Alice Walker has accomplished so much in her lifetime that has been influential to girls and women across the border of identity and race. Her works of art deal with the issues of race and gender as well as value women in our society. Alice Walker’s mother helped to create the astonishing woman she is today by fighting against discrimination and pushing for education for African-Americans as well as women. Alice Walker has experienced a number of hard times in her life including the wound she received from her brothers BB gun. Walker was shot in the right eye by her brother leaving a scare as well as permanently blinded that eye. From this disastrous experience Walker turned into an outcast feeling harassed by her peers. She was able to turn to reading and writing poetry to help her though this difficult time in her life. By the age fourteen, the scar tissue was removed eventually allowing Walker to come to her full potential and no longer hide in misery. She was voted valedictorian, most-popular girl and queen of her senior class. Ms. Walker learned from her traumatic experience allowing her to grow as a woman and value her life. Following her growth she began to care about relationships she built around her and find patients in her daily life. After high school Alice Walker became an activist for the Civil Rights movement during college, which lead her to return south once finished with school. She became involved in fighting for welfare rights, and helping children’s programs in Mississippi. Walker married in 1967 to a white Jewish man, which brought the two to be the first legally married inter-racial couple in Mississippi. This endorsed harassments from peers as well as threats from the Ku Klux Klan.
Her novels and works of art reflect the amazing, intertwined life that she led. It shows the power of young black women an their fight against racial issues. Her work is inspiring to women across the world because of the issues she displays through all of her work including violence and sexist issues. She helps women come into their role and focus on what they have to offer our society.
Alice Walker is 100% worthy of a fan page because of the inspiration and dedication she showed through her life. She fought for what she wanted and understood that life never comes easy. Ms. Walker is a passionate woman who understands the hardships of life while influencing others to stand up for what they believe in. Walker has given many women words of wisdom and has helped display the reality of our culture. I find Alice Walker worthy of a fan page because of her blatant ability to be real. She understands herself, and is more then willing to share her life experiences so that others can grow from her knowledge. Walker is able to depict each part of her life and find a meaning behind everything she has experienced while still teaching others a valuable lesson.
Lauren Brous
Walker, Alice. "The Official Alice Walker Biography." Alice Walker - The Official Website for Alice Walker. 2008. Web. 9 Apr. 2010
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First of all, I think the title of your blog is really clever. :) I wanted to say that I sincerely appreciate how Walker had a rough childhood and dealt with ridicule as she grew up. I’m sure many of us have had some kind of painful experience from when we were younger. Being scarred from a BB shot to the eye must have been an extremely difficult ordeal. I could hardly imagine what that'd be like. I feel as though Walker had her happy ending though. She became valedictorian and gained lots of friends in school. Then, she grew up to have a successful writing career in which her deepest opinions could be shared. What do you think gave Alice such a newfound confidence? Was there a moment in her life that was able to lift away all of the insecurities from her childhood? Were there particular people who inspired her to be proud of who she was?
ReplyDeleteAlice Walker seemed to find her confidence after one of her brothers paid to have the cataract removed from her eye when she was fourteen years old. The surgery did not return the vision in her one eye but it did seem to restore her confidence. The people that most inspired Walker included; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Zora Neale Hurston and her mother. Alice Walker met Martin Luther King Jr. when she was a student at Spelman College. King was a large source of her inspiration to return to the south as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. His role in society inspired Walker's writing and the subject matter in which she wrote about. Zora Neale Hurston is one of the leading writers of twentieth-century African-American literature. Hurston wrote during the time of the Harlem Renaissance concentrating on the intellectual life of African-Americans. Alice Walker's mother was her closes inspiration and the one who always showed her that through creativity and writing, one is able to survive oppression. Walker's mother always believed in her and the meaning behind all of her writings.
ReplyDeleteLauren Brous
Your blog is amazing. First off, it is visually appealing, second it is clever, I agree the title is great and finally, it is incredibly thorough. I like how you made sure to tie your reviews back to class. In this review for example, you used a short story that we read in class and expounded on its characters/themes. I like how you discussed how each relates to the author in different ways, again illustrating how authors work is powerful when they write what they know. I also like how you explore mama and her abiliy to transcend essentialist views/gender roles. I think this is particularly important because mama can easily be overlooked, where as character's like Dee would gain more recognition. I think mama's representation as a lowerclass african woman who defies the convention makes another important statement, about class/race difference and how women can transcend gender barriers/expecations regardless of their race or financial situation.
ReplyDeleteFirst, my last comment was suppossed to be under the section where you review Walker's short story, "The Revolt of Mother." This comment, however, is meant for this entry. Your passion jumps off the page, which makes this blog even more desirable to read. You focus on all of the essential elements of Walker not just as an artists, but as a person and who show why she is so important in both arenas. I was already a fan of Walker, but your blog may well have encouraged me to look into more of her work. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much. Alice Walker is truly an amazing woman who has given so much passion into her writing I could only pay my respects by being passionate about her fan page blog. Of course I encourage you to read more of her work, everything she has written has so much meaning that is very relatable to every woman's life.
ReplyDeleteI begin to more understand Alice Walker through knowing her childhood experience. Her experience itself makes me adore her. I can see how the miserable girl overcomes the hardship and finally make her life meaningful. No doubt writing poetry and reading definitely gave her big hand. But I am wondering how the Alice Walker finally removes the impact by ordeal at her 14 years old. Thanks
ReplyDelete——Wu shuang
Alice Walker was able to really find all of her confidence once her brother paid to have the cataract removed from her eye when she was fourteen. The surgery did not return the vision in her eye but helped her to feel better about her self image. Along with the surgery and the writing she had done she was able to move past this dramatic part in her life and face the world. Hope this answers your question.
ReplyDeleteLauren Brous
Thank you for taking the time to respond to all of these comments! Quick question: do you think that interracial couples still experience the same type of social backlash as Walker and her partner did? If yes why do you think that behavior still exists? And if not, what happened to change that?
ReplyDeleteSadly, I definitely believe that interracial couples still experience the same social backlash because of the ideas that are still present from the past. I know that times have changed but many times in the south there are older people that were there in the time of mass discrimination. Theses ideas that they have can be passed down through the generations. So sadly there is still very many harsh words said to those in interracial relationships. It seems as thought only education and time can get ride of the brutal words that are said to those couples
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