Early in the book, the reader is introduced to Celie’s pet project of mapping the castle’s floorplan. Her atlas is 300 pages long and still growing. The manuscript demonstrates both Celie’s desire to help the other residents find their way and her own mastery of the castle’s secrets. Rolf tells Celie, “If the Castle was ever going to tell anyone its secrets, I think it would be you” (99).

His comment highlights Celie’s special relationship with the castle, and the atlas is concrete proof that she knows the castle better than anyone ever has. The atlas serves a practical as well as a symbolic purpose. The only reason that Celie overhears Khelsh’s plot to take over the kingdom is because she chooses to work on her atlas while sitting concealed under the throne. When Cook can’t lead the kitchen workers safely out of the castle, Celie gives her a page from the atlas to guide her. Celie also consults the atlas to find safe escape routes for the rest of the castle’s staff. Later, when she and Lilah are hiding from the enemy, Celie carries her atlas everywhere as a reference to help her move about the castle unseen. This also prevents the atlas from falling into the wrong hands.