The reason why Celie writes to God is that she would like to tell her mother what happened, but Celie's father has warned her not to — to tell "nobody but God," especially not Celie's mother because, according to him, "It'd kill your mammy."
Again, we are caught off-guard. We know that this novel is written by a contemporary black woman, and therefore, the word "mammy" is jarring. Usually we encounter "mammy" only in so-called softcore racist songs and literature. For example, we think of the song "Mammy's Li'l Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread," and we also think of all of the turbaned, sassy, protective "mammies" who (according to the movies) ruled Southern plantation kitchens, as well as most of the rest of the plantation house affairs, and, of course, we recall Al Jolson's "black face," sung-on-bended-knee version of "Mammy," and scores of other instances where the word "mammy" is used in a condescending, put-down, racist context. "Mammy" does not have a positive connotation to today's progressive black and white ears.
Yet here, Celie's father uses the term, and obviously, it is as natural to him as his untamed need for sex is. So, not only are prudish readers caught off-guard by Walker's language concerning Celie's rape, but so are black and white liberals when Walker, very naturally, within the context of this novel, introduces a word that has evolved into a racist term. Walker begins this novel, as one critic has noted, with exactly the same ingredients that a Greek playwright would have used for the climax of his tragedy.
