
not been given the freedom to rightfully do what she wishes to
do. For example, when Mr. ___ comes in to have one good look of
Celie, her dad asks her to dress and come. Seeing that Celie was
dressed wearing horsehair, feathers and a pair of new heels, he
turns furious and beats her and all Celie could do was cry. This
incident explains how from the beginning Celie never had the
courage to stand up, or rather; she was easily malleable that she
never put an effort to question the existence of certain social
norms. In the household of Mr. ___ Celie has been treated as a
slave rather than a wife or mother. She is expected to be a
women; one who does not question the foundation of roles that
have been assigned to women in the society. Overall, Alice Walker
creates the image of Celie as women whose main objective in life
is to stay alive and at the same time make sure that her sister,
whom she considers as her only family, does not have to go
through the same life that she has experienced.
On the other hand, the character of Nettie is portrayed as smart,
independent women who seek pleasure in educating herself as
well as her sister. Being younger than Celie, Nettie always had an
advantage over freedom of education as well as exploration to
some extent. She did not possess the liability of taking care of the
household chores as much as Celie which indeed opened her
frontier and allowed her to go to school and educate herself.
Having an upper hand over knowledge, Nettie could understand
the value of reasoning and would always question Celies decision
of agreeing to matters without protest.
The sisterhood bound that covers most of the novel is one of the
major themes in the story. Especially the subplot of Nettie is a
crucial incident that changes the stream of the story. Throughout
the novel we find that Celie is writing letters to god with the
notion that he is the only one who can know about her darkest
secrets and thoughts. While reading her letters we find that a
troubled life is all that Celie has experienced and in these days of
grey clouds, the only hope of sunshine in her life is her sister
Nettie. The bond that they both share helps both of them to smile
through the sorrowful life. When Mr.___ throws Nettie out of his
house, Celie believes that she has lost a very important piece in
her life and towards the end we see her questioning about
Netties survival all together. She starts wondering bad thoughts
and reminisces about her time spent with Nettie.
Upon recovering the letters from Nettie, we notice a sudden
change of events. Soon, the submissive Celie is seen as a person
who withholds anger, rage and revenge within herself. For Celie,
having the letters of Nettie was as good as having Nettie with her.
One drastic change that is clearly visible after this incident is that
Celie soon starts addressing her letters to Nettie instead of
God. This can be seen as a sign of how Celie comes across a
new sense of spiritual awareness. When Celie finds out the truth
about her past, somewhere along the line she losses the
confidence in God as she thinks her whole life has been nothing
but a lie. Netties letters tell her that her pa wasnt actually her
pa, but a man her mother had married after her real dad had
passed away. This helped Celie let go off the load that she had all
her life about bearing a child of her own father. Another radical
change that took place was when Celie found out that her kids
were still alive and her sister was taking care of them. Earlier in
the story we noticed that the core reason for Celie to keep on
surviving was her sister, who was also her only family. But after
finding out that her kids were alive and very close to her sister,
Celie found another reason to go on with her life.
The letters of Nettie also provided Celie with the emotional
support that her life ached for. Along with emotional help, Nettie
also widened her horizons by broadening her understanding about
the life of African- American throughout the globe and explaining
to her how there is more to life than the life she has been born
into. Nettie also increases Celies self esteem by explaining the
importance of Africans and Africas influence and importance
throughout the ages, even in the bible. One factor that greatly
resembles the life of Celie and Nettie is how the Africans are
treated throughout the world. For example, when the construction
workers come in to construct the road, the people of the tribe
invite them to have a cup of tea and laughter was shared among
people. But the same people soon neglected their existence when
it came to breaking down their houses. Basically, the letters that
encounter the problems that are faced by Nettie in Africa expand
the novel and show the readers how the oppression of women by
men, blacks by white as well as black by black is universal.
Whereas, the racial, cultural conflict and oppression that Nettie
encounters in Africa can be seen as a parallel of small scale
abuses that Celie experiences.
This makes Celie believe that her life has a meaning and maybe
there is a bigger purpose for her survival through the hardcore
life. Another interesting thing to notice is how the relationship of
Nettie with Samuel and Corrine give Celie an idea of what a happy
family looks like. This in turn opens her heart and mind to actually
having a family with loved ones.
The whole time as Celie is reading the letters written by Nettie
her self esteem as well as her understanding about the world
increases. Soon her rage takes over her submissive character and
makes her oppose the injustice that has been happening to her
for years. Towards the end we see Celie saying, Im poor, Im
black, I may be ugly and cant cook, but Im here. This very line
helps us create an image of how straightforward the character of
Celie has become. The shy girl who once went to the room crying
on being screamed at was now having the courage to speak up
her mind. Towards the end we come to a conclusion that Nettie
had a big influence in shaping the life of Celie. Not only did Nettie
open the door for Celie to a whole new world, but she also taught
Celie the necessity to stand against any injustice. Many readers
often found the letters written by Nettie to be monotonous and
with fewer emotions when compared to the letters written by
Celie. But it is not wrong to accept that the novel couldnt have
taken a turn without the letters of Nettie. It is due to the influence
of her letters that the shy, submissive protagonist soon
transforms herself into an independent and a confident woman
who soon realizes her selfhood.
RESOURCES:
Spark notes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/purple/canalysis.html
Grade saver: http://www.gradesaver.com/the-color-purple/study-guide/summary-
section-1
Wordpress: https://imperfectmusings.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/the-colourpurple.pdf
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=8647
Harcourt: http://www.harcourtbooks.com/colorpurple/teacherguide.asp
