Celie and Nettie Comparison

Celie and Nettie

The Color Purple was a novel written by Alice Walker about two sisters, (Celie and Nettie) that got separated and then reunited. Throughout the novel these two sister have many experiences with gender inequality and religious beliefs. Celie has more experience with gender inequality and Nettie has more experience with helping out other people. Celie and Nettier have many similarities and differences between their experiences of gender inequality, religious and spiritual life, and the problems they face.

Celie and Nettie have many differences between how they were treated. Throughout her life, Celie was abused more. Celie was beat by her dad, and by Mr.___. She says, “He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in Church.” (p5) On the other hand, Nettie has little experience with abuse because Celie protects Nettie. Celie saw their dad looking at Nettie, so every time he tried to touch her, Celie would get in the way. “Sometime he still be looking at Nettie, but I always git in his light. (p5)” I think that if Celie didn't protect Nettie, she would be just like her.

 Since Celie was sexually abused and harassed at such a young age, her sexual attraction toward men disappeared. Celie probably thought that since all this man wants to do is get on top of me and do his thing, then maybe all men are like this. This is why Celie is attracted to women. She even says, "Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful and lowdown. (p192)" Celie is convinced that her God, the one she writes to, is just like all the other men.  Throughout the story she mentions that she doesn't like men, and even did some very intimate things with Shug Avery. “Us kiss and kiss till us can't hardly kiss no more. (p113)” This is the result of long term sexual abuse. Nettie's attraction to men stays the same. Nettie marries a man named Samuel, and mentions that she truly loves him. Since Celie protected Nettie, she did not experience the pain Celie did, therefore she is still attracted to men.

Celie's religious and spiritual beliefs change many times throughout the story. Celie starts out most of her letters with "Dear God. (p1)" This is when Celie needed someone to tell her feelings to. At one point Celie lost hope and stopped believing in God. She then wrote to Nettie, 

“ Dear Nettie, I don't write to God no more. I write to you.  What happen to God? ast Shug. Who that? I say. She look at me serious. Big a devil as you is, I say, you not worried bout no God, surely. She say, Wait a minute. Hold on just a minute here. Just because I don't harass it like some peoples us know don't mean I ain't got religion. What God do for me? (p192)” 

 Celie's change was probably because God didn't give her a sign. She wrote to God because she wanted a sign and also because he was the only person she could write to. Since she was still going through a lot and God didn't show her anything, she stopped believing in him. Near the end of the story Celie's belief in God sprung back up. After Celie was reunited with Nettie she wrote,“Dear God. Dear stars, dear trees, dear sky, dear peoples. Dear everything. Dear God. Thank you for bringing my sister Nettie and our children home. (285)” At this point Celie Celie believes that everything is God. She believes that everything around her is God and everything helped in bringing Nettie back to her. In the beginning Celie believed in God because she believed God was the only person she could talk to, but now Celie considers God as an Entity, and maybe even as a friend. Nettie was very different, she devoted her life to God and became a missionary. She traveled a the way to Africa just to spread Gods words and teach children in Africa about God. God was Celie's life.

One thing Nettie and Celie had in common was the fact that they both got over some of their differences between people who they spent most of their lives with. Nettie's relationship with Corrine got got a bit bumpy. Corrine said, “ And don't let the children call you Mama Nettie, she said, even in play.” She also told Nettie to not invite Samuel to her hut when she was not present. At one point Corrine made Nettie and her husband swear on the bible that she met Samuel and Corrine at the same time. This was one of the worst problems that Nettie had. She and Corrine were so close but after the Olinka said that Corrine's children looked like Nettie, Corrine questioned Nettie. After they swore, Nettie's relationship with Corrine got a lot better and they became friends. This is similar to Celie's relationship with Mr.____. Celie was beaten by Mr.___, but after she left, Mr.___ gradually started to become a better man. Celie's relationship with him drastically got better. They started to talk, knit, and even become friends. “...just when Mr.____ done ast me to marry him again, this time in the spirit as well as in the flesh, and just after I say naw, I still don’t like frogs, but let’s be friends.” Celie felt that Mr.___ had truly redeemed himself and she decided she could be friends with him. This was the first time that Celie and Mr.___ had a relationship. 

Celie and Nettie overcome their problems with other people that were a big factor to their lives. Without Mr.___ causing problems for Celie and Corrine questioning Nettie, Celie might have never fell in love with Shug, and Nettie would have never found Celie’s children. The problems Celie and Nettie face lead them to a better life.

              In the end Celie and Nettie got over their similarities and differences in their religious and spiritual beliefs, the gender inequalities they both faced, and through the influence of people around them, got to live a better life. Celie overcame many obstacles in her life such as gender inequality, and her beliefs in God. Nettie, had very little experience with gender inequality and overall had more belief in God. There were many points discussed in this novel that reflects how women are treated today and how there are many reasons why people believe in God.