Celie learns that Corrine passed away and that Nettie and Samuel are married.
But she rediscovers her happiness when Shug returns, and then when Nettie arrives.
Nettie faces her own obstacles in Africa,
with the new roads and rubber farms destroying the Olinka land, and losing Corrine.
Nettie says that once people stop spending
their time thinking about what God looks like, they start to find him in themselves.
Nettie has to find a balance in the Olinka tribe
as a woman who is not Samuel's wife, and not the children's mother.
Nettie notes that women workers in Africa sing
even after a hard day's work- perhaps because they are too tired to do anything else.
Celie dutifully keeps Nettie alive in her letters to God,
and eventually in her letters to Celie directly, once she realizes that Nettie is alive.
The turning point in both the book and the novel is when
Celie discovers that Albert has hidden Nettie's letters from her for all these years.
In the same way, Nettie also finds purpose through updating Celie on her own well-being
and that of her children, along with educating Celie about Africa, the Olinka, and history.
Nettie takes the time to continually write to Celie
in spite of the years of silence, keeping her informed of all of the things she is learning and experiencing as a black missionary in Africa.
She was raped by her stepfather, her two children were taken away, she is passed to Mr. as a piece of property, she is no longer bale to have kids,
and her sister Nettie is sent away from her.