Celie & Nettie

In the exposition, Celie and Nettie share a sisterly love with each other. Celie acts like a mother to Nettie; she loves and cares for Nettie, and also tries to protect her at all times.This is made evident with all the hurt that was left in Celie's heart when her father had taken her babies away from her. Because her babies were taken away, Celie was unable to be a mother and therefore, Nettie fills this empty void which makes Celie feel as if she had an obligation to take care of Nettie. In Celie's mind, Nettie always came first and she would do just about anything to keep Nettie safe. In the rising action, Celie and Nettie become even closer than they had been before. At this point, Nettie and Celie had already been separate. Celie was given away to Albert and is the primary source for taking care of the family. Celie cooks, cleans, takes care of the children, and is the source of pleasure for Albert. When Nettie ran away from home she unexpectedly reunited with Celie and she also helps with the everyday chores Celie is assigned from Albert. Nettie also helps Celie with her studies and reading skills which shows that Nettie believes in Celie. In the climax, there is a twist in the relationship between these two sisters. Nettie had been kicked out of Albert's house for cursing and fighting back his attempt to rape her and because of this incident, Albert said to Nettie that Celie would never hear from her again. As the story continues, Nettie continuously writes letters to Celie just as she promised. Later on in the book, with the help of Shug Avery, Celie discovers a hidden pile of letters from Nettie, which is how they kept in contact. Throughout the climax, Celie and Nettie are emotionally and spiritually together, even if they could not be physically together. In the resolution, Celie and Nettie's emotional and spiritual relationship was brought to an end. At first Celie had learned about the sinking of the boat that Nettie was on which made her believe Nettie was dead, however, at the end of the book the theory that Nettie sank along with the boat turned out to be false. In the end, they were reunited once again and they were able to share an actual relationship without any physical restraint held against them.

The symbol that best represents the relationship between Celie and Nettie would be letters or a phone line. Both these items are good symbols for their relationship because Celie and Nettie continue to find a way to keep in touch, which is through writing letters to each other. They keep in contact and try to let the other person know how life is going for them because both the sisters care deeply about each other and they also try to protect one another. Celie cares deeply for her sister and Nettie, who was discouraged from her letters not getting to Celie, didn't fail to weaken her hope in trying to communicate with Celie. She continues to write even though she knows in reality that these letters would probably not get to Celie. “I ast him to take me instead of Nettie…”(7)

The relationship between Celie and Nettie is significant because their relationship is the force that drives Celie to become a more independent, free thinking, and smarter person. Nettie's letters gave Celie valuable lessons as well as hope, which was something Celie really needed to help get through her life. Celie saw hope in Nettie which is why she sacrificed herself to live with Albert. Through the eyes of Celie, Nettie could be spared of all the abus and beatings and she would have a chance at becoming a teacher. Nettie was smart, pretty, and had a decent chance to become someone but Celie on the other hand was referred to as "ugly" and she wasn't educated like Nettie was. With Celie's hope, she believed that she could one day hope to be with her kids and in Nettie's shoes.