Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Alice Walker is an African-American award winning writer from Georgia whose works include The Color Purple. In her essay "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self" she retells events from her past that shape her self image. Growing up she was very confident in herself exclaiming that her father would choose her to go to the fair because she was the prettiest of her eight siblings. Her self-confidence changed however when she was shot in the eye with a BB gun. Her eye was blinded and left scarred and often wandered. She never raised her head as long as the scar was on her eye. She became self-conscious. Only at the end of the story does she realize that her outward appearance has no effect on who she is inside. I agree that who you are inside stays the same, it is not based on outward appearance. It took her many years to realize this, but her appearance never changed who she was inside. Her inner self was always there, just disconnected because of her self-doubt.
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I do agree with you for the most part, but I do believe that your appearance will ultimately affect how people treat you therefore affecting your overall happiness. It's the natural tendency of human beings to be self-conscience and insecure; so, the light that you're seen in to others is also going to affect your personality. You will be less social, less friendly, and when those things are affected, your happiness is affected. There's a reason you could see a huge change in her before and after the accident. Before the accident, Walker said, "...I stand, hands on hips, before my father. "Take me, Daddy," l say with assurance; "I'm the prettiest!"" She was happy because the way people saw her was in a positive light. That was the last time her father chose her. After her accident, no longer seen as beautiful or cute, her personality and happiness changed. This can be shown especially after her accident when she found happiness again through her husband's and daughter's opinion. So, yes, people's opinions and presence do have an affect on happiness.
ReplyDeleteThis story of Alice Walker when she was eight years old, losing sight of one eye when one of her older brothers shot her with a BB gun by accident, is a tale of selfhood and being confident in knowing who you are. Alice Walker is an award winning, African-American novelist and poet. In her essay "Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self" Alice tells the story of her life over the years before and after what people would consider her “accident”. In the essay, she writes “I realize I have dashed about the world madly, looking at this, looking at that, storing up images against the fading of the light.” In which she is noticing the beauty in the gift she has always been given. Alice has grown since the accident at hand and knows that as her life goes on, she sees how she was as a child and now as an adult with s child of her own that behavior is taught but personality comes from deeper measures in selfhood. I also agree with Alice Walker that who a person is, does not directly correspond to one’s outer appearance and the reaction to such events is what truly shows who you are.
ReplyDeleteAlice Walker is a short story writer, novelist, and activist who is known for her critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple. In her essay Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self she discusses the divergence of herself as result of a tragic accident that took her sight in one of her eyes. She struggled with self confidence and bullying for years which tore herself even further apart. It wasn't until she had her daughter when both pieces fell back into place and she felt whole.This split in Walkers self was suppressed by outside forces and internal struggles.
ReplyDeleteI agree and believe that walker's perception of selves (self hood) is not always what others perceive of you however, unfortunately people tend to judge you based on how you look. It's more of how you yourself, view yourself hence the name self-hood. Alice Walker is the author of the writing, "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is The Self". In the text she talks about how she grows up the only girl in her household, she goes to beauty pageants and how one day she gets shot in the eye with a BB gun and she becomes blind in one of her eyes and it leaves a scar on the eye she can longer see out of. She later talks about how she has come to terms with it and how she sees herself as beautiful despite this fact. Later in the essay her child says, "Mommy, there's a world in your eye." This shows how both Walker and her child view self-hood in the same way. I also firmly believe that Walker's belief in self-hood is that you have to see yourself as beautiful and you have to accept yourself before others can see you as beautiful and before they can love and accept you.
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