Celie's trip into town with Mr. _______ is exciting and stimulating for her because, as a country woman, she has a chance to observe these seemingly sophisticated townspeople: "I never seen so many even at church. Some be dress too."
The townspeople, however, are not sophisticated. They drive into town in wagons, and we don't see them buying readymade clothes; they buy material and thread. And their attitudes are certainly not educated ones. Likewise, the whites in town are not sophisticated either. Specifically, the clerk's demeaning treatment of Olivia's mother and Celie reflects his contradictory and self-defeating behavior: he needs their business, but he clearly hates blacks, for his words to them are rude and pushy: "You want that cloth or not? We got other customers sides you."
Although little Olivia's mother is a woman, the clerk calls her a "girl," and he calls Celie a "gal." His forcing the woman to purchase unneeded thread is linked to his treating her like a child. To him, the woman has no judgment. "You can't sew thout thread."
One of the most telling sentences in this letter is Celie's saying, "I don't have nothing to offer and I feels poor." Ironically, Celie offers the woman a great deal. She offers her friendship and a kind word, and she generously offers them to this woman who is holding Olivia, the baby who Celie feels is her own baby. In addition, Celie offers the woman a seat in Mr._________’s wagon when the woman can't see the Reverend's wagon. In turn, Olivia's mother offers Celie a joke about Celie's "horsepitality." Celie's joy soars. She laughs until her face feels ready to split, "laughing like a fool," Mr. ________ calls it. She laughs because she feels almost certain that she has found her baby.
Olivia's mother also laughs, which is a relief for us after we have seen her overly submissive behavior earlier. But the woman acts so passively in this scene because she knows that she has no choice. In a confrontation with a white man, the black man, or woman, must act passively. Their survival depends upon not angering whites. In fact, the woman's over-politeness is proof of this point, as is the fact that she allows the clerk to humiliate her and take her money.
In contrast to the clerk, Celie is careful to keep the woman's pride intact. She compliments her on the fabric. But Celie is too curious about the baby to be quiet for too long. She asks about the baby's father and learns that he is a Reverend. Celie doesn't tell God his name; she leaves him nameless. Walker first employed this technique in Letter 4 to express a lack of personal identity. Celie again repeats the notion that a man's name is not worth knowing--because "mens look pretty much alike to me." There is a certain element of irony in this scene, inherent in the fact that an allegedly incestuously begotten child is now the daughter of a minister.
Celie's second question to the woman reveals her intuitive nature even more clearly. She asks her, "How long you had your little girl?" and here, note the verb "had." This question is not the usual way to ask someone how old a child is. The verb "had" carries the idea that the baby was gotten from somewhere besides the womb of the woman who holds her.
In addition, there is the matter of the baby's name being Olivia or Pauline. The name "Olivia" is a secret, private name that both women have for the baby. Celie, of course, embroidered Olivia's name in her underwear, which went with her when Fonso sold her. Olivia's mother has no real answer as to why she calls the baby Olivia; rather embarrassed, she says that the baby simply "look like a Olivia."
We have some evidence, then, that this baby may be Celie's baby, discovered by chance; but for the present, Celie cannot be absolutely sure. Yet, she feels that the baby is hers. She tells God, "My heart say she mine." This notion of Celie's listening more and more to her heart and trusting her feelings will take on increasing importance throughout the rest of the novel.
Letter 11
Nettie's running away from home to Mr. ________’s house reunites the sisters and helps bond them even more firmly together with sustaining love. Nettie is able to help her overworked sister with the household chores and, more important, with her schooling. Nettie deeply wants to teach, and Celie is deeply appreciative of Nettie's patience and belief in her: "No matter what happen, Nettie steady try to teach me what go on in the world." At the same time, however, the constant labor of being a mother to Mr.______'s four children (and not three as he said earlier) has taken a bite out of Celie's will. Most days, she tells God, she's too tired even to think.
In keeping with the basic selflessness in their relationship, the sisters continue to worry about each other's welfare. Nettie regrets having to leave Celie, saying that it's like seeing her buried. Even Nettie's idealism is tested severely in this scene. Celie, however, draws on her faith to provide her daily resurrection. She states firmly that as long as she can "spell G-o-d I got somebody along." The verb "spell" in this sentence is a clue to us that Celie will continue to write her letters to God and not decide to "think them" in a different kind of narrative form. Accordingly, she begins the following letter, Letter 12, not with her customary Dear God, but with G-o-d spelled out.
Nettie, then, is largely responsible for Celie's being able to write these letters to God. Learning is synonymous with strength to Nettie, and she continually urges Celie to learn to be strong, to fight--and not to succumb to the "taken-for-granted" burdens of the black woman's role. Nettie promises to write, but Celie ends this letter by saying that Nettie never wrote.
This matter will be addressed in Letter 49. Celie is not aware of the irony in this final, short sentence. Celie won't read any of the letters that Nettie wrote to her for a very long time, but when she does, they will structure the second half of this novel.
