Celie's Quest for Self-DiscoveryIn The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Celie has many misconceptions about herself and her world . Because of her upbringing in pain and abuse, and her ignorance of a better world, her image of herself and her own potential is very different from reality. The Color Purple, above all, is the story of Celie's growth and discovery, which she achieves through her own commitment to herself and through the help of Nettie and Shug. Celie considers herself ugly and stupid because she was told this by her father and her husband. In her young life, the only person who took the time to care for and encourage Celie was her younger sister Nettie. She took the time to teach Celie through her own homework, after Celie had to leave school because her father raped her and made her pregnant. As Celie says of her homeschooling, inadequate as it may have been, "We both tackle Nettie's textbooks pretty hard, because we know we have to be smart to get by .I know I'm not as smart or as prescient.-...