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Dramatic Irony
Key Examples in The Color Purple
Letter 56
Explanation and Analysis—White Missionaries:
In the following excerpt from Letter 56, Nettie describes her visit to New York City to Celie. While in the city with her missionary friends, Nettie encounters a white missionary woman with troubling—albeit common, for the time—opinions on indigenous Africans. These troubling opinions contain a clear logical fallacy:
She is said to be much loved by the natives even though she thinks they are an entirely different species from what she calls Europeans. . . . She says an African daisy and an English daisy are both flowers, but totally different kinds.
Related Themes:
