Do you think Albert despised Celie?

I actually think he didn't. He didn't love her either, for sure, but I don't think he hated HER as such.
He had been raised by a father who beat (literally) it into him that women were chattle, were property. That the man is the boss, and MUST use physical & verbal abuse to keep them in line.

When Celie left him, I think he realized that he did in a way care some about her.
He missed her. The fact that life finally shat on his head was only part of it, I think he FINALLY realized he had wronged her.


"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

I think he grew accustomed to her face.

I just wonder why Albert saved all of Nettie's letters. He never opened them yet he took the time to save them in a secure box all tidy throughout the years. What for? If he truly hated Celie, he would have taken the pleasure to read each one of them and destroy them for Celie NEVER to see. Him placing each letter in the box and somehow letting Shug know about it, just shows that he did, in fact, love Celie on some level. I think he had some respect for Celie when she finally stood up to him. God definitely worked in his life, and he definitely had to reap what he has sowed all those years, nobody gets away with everything 100% of the time. But him keeping the letters so tidy and organized throughout all the years shows he loved Celie and respected her on some level to not read the letters. I don't understand the reasoning behind that.

I don't think the whole letters thing is meant to show he loved her - it's only a book/movie after all, and there needed to be some way in the story for Celie to know her sister really had been trying to contact her. As for whether Albert hated Celie, I think he just thought of her more as a child-minder and housekeeper. It was Nettie he actually had some attraction to, but basically he took what he could get. He knew he had Shrug for the affection side of things, he just needed a woman to keep house for him.

He resented her because he didn't find her attractive. She also wasn't his first choice as a wife, or even his second. But needed her to run his house. Albert was a terrible person. Cele had been raped, had given birth to her father's children, he didn't think she was worthy of anything. He didn't think she deserced to be loved by anyone. Ever. She was the dirt under his shoe as far as he was concerned.

Celie said it herself to shug... "He beat me for not being you."

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