Celie and Nettie

      Both Celie and Nettie are the main characters in Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple." As sisters, they share a same background, but are still very different people with contrasting views. They have had different experiences with Religion, Gender Inequality, and Education. 

      After Celie and Nettie are separated by Mr.____, they are left to follow different religious paths. Nettie follows the path of a missionary, after she meets Samuel and Corrine, a religious couple who have adopted Adam and Olivia (Celie's children.) Nettie recounts her tale of first coming to Africa to Celie in a letter (their only form of communication): "You never saw such curious faces as the villager folk surrounded us with. At first they just looked." (150) Afterward, she talks about how the villagers had never seen a black missionary. Celie, however, takes things in a different direction and ends up questioning what God actually is. In essence, she turns to spirituality instead of religion. "Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all them other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful and lowdown." (192) She talks to Shug about god often, just trying to ponder and understand better. 

      Celie and Nettie have different experiences with gender inequality. Since Nettie is a missionary in Africa, she doesn't get as much abuse just for being a woman. All of her experiences of this are from before she leaves Pa, and observing how the villagers live together. Meanwhile Celie is beaten, raped, and practically spit upon by the men in her life. She can't fight back, however, for fear of getting hurt harder. She lives most of her life in fear. For example, Mr.____ beats her just for "not being Shug!" It is interesting that this life style has hit her so hard, that when asked for advice by Harpo about what to do about Sofia, she actually says to beat her.

      As a big problem in those times, Nettie and Celie's education was limited. Being young African American women, they didn't have as much access to such things. Although Nettie had a basic education and went on to learn more from Samuel and Corrine, she's still burdened by society. Celie had an even tougher time, and had to be schooled by Nettie. Most of Celie's education came once she was grown up, and had little spare time.

      Celie and Nettie both ended up leading very different lives, how Religious they were, how they were treated, their education, but both came from the same background.