Only one matter deeply worries Celie now — the matter of incest; she believes that her own father is the father of her two babies. According to folklore, Adam and Olivia may grow up to be retarded. This fear will be alleviated eventually, but because Celie can now hope to reclaim her babies someday, the possibility of brain-damaged children preys on her hopes for a perfect, joyous reunion with Nettie, Adam, and Olivia.
At this point, Celie considers Olivia and Adam to be her and Nettie's children. "Her and me and our two children," she says. Celie hasn't taken time to reflect on the fact that she can't suddenly claim the children as hers. Even they consider themselves to be Samuel and Corrine's children.
In the meantime, we return to Celie's transformation from a meek, submissive woman into a woman filled with fury. The cause for the transformation, of course, is found in Nettie's letters to Celie. Celie, you should realize, was not able to read through her sister's letters as quickly and as comprehensively as we can. Nettie's letters are unusually lucid to us, but Celie and Shug have trouble with Nettie's vocabulary. It would have been unrealistic to expect Celie and Shug to understand everything that Nettie wrote about. But what the two women can't understand literally, they understand emotionally because Nettie's letters are powerfully written. Celie and Shug understand what Nettie means. They understand, most of all, that Albert deliberately chose to sever Celie from the one human being in the world whom she loved most.
