In the novel- ‘The
Colour Purple’ by Alice Walker, the entire storyline revolves around setting
and relationships. Though the story goes in-depth to create a picture of what
goes on with Celie, the elder sister, there is a constant presence of her
younger sister- Nettie that is felt throughout the novel. Nettie’s role is of
prime importance because even though the sisters are forcefully separated in
the early stages of the story, Celie continues to picture and think of her
throughout. Both Celie and Nettie end up living fairly different lives, the
former being holed up in a farm in Georgia while the latter travels to other
parts of the world like Africa.
Nettie, though younger than her sister, comes off as more confident, intelligent,
intellectual and strong in terms of personality. She is more educated and often
takes on the role of the elder sister in order to protect Celie. They share an extremely
strong bond with both sacrificing and looking out for one another. After their
step-father takes Celie out of school, Nettie tries to teach her everything she
learns and she does so till the time they’re separated. Nettie is not as naive
as her sister and stands her ground placing no man above her. This quality of
hers may have been induced after seeing what had happened of her sister. She has
a certain rebelliousness with innocence about her that is evident even after
she becomes a grown woman.
When Celie’s husband kicks Nettie out of his home after she resists his
sexual advances, she is heartbroken and makes her sister a promise that she
would keep writing to her and nothing would keep them apart. She keeps her word
and writes numerous letters to her all in vain until many years after. She seeks
refuge with Corrine, Samuel and the children and travels with them to West
Africa and later England and this gives her exposure to the world outside what
she had known. She does missionary work with them and lives amongst an African tribe.
She spreads the word of good and is respected by the Africans. Here she
realises that women are treated unequally there too. This makes her see how inequality
among women is prevalent almost everywhere in the world. She mentions this to
her sister in letters explaining how she is also looked down upon by the tribe
as she is unmarried and single. Though she faces such instances, she does not
care much for it and is content with her way of life. When Nettie leaves
Africa, she leaves with a whole new perception of God. She does not look at it
the same way as she did before. The tribesmen had shown her different ways of
looking at things through nature and this shapes her overall idea of the
supernatural. Nettie’s personality does not go through much change from
beginning to end. Her sister is hardened by her experiences which applies to
her too but not in such extreme forms. Even though she found out her letters
were not reaching her sister, Nettie continued to write on. Her character shows
extreme faith and also displays the theme of hope that is constantly prevalent
with her and her sister no matter how hard the circumstance.
Nettie’s character has faced a lot of criticism from many. Many found
her role to be too minimum or unnecessary. Some felt that her character was of
less significance because the author does not keep her role in for long after
the beginning. Though it seems that Nettie is absent after the beginning stages
of the book, it goes without mention that her character is of prime importance
to Celie throughout. Her role is different from usual characters in novels and
so is the way in which Alice Walker uses her character. Nettie is never really
always present but her importance is definitely felt.
References:
Walker, Alice. Colour purple. Orlando:
Harvest Book, 1982. Print.
Suraj Suresh-1313213
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