Free Color Purple Essays: The Characters of The Color Purple

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The Characters of The Color Purple

In The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, Celie, Nettie, and Mr.______ are developed gradually throughout the novel and their actions all seem to be intertwined and what happens to one of them effects one if not both of the other two.

There is a strong relationship between Celie and Nettie not just because they are siblings but because Nettie is one out of two people Celie loves, and this doesn't exist between Celie and any other of her siblings. There are various things that bring these two even closer, one being the discovery that they both come from a different father which Celie discover from a letter from Nettie which reads "...and I pray with all my heart that you get this letter, if none of the others. Pa is not our Pa." (182) and the one they thought was there flesh and blood father was actually only their step father. This brings them closer for it is so important and they are each others direct relatives for both parents are dead and they do not have any other brothers or sisters.

The second point is that they keep in contact when Nettie is traveling to and from Africa. This is more or less an escape for Celie for she does not really have anyone except for Shug that she loves so the letters are a way for Celie to keep not only with Nettie but also her two children that she has only seen for a for a couple of days in her entire life.

So the main bond between Nettie and Celie is one of love, and they demonstrate this by constantly trying to stay in touch even though they don't know if the other is receiving the letters.

The relationship between Mr. ______ and Nettie changes drastically from love to hate. Nettie first introduces Mr. ______ into the story as the man she is going to marry, Celie says to Nettie one day "I say marry him, Nettie." but when the marriage is disallowed because she is to young plus pa wants to keep her in school, but Mr. ______ is given Celie along with a cow so in the marriage to Celie Mr. ______ realises he'll never get Nettie but he still loves her but Nettie begins to go off him, for his marriage to her sister.

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