The theme of color is very broad, and reaches strands out to many different emotions and feeling of Alice Walker's The Color Purple such as sadness, desire and hope. Color also is central to the society that the novel is set in – the color...
Alice Walker’s short story, “The Flowers,” delicately examines the fragile balance between childhood innocence and the harsh realities of racism. Through the eyes of the young protagonist, Myop, Walker navigates the landscape of racial injustice in the American South, shedding light on its profound impact...
In Alice Walker’s short story ‘The Flowers,’ the author depicts the story of a ten-year old girl named Myop growing up in a day. The story begins with Myop’s feelings of peace and happiness. Walker’s descriptions depict Myop skipping happily exploring the forest behind her...
“We’re people, we’re just like the birds and the bees, We’d rather die on our feet, Than be livin’ on our knees” (“James Brown Lyrics”). These lyrics for James Brown’s classic soul hit “Say It Loud (I’m Black And I’m Proud)” could have easily been...
Sewing is often viewed as a proper pastime for married women to engage in, even if it can often be laborious to do for hours on end. Yet, the women in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple managed to turn this monotonous activity into something profitable....
In the essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” Alice Walker presents a moving portrait of matrilineal art and creativity extending throughout black history. Following this line, Walker illustrates generations upon generations of lost artists, mothers and grandmothers “driven to a numb and bleeding madness...
Throughout history, the topic of racial and gender discrimination in America has been heavily discussed and researched. As Anderson and Collins state, “Sex, gender, race, sexual identity, and class profoundly influence individuals’ knowledge, experience, and opportunities” (qtd. in Tahir). It is not hard to see...
Struggles have always been looked at as a negative thing, and are usually associated with being weak However, many people tend to forget that this is a natural part of life, which helps us grow as individuals. People need to remember that our past is...
In Alice Walker’s famous short story “Everyday Use,” Dee is perceived as an unsympathetic character. It is difficult for the reader to feel compassion for Dee since she possesses repelling characteristics; she is as authoritative, manipulative, and self-absorbed. Although “Everyday Use” provides brief glimpses into...
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence [1] and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple [2] both paint a portrait American culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This culture appears to be male, with no room for the female as any manifestation other than...
Alice Walker, most famous for her novel The Color Purple, is the first African- American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for fiction (Alice (Malsenior) Walker). As well as writing bestselling books, Walker is a staunch defender of human rights, racial equality, and respecting all...
If asked, most people would say women are strong, passionate, loving, but not all of these positive traits truly define who they are. Their nature is deemed the most difficult to define because they have negative aspects that contribute to their strength, passion, and ability...
Community is as life sustaining as food and water. It provides human connection, a sense of identity, and support. However, human nature leads individuals to seek experiences separate from their communities. In Alice Walker’s story “Strong Horse Tea”, Rannie goes a step further, rejecting her...
This paper discusses early american feminism in the 1910s as portrayed in Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple”. The novel draws strong parallels to Virginia Woolf’s theories and introduces the true meaning of the feminist notion. As stated in Woolf’s critical essay “A room of one’s...
Sexism is, at its core, a product of gender roles. In the early twentieth century, discrimination against women through the overt use of gender roles was highly prevalent amongst men and women. In a patriarchal society, women are expected to submit to men in all...
Activism is crucial in advocating or impeding social constructs, ultimately resulting in transforming and redefining the nation. It has been present throughout history, playing a major role in ending slavery, opposing racism, defending worker rights, and many other global concerns (Martin). Literature can be recognized...
Everyday Use is a masterpiece novel written by African American writer Alice Walker, published in 1973. The highlighted perspective of the social conflicts among marginalized members of society, such as females and people of color, has earned the novel great popularity among both readers and...
Contrary to common belief, slavery as broadly defined was not abolished after the Civil War and is still around to this day. White lawmakers in the postbellum South strived to create a system in which prisons could lease out inmates, especially black inmates, to private...
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker tells a story of a young girl named Celie. The book is formatted as an journal so that daily experiences can be shared through the voice of Celie. In the beginning, readers learn that she lives in a life...
The Author’s craft among the story “Everyday Use” uses transition and flashbacks as a result of throughout the story someone is either puzzling over the past or puzzling over the long run. Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to...
“It all I can do not to cry. I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie, you a tree. That’s how I know trees fear man,” (23) uttered the protagonist of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Such words of meekness were characteristic of Celie’s...
The Heritage of the House In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, Dee’s negative attitude towards the Johnson’s household reflects her ashamed views of her family and their interpretation of heritage. Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to...
Siblings have a tendency to be similar in multiple ways, and yet the story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, depicts two sisters who could not be more diverse. Walker demonstrates the value of our present life in relation to the traditions of our people, culture,...
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple holds immense historical and societal relevance among a thirty year spectrum of time periods and movements, including the Harlem Renaissance, the gradual development of both civil and women’s rights, the destruction of rich African civilizations by European companies, and the...
Women and Strength The poem that I have chosen to type my essay over is a very strong poem. It gives a lot of insight to how certain people feel about certain topics. The poem is in a way, a voice for those who can’t...
Hope is a powerful thing. It can give people the courage to climb the hills they thought were insurmountable. Hope is what people try to kill in the downtrodden. For with hope, they will rise. Hope of a better life is what pushed the slaves...
Celie has been a victim of female oppression throughout her life, never believing in herself, and living in fear of men. However, when Shug Avery enters her life, Celie’s quality of life starts to improve on the whole, and her newfound self-belief allows her to...
From the first moment that Celie sees Shug (which is in picture form) she is immediately mesmerised by her, describing her as “The most beautiful woman I ever saw”. She even places her above her mother “She more pretty then my mama” which shows already...
In the story, Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self, it is written by Alice Walker and about how someone’s perception of anything is always influenced by experiences. Alice discusses her perception of beauty and how an eye injury changed her perception of beauty...
In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Shug Avery introduces the novel’s protagonist, Celie, to the concept of religious embodiment. Critic Anne-Janine Morey, in her book Religion and Sexuality in American Literature, defines embodiment as “the unreconciled relation of body and spirit” (3). In Western theology,...
Novelist, short story writer, poet, political activist
Genre
African-American literature
Notable works
The Color Purple
Notable awards
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1983
National Book Award 1983
Born
February 9, 1944 (age 78)
Activity
Alice Walker is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awarded for her novel The Color Purple.
Works
"The Color Purple", “The Temple of My Familiar”, “The Third Life of Grange Copeland”, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”, “Meridian”
Themes
Walker's creative vision is rooted in the economic hardship, racial terror, and folk wisdom of African American life and culture, particularly in the rural South. Her writing explores multidimensional kinships among women and embraces the redemptive power of social and political revolution.
Activism
In the 1980s Alice Walker emerged as a leading voice of the literary and feminist community in the 1980s. Walker's specific brand of feminism included advocacy of women of color. She also took part in Mississippi's 1960s Civil Rights Movement and in the 1963 March on Washington.
Quotes
“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.”
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”
“Hard times require furious dancing. Each of us is proof.”
