Blog 7

Blog 7: America and Africa ----- Not only are Celie and Nettie in completely different places in life, they are on completely different sides of the world. Celie is in America, the land of freedom. And yet, she is anything but free. She is constantly abused and told she is worthless. She has to work the land and take care of the children. She never prospers from the "American Dream." Nettie on the other hand goes back to their roots. She travels to Africa with a family to care for their children as they do missions work. In all of the years they are there, they accomplish almost nothing for the "mission." The tribe they are ministering to is not converted and actually want nothing to do with their god. Instead, the family is most impacted by the natives. Nettie is in a country of freedom, where nature and people come together. The people live in huts made of mud and yet are all much happier than Celie in her house. Africa is portrayed as a place of freedom for the black people, until the whites take that as well. After years with the tribe, Nettie writes about how the white man is coming in to take the land to put rubber factories up. Even on another continent, in another world, the white man finds a way to spoil things for the black people. The two places are so different and yet share so many similarities. Nettie finally comes back to America and the two are reunited.