Tashi vs. Celie

Tashi and Celie are both going through very tough times. Tashi, along with the rest of the Olinka tribe, have been forced from their homes, to plant rubber trees. The Olinka’s town was destroyed, and they now have to work in the rubber fields. They must pay taxes to live on the land they have lived on for generations, and Western influence has invaded their way of life. Many of them now want for things that they were perfectly content without before the tyrants took their land from them.

Tashi wishes to mark herself, showing her link to her heritage, yet, when the facial scarring is through, she is ashamed of these same scars she wanted so badly a few days before.

Celie is having troubles of her own back home. She learns that Shug is in love with a young man, whom she met a year ago. Celie is crushed that Shug would leave her, and chase after some man, when they both know it’ll end soon. Celie also learns that her stepfather has recently died, and this revival of the fact that he was not her real father, and her own situation nearly parallels that of her children, Olivia, and Adam.

Celie’s mother died, her father was actually not her father, her sister, Nettie, has been away in Africa, as a missionary for the past 11 years, her children were stolen from her and sold, and now Shug is chasing after a 19 year old. Her family has crumbled, and she shares a problem of identity with Tashi, who’s lost the trust of Adam.