Alice Walker Beauty When The Other Dancer Is The Self

1024 Words5 Pages
In her autobiographical, narrative/essay “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self,” Alice Walker uses a childhood accident that left her disfigured and blind in one eye to take the readers on, a profound journey of her physical and psychological ups and downs. Walker is a well-known Pulitzer Prize winning African-American novelist and poet, although her accomplishments came with many struggles. Walker lets the readers in on her struggles she faced growing up, “Something inside me cringes, and gets ready to try to protect myself. All children are cruel about physical differences, I know from experience, and that they don't always mean to be is another matter” (Walker 7). Walker narrates distressful memories in this essay while reminding us that an accident can have a negative effect as well as a positive outlook on life. When reading Walker’s essay one is quickly reminded of the difficult battle in which society’s expectations can weaken one’s self-image. Alice Walker essay covers her childhood following into early adulthood. She starts off with the early age of 2 and a half, explaining how much she adored her father and wanted to go every with him, “"Take…show more content…
Walker's, daughter states to her, “Mommy, there's a world in your eye." (As in, "Don't be alarmed, or do anything crazy.") And then, gently, but with great interest: "Mommy, where did you get that world in your eye?" For the most part, the pain left then.” (Walker 7). Walker’s emotional roller coaster of acceptance is now at its all-time high. After rushing to the mirror and finally seeing that the one thing she thought made her mutilated, Walkers views her eye to now be loveable and she exhibits how she embraces her beauty more than
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