“It must have been a pathetic exchange. Our chief never learned English beyond an occasional odd phrase he picked up from Joseph, who pronounces “English” “Yanglush.”

Catherine Dolly Fernandez

II PSEng

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“It must have been a pathetic exchange. Our chief never learned English beyond an occasional odd phrase he picked up from Joseph, who pronounces “English” “Yanglush.”

In the sixty-fifth letter, Nettie shares with Celie her sentiments about the Olinka villagers. In the letter she talks about the “pathetic exchange “the Olinka have with a white man from the English rubber company. The village experiences a turn when road builders working for an English rubber company plow through the middle of the village with orders to shoot anyone who stoped them from doing so them. They destroy village homes and crops and force the Olinka to start paying rent for their own land since the English rubber company states that the Olinka no longer own that land. The Olinka conclude that it is a waste of breath to argue with men who cannot or will not listen. The cultural barrier between the Olinka and the English is so vast that both parties readily give up, believing no communication is possible between them. Samuel later talks about that, the only way he and the other Americans could remain in Africa is to join the mbeles. The mbeles are the natives who have fled deep into the jungle away from the village and refuse to work for the white settlers.

With this discussion of the barrier separating the Olinka from the English, Walker states that, though narrative can be a powerful force, some differences will still remain. Cultural differences and foreign immigrants sometimes cause difficulties in communication. This provides is better explained with the example of Celie’s success at finding her voice, happiness and confidence and using it as the light to her discovery of self-worth and dignity and learns to stand for herself. Walker admits that some cultural differences are so many and so great that there is very little hope for communication. But, she states that there is no solution to this problem.

Throughout The Color Purple, Walker makes it clear that storytelling and communication are crucial to self-understanding. In the novel, we have seen problems due to failed communication between Celie and Alphonso; between Celie and Nettie; among Nettie, Samuel, and Corrine; and between Celie and Mr. ______.  As the novel progresses, some of these problems and difficulties in communication are repaired through narratives of one kind or another. Celie finds Nettie’s letters, and Celie confirms this story with Alphonso, learning the truth of her own family history Samuel tells the story of his children to Nettie. Apart from these communication failures in these specific relationships, Walker highlights many broader and more general communication problems in the world that remain unresolved and which creat misunderstandings among people and further leading to division. She points outs the failed communication between men and women; between American blacks and American whites, between American blacks and Africans, and between Africans and European which have caused conflicts and mistrust.

Additionally, by highlighting the self-centeredness Nettie perceives in the Olinka community, as well as its clear subordination of women, Walker twists the depiction of race and identity in the story. Though the Olinka are oppressed by the foreign force, the rubber company, there is still a significant oppression within the Olinka community. This internal oppression paired with what Walker portrays as the self-centeredness of the Olinka people and their differences toward African-American slavery, brings about confusion in the categories of oppressor and oppressed.

Citations: 

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The Colour Purple by Alice Walker