A'Lelia Walker

The novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young African American girl in Ohio who faces great adversity as a result of her race, gender, and age. She wants nothing more than to have blue eyes, believing that they would make her beautiful and improve her quality of life. She lives in a small house with her mother, Pauline, her father, Cholly, and her brother, Sammy. In an excerpt titled “Battle Royal” from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the narrator faces…

In 1900s most African American women were perceived as submissive to their husband. Back then black women were dominated by black men in a patriarchal society. Black women have always had lower position. Generally reflecting on history of African American’s, in African American community black women nursed children, prepare meals, clean house and work the fields with the acceptance that men are the superior. The Color Purple highlight women’s struggle for survival in a society dominated by men.…

Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944 a self-proclaimed womanist. Womanist is a term that she is credited with creating and means a black feminist or a feminist who is a woman of color. Alice was the youngest of eight children who grew up in the rural south. Alice lived and was educated during the time of the ‘Jim Crow Laws’. It was a period of time when the education for blacks was of such a low and inferior quality when compared to the educational standards provided for white Americans…

Alice Walker presents the idea of women uniting or creating bonds in The Color Purple; this serves as an alternative movement to counter the oppression black women face. In a sense, Walker coined the term ‘womanism’ through the introduction of the idea of sisterhood relations. In The Color Purple, the relationship between each woman shows an evident…

sister Nettie. Alice Walker incorporates all three key components of a great writer in a beautifully written novel, The Color Purple. All of the three components stem from Vladimir Nabokov: storyteller, teacher and enchanter. Nabokov would greatly appreciate reading this novel because it includes all of the ideas necessary to be a great writer while keeping true to the story. Celie shows the difficulties she is faced throughout her life as she writes letters to God. Alice Walker slowly begins…

heritage. One sister embraces her culture and and the other one has decided to adapt the to another culture. In Everyday Use, Maggie is the sister who accepts her heritage. “She can have them, Mama. I can remember Grandma Dee without the quilts.” (Walker pg. 65). Maggie fully understands her heritage. Unlike her sister, she doesn't need to display the quilt to show it off to embrace it. She would use everyday for comfort from the memories that it holds, but she doesn't need it to remember…

While Dee arrives, Ms. Johnson’s and Maggie are both surprised that not only did she bring a male friend, but at the clothing, she is wearing. “A dress so loud it hurts my eyes. There are yellows and oranges enough to throw back the light of the sun” (Walker 317). This is important because it shows how Dee has adapted her new life. I also think this sentence or rather this description can also be applied to a…

“Everyday use” by Alice walker is a story of a family from the south the narrator is the mother who has two daughters who are opposing forces. In Amy Tan “Two kinds” is a tale of a girl named Jing mei who looks back in to personal memories of inner conflict that helped change into a more stronger character. The characters who draw the most sympathy is Maggie and the Jing-mei. Maggie has earned the sympathy of the audience through the use of diction. For instance, Walker characterizes Maggie…

The Color Purple by Alice Walker and Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson are novels that are both considered to be bildungsromans. They both have a strong sense of the character’s growth and journey to find their true selves, even when in a hostile environment. Both novels have an element of betrayal that force the protagonists Celie and Jeanette to face who they truly are, and fight back against a suppressive figure. Then, they must search for their own identity in a world…

Alice Walkers’ book is titled, “Am I Blue?” the story is about a horse living on a few small acres of land not far from the authors’ home. Though the story seems quite simple and trivial, it gains momentum as it converts from a story of a horse to a comparison between animals and humanity. Alice Walker’s purpose in this piece is to convince the readers that animals can teach us many life lessons as well as, the different forms of pain and suffering that one can endure. She convinces us of this…