Throughout “The Color Purple”, letters are written by Celie to God/Nettie and by Nettie to Celie in reply. This epistolary form relates to the image of quilting, symbolising community spirit, independence and working. There are patterns in the letters. Women are traditionally family writers, demonstrated by the fact that historians study female letters. Both objective and subjective views can be put across to the reader. One final point about this style is that the letters are undated: they don’t firmly tell us which time period it is set in, although clues can be found in the text. Employing the epistolary form as she does, Alice Walker highlights Celie’s feelings of helplessness and loneliness – she has only God to write to.[…]

Walker demonstrates Mr._’s arrogance through his unwillingness to acknowledge Sofia, “It sure is hot, she say. Mr._ don’t say nothing.” Mr._ is presented as somebody who has little depth in character, placing more emphasis on external- rather than internal- beauty, “He just look her up and down…Look like you done got yourself in trouble.” It is clear that Mr._ wants to knock the “bigger…stronger…ruddy looking” Sofia down to earth, and Walker shows this through the declarative, rhetorical question, “Look…trouble”.