The two worlds, as dissimilar as we might think they are, have striking similarities. Shug and Celie (the mistress and wife of Albert) become friends, and almost immediately, neither woman will allow Albert into their circle. In fact, in Letter 64, Nettie writes about the male Olinka treatment of women, and we are vividly reminded of the way that Fonso treated Nettie and Celie's mother. Notice, too, that Nettie reports that Olinka husbands have "life and death power" over their wives; recall, as a parallel, that almost all of the Southern black men in this novel also attempt to have this fierce, brutal omnipotence over their wives. Their homes are theirs; a wife has claim on nothing. Fonso and Albert have made this edict savagely clear to Celie.
Nettie's relevation, in Letter 67, that Fonso is Nettie's and Celie's stepfather — and not their physical
father — brings as much joy to Celie as did the discovery of Nettie's letters. In addition, we learn that Fonso was a friend of Samuel "long before [Samuel] found Christ." Nettie and Celie were born before Fonso married their widowed mother.
Irony again structures the lives of the two sisters who are continents apart. Both Samuel and Corrine thought that Nettie was the natural mother of Adam and Olivia, and just as Adam and Olivia think that Samuel is their natural father, Nettie and Celie thought Fonso was their natural father. Unlike Fonso, however, Samuel reared his children with patience, love, and Christian values — values that he learned after he was converted. Olivia and Adam will be disappointed to discover that Samuel is not their real father, but both Nettie and Celie are ecstatic and relieved to learn that the evil Fonso is only their stepfather. If Celie thought she knew perfect happiness when she discovered Nettie's letters, her emotions were pale compared to how she feels when she reads "Pa is not our pa!"
