In her essay, “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self,” Alice Walker recounts the stories where she struggled with embracing her appearance. Through her use of description about her accident and various experiences in life thereafter, she is able to convey that one’s looks can have a significant role in the way his/her personality develops as they mature. Through a series of events in her life, Walker revises her perception of beauty, transforming from a naïve and simple-minded girl to an accepting and loving mother. In very early stages of her life, Alice has already discovered her qbeauty and is keen to make sure everyone else realizes it as well. At the tender age of two and a half, Alice is already conscious of her looks and is prideful
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The most apparent and most important strategy Walker uses is the extensive use of double voicing throughout the essay. She transitions from adult Walker, to the age she was when the event is occurring. Before Walker recounts the story of her accident, she ends the childish diction for a moment and states, “It was great fun being cute. But then, one day, it ended” (Walker 63). Walker shows her contempt for her former self by demonstrating the mere temporary happiness that one’s own exploitation can provide. Walker returns to the voice as her young self when telling the story of her accident. She uses childish phrases like “I will say anything that gets me to my mother” as if her mother can miraculously fix what happened to her eye. She shifts back into the adult voice when she returns from the doctor. Because of the scar the injury made on her eye, “for six years [she] does not stare at anyone, because [she] does not raise [her] head (Walker 64). Double voicing in this portion of the essay is significant because it helps to emphasize how different she is now compared to how she was as a child. Additionally, Walker’s use of double voicing is effective because she is able to see herself as a child from an adult perspective. As Walker is growing up, she changes from being conceited about her beauty to ashamed because she no longer is that same pretty little
The most apparent and most important strategy Walker uses is the extensive use of double voicing throughout the essay. She transitions from adult Walker, to the age she was when the event is occurring. Before Walker recounts the story of her accident, she ends the childish diction for a moment and states, “It was great fun being cute. But then, one day, it ended” (Walker 63). Walker shows her contempt for her former self by demonstrating the mere temporary happiness that one’s own exploitation can provide. Walker returns to the voice as her young self when telling the story of her accident. She uses childish phrases like “I will say anything that gets me to my mother” as if her mother can miraculously fix what happened to her eye. She shifts back into the adult voice when she returns from the doctor. Because of the scar the injury made on her eye, “for six years [she] does not stare at anyone, because [she] does not raise [her] head (Walker 64). Double voicing in this portion of the essay is significant because it helps to emphasize how different she is now compared to how she was as a child. Additionally, Walker’s use of double voicing is effective because she is able to see herself as a child from an adult perspective. As Walker is growing up, she changes from being conceited about her beauty to ashamed because she no longer is that same pretty little