Miss Knowles

Walker uses language to create Nettie’s voice and perspective in several ways. The extract is a dual narrative, where Celie is reading Nettie’s letters. This is Nettie’s third letter written chronologically, although it is the fourth ready by Celie; this reminds us of Celie’s presence as she is choosing the order to read the letters in. This letter was written just after Nettie left Celie, within the first fifteen letters of the novel. At this point in Celie’s life, “Shug Avery is coming to town!” and it is the first time Celie properly portrays her excitement within her letters; although contrastingly Nettie is at her lowest, this delineates the differences between the two sisters lives. It is written early in Celie’s narrative but it is not told by Celie until later, by this point Celie has developed, she has begun to find her voice and she has built up a network of women; hence she is able to provide Nettie with the strength she requires, whereas earlier in the novel she would have required the strength from Nettie.

In this letter, Nettie explains that Samuel will not let her visit Celie, since he believes it is wrong to “come between a man and his wife”. We know that Nettie has grown anxious at this point because she formally states with the use of a modifier, “By now I am almost crazy”, it is evident that writing to Celie is holding Nettie together. Nettie’s letter is reported through Celie’s first person narrative within a single letter. The voice of Nettie is reported as direct speech, though without the conventional punctuation. The implication is that Celie is presenting the words and sentences of Nettie’s voice precisely, indicating that Nettie is very important and significant to Celie. The reader is constantly reminded of Celie’s presence and that the story is being re-told through her own voice by stating, “Next one say” and Celie’s redrafting of Alberts name, “Mr_____” . The use of the discourse marker combined with a prosodic feature, “next one say”, is used almost like a warning by Celie, to ensure that we listen, and it signifies the letters increasing Nettie’s status. It heightens the tension, as it reminds us that it is the first time Celie is reading it. Additionally, it establishes a closeness between the reader and Celie as the reader is reminded they are reading these letters with and are guided by Celie.

Nettie’s letters lack many of the African American Vernacular English (AAVE) features that Celie’s letters, and the voices of the other characters consist of. In the Novel AAVE is an appropriate form of dialogue for Walker to choose. It creates a strong sense of spoken voice as it is very close to speech in its form, as it reflects the rhythms and syntax of colloquial speech and it gives all the characters a clear identity.

Nettie uses one dialect term, “Pa” and ellipsis, “between man and wife”. The AAVE conveys Celie’s African American heritage and links her to Celie. The AAVE creates an authentic feel and makes us believe, that Celie and Nettie come from the same place and reflects her tough upbringing in an uneducated environment. The lack of AAVE is used to create a formal register, this is used to emphasise how much Celie lacks education compared to her sister. Nettie’s letters lack Celie’s phonetic spellings like, “two berkulosis”. Nettie’s use of complex, standard words like “missionaries, incisions, antiseptics and boisterous”, make her sound experienced. As Celie struggles to read Nettie’s letters as she later states, “ trying to puzzle out words us don’t know, it took a long time to read just the first two or three letters” we know that she lacks that experience and knowledge. Nettie’s use of parentheses to include her opinion and extra information, “-not always, but more often than anyone from…” indicate that her letters are planned beforehand, making them less spontaneous. Unlike Celie’s, which are spontaneous, we know this by the use of her broken sentences and structure. Nettie’s letters are less personal and more about the life around her, by contrast, Celie’s letters are based around her thoughts and feelings. This ensures that Celie remains the main character. Nettie writes about the outside world to indicate how much Celie is missing, this motivates Celie to want to explore the world as she has seen it through her sisters perspective and trusts her; it contributes towards Celie’s strength and it is clear Celie has gained confidence once she has read Nettie’s letters, “Now I know Nettie alive I begin to strut a little bit...when she come home us leave here” .

If Nettie wrote about herself and how she felt, Celie would believe that everywhere in the world is exactly the same. The reason as to why Nettie still consists of AAVE, although it is minor it is to portray to Celie that someone like her can make it out in the real world, that she will be accepted and that not all men are the same. Celie is able to see how people will react toward her through Nettie’s perspective. Additionally, the use of AAVE features are used to show that no matter where these women, who experienced these hardships, their past and their heritage will always follow them.

The dual narrative emphasis the contrast between the two sisters. Nettie’s letters are not spontaneous like Celie’s letters, as it seems like beforehand she plans what to write. This is particularly evident where Nettie uses crafted lexis, where she is able to express her feelings directly, “my heart is breaking”, whereas Celie is reluctant to show her feelings, “I don’t cry”, “I make myself wood”. This is effective in that Walker uses both voices to convey how people dealt differently with their troubles. We have to figure out what Celie is feeling, “I may have got somethin in my eye but I didn’t wink”, we can see that she is confused through this short abrupt, broken sentence, although she does not express it. In the previous letter, Nettie addresses Celie as “Dear Celie”, although in this letter, Nettie addresses Celie as “Dearest Celie”. This not only conveys, the closeness, intimacy and love between Celie and Nettie. It conveys Nettie’s desperation to be with Celie, and portrays that as time goes on; Nettie is missing Celie more and more. The implication of this is that Celie absorbs what Nettie does, and then goes on to express her feelings and intimacy, “your dearest Celie”. Nettie is able to name her male and female employers, “Corrine and Samuel”, this signifies the importance of each individual in her life. Walker uses this to indicate that Nettie allows herself to get close to others and evolve feelings for others, both for male and female characters. On the other hand, Celie does not even name her husband, “Mr_____”, as he is repulsive, insignificant and conveys that it is a sensitive topic to Celie. Additionally, it empowers Celie and raises her status.

Nettie’s use of self analytical questions and repetitive syntax, “...what will happen to us? How will we ever know what is going on?”, not only involve the audience but they express that she is helpless, overwhelmed, confused, worried, insecure, afraid and in desperate need of an answer and Celie’s support. Nettie’s self analytical question, indicate that she is not accepting what is going to happen to her, she is trying to find a solution and questioning her plans. On the other hand, Celie just accepts the events that happen to her, “He beat me for dressing trampy but he do it to me anyway”, it is not until after receiving Nettie’s letters and writing to Nettie, Celie starts to become more self analytical, “what good is sewing gon do?...”. The continuers create a breathless tone “Corrine and Samuel and the children”. They emphasise how much is going on in her life and how much of Nettie’s life Mr_____ has caused Celie to miss and how chaotic Nettie’s life is. The use of conjunctions create a sense of confusion and irritation “But he says...”. Similarly, in Celie’s letters, letter one in particular, short sentences are used to indicate that she is broken, confused and the use of continuers are used to emphasise how much Celie, at fourteen had to go through; this instantly makes the audience sympathise for her. Although contrastingly, short sentences and continuers are used by Celie to portray her excitement toward the beginning of the novel, like when “Shug is coming to town!”. On the other hand, Nettie to portray her excitement, she uses complex sentences and punctuation, “We had to ride in the sit-down section of the train, but Celie. there are beds on trains! And a restaurant! And toilets! The beds come down out of the walls….”.

As Celie reads Nettie’s letters, filled with emotive language, she helps Celie re-engage her own emotions and Celie starts to grow proud of herself. This is particularly evident when Darlene is trying to teach Celie how to talk, but Celie is reluctant to learn as she is happy with the way she is, “What I care?”. Before Nettie’s letters, Celie had low self esteem and this is emphasized by the stop start repetition, “my hair too nappy to be kinky. Too kinky to be nappy”. Nettie’s perspective, links the black community together, as we can see it is not only Celie and the other characters that believe that Sofia is the “very last person on the earth that waited on anybody”, Nettie believes so to. Celie states what she sees when she sees Sofia in prison, she does not explain how she feels. Nettie’s perspective enables us to see how Sofia truly feels, “I spoke. But just speaking to her seemed to make her embarrassed…”. This emphasis that at that particular point in Celie’s life, she yet was not developed and to some extent naive.

Nettie’s voice, universalise’ Celie’s experiences, concerns and themes. Nettie’s voice is used to show that what happens to Celie, not only happens to Celie but it happens everywhere. This not only makes the novel and the experiences of the characters more relatable, and more applicable to a wider society, it dramatizes the events as the reader knows through Nettie’s perspective it is not just happening in one place; it is happening everywhere. As the Olinka tribe starts to become less isolated, so does Celie, this is symbolized through the road; this unites the black community together as it conveys their development together. Through Nettie’s voice, we are are able to see that the oppression to black women is apparent within the Olinka community, where they believe “girls should not be educated” which replicates the attitude of men toward women in Celie’s town. This is particularly evident where Alphonso pulls Celie out of school. It is evident just like in Celie’s town the men want to be above the women, through Nettie’s narrative comments which manipulate the reader's perception, they crave that power, “the men do not like it: who wants a wife who knows everything her husband knows?. They fume”. The boys in the Olinka town, “now accept Olivia and Tashi in class”, this replicates Harpo’s attitude for when he finally accepts that it is not societies ways to beat and oppress women. The oppression of blacks is apparent, “since the Olinka’s no longer own their village, they must pay for it”.

Nettie’s voice is used to add to Celie’s network and quilting. In the Olinka village, the quilt is used to re-unite and bring the community and the people together. This is particularly evident for when Corrine is dying, “she began to make quilts…”, it is obvious that quilting is giving her strength. When Nettie lays out the quilt “across the bed”, it is used for Corrine to remember about the day she meets Celie and it brings Corrine and Nettie back together. It is evident throughout the novel that materials unite the female characters. Celie would have never met Corrine, if Corrine had never gone to buy the “materials” to make Olivia’s dresses, in which sense the materials brought Corrine, Celie and Olivia together; which then led to Nettie uniting with Corrine. The men in the Olinka tribe, like some of the men back home “make beautiful quilts”, this is not only an indication of creativity and freedom; but the quilt is used to unite all of the black people together.