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,...
For this assignment, I was to read two pieces; The Flowers by Alice Walker, and Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie. Both poems were drastically different, and each has its merits, but I preferred to read The Flowers. I have always been a fan of...
As a woman reader, we often believe that our lives and experiences are stories which we create. Our judgement and belief that we create and conduct the stories of our lives, gives us a setting for living our lives as well as for perusing and...
During the early 1900s, an emergence of new forms of music such as blues and jazz brought a host of new musicians, many of them female. These female performers, even when wildly successful, were constantly subjected to unfair scrutiny and judgement due to their sex,...
“Everyday Use”, a short story written by Alice Walker, is told in the perspective of Mama. Mama is described as “a big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands”. The story begins with Mama waiting on her oldest daughter Dee to arrive home. It is learned that...
Female marginalisation is a major theme in The Color Purple, with Celie’s emancipation from repressive male patriarchy being the culmination of the plot. When discussing the way narrative method and perspective are used within the novel to address these themes, it is useful to make...
Everyday Use is told in mama point of view. The author starts of by describing the her as “a large, big-boned woman with rough, man working hands.” Mama has two daughters, the younger daughter is named Maggie. she is described as a shy, quiet, and...
The theme of equality for African American women in their communities is a similar theme for Paule Marshall and Alice Walker. They both connect with women of the past and these identities they connect with. Both women’s identification is related to the exposure of African...
‘Everyday Use’ is an Alice Walker short tale narrated in the first person by ‘Mama,’ an African-American woman living in the Deep South with one of her two kids. The narrative contrasts Mrs. Johnson’s educated, prosperous daughter Dee—or ‘Wangero,’ as she prefers to be called—who...
Alice Walker’s short story “Roselily” revolves around a young African-American woman named Roselily, who is about to marry a man she barely knows in exchange for a more stable life. In this essay, I will argue that “Roselily” is a powerful commentary on the challenges...
So, in Alice Walker’s book, “Elethia,” we dive right into the tough stuff about race, gender, and identity back in the 1960s American South. The main character, Elethia, takes us on a ride through all the hurdles and wins she faces as a young Black...
Introduction to Maggie and Dee In Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use,” the sisters Maggie and Dee show us how people from the same family can end up seeing the world in totally different ways. Through their stories, Walker talks about things like heritage, identity, and...
Alice Walker’s story “Everyday Use” dives into what heritage and identity mean for an African American family. It’s set in the rural South, seen through Mama’s eyes, who’s a hardworking woman. She’s got two daughters, Dee and Maggie, and their different takes on family treasures...
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.”
