Letter 70

Synopsis of Letter 70

Corrine is close to death and still suspects that Nettie is the mother of Olivia and Adam, despite the fact that there are no physical signs on Nettie’s body of her having undergone a pregnancy. Nettie tells Corrine and Samuel the truth about the children’s parentage: that both Olivia and Adam are the children of her sister Celie, but Corrine is still not convinced. Nettie tries to jog Corrine’s memory of meeting Celie in the store (Letter 10) when she was buying material, but Corrine is too sick to remember the day or the event.

Commentary on Letter 70

This letter, from Nettie to her sister and the next two (Letters 71 and 72), shift the narrative back to Nettie’s story. In general, women in The Color Purple are heroic and behave better than the male characters. In the case of Corrine, however, Walker constructs a character who is weak and prone to suspicion. Critics have suggested that Walker has done this in order to emphasise Nettie’s own strength of character and her goodness.

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