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Olivia is Celie’s biological daughter, but she is stolen at birth by Alphonso and given to Samuel and Corrine. Celie meets baby Olivia in town one day, and despite the sadness of seeing her daughter living with another family, she’s relieved that Olivia is being raised by kind, well-off parents. When Olivia’s family arrives in western Africa to do missionary work for the Olinka tribe, Nettie describes Olivia as naturally intelligent, more so than her brother or the village boys despite the fact that the Olinka do not allow female children to attend school. From a young age, Olivia walks her own path and is unintimidated by the Olinka’s views of women. She’s highly attuned to gender and race issues, and immediately sees that the exclusion of girls from education is sexist and oppressive. Olivia encourages Olinka girls in her age group to break the stigma around women attending school, and her efforts are particularly effective on Tashi.
Olivia and Tashi’s steadfast presence in what was once an all-boys school eventually causes more mothers to send their daughters to class. While the men of the village remain antagonistic toward the idea of their wives and daughters being educated, over the course of Olivia’s family’s presence in the community, the Olinka women become increasingly responsive to Olivia, Nettie, Corrine, and Tashi’s efforts to encourage female liberation. By the time Olivia’s family leaves the tribe, it’s clear that she and her female peers have been effective in making significant strides for women’s education in the Olinka tribe. Just as her brother Adam represents the end of the cycle of abusive men in Celie’s family line, Olivia represents the end of the cycle of oppressed and uneducated women. Celie herself has had to endure unimaginable hardships, and she will never achieve the life and potential she was truly capable of, but her daughter Olivia will be able to lead herself, her peers, and her descendants into a better future.
