Alice Walker 's The Flowers

Alice Walker speaks of her mother and grandmothers’ dark pasts of slavery and discrimination throughout their lives. Although women through the years have had it tough, colored women have and continue to have a deeper struggle within society. Alice Walker’s essay is inspiring and heartwarming because it tells of how the women in their lives have found beauty within a dark part of history. Her mother although had little, found a sense of identity with the joy of her own vibrant garden. She speaks a lot about how many people of color continued to keep their identity and spirituality in a time where they could have been discouraged. I think that Walker’s essay is really eye opening because so many women have struggled before us to pave the way for women of all

Alice Walker explores Myop’s development of being a little girl in her own world to facing rough and sad reality. Myop is a ten-year-old African American girl and is in her own little world but when she goes into the woods by herself and comes across a dead body, she realizes that life isn’t what she lived every day, it’s way different and she just faced reality. In the short story,

In the short story “The Flowers” by Alice Walker a young girl by the name of Myop sets off on her own journey. Along this journey Myop finds herself drawing away from her usual farmland flowers into an area of strange air, literally stepping into realization and self discovery. Because Myop experiences a change in location and season, she loses her innocence and comes of age.

Alice Walker “The Flowers” is a literary piece in which violence is not presented but suggested , and not experienced, but witnessed. Alice Walker is a contemporary African-American writer who is mainly concerned with racism. She has worked to address problems of poverty and inequality. Originally written in 1970, it is set in the south of America and is about Myop a small 10- year old African-American girl who explores the place where she lives with her black family. Alice Walker succeeded in employing symbolism to highlight childhood innocence and the loss of it.

Walker still continues to illustrate the setting throughout paragraph three where she says “silver ferns and wildflowers grew”. Again this tells the reader that Myop’s surroundings are beautiful, tranquil and peaceful. Alice then goes on to tell us that Myop lives in a “sharecropper cabin” which gives across a strong sense of safety as it is familiar and family orientated.

The setting of Alice Walkers short story” The Flowers” is important for us, the readers to obtain a perspective of how life was like growing up for a 10 year old African American girl by the name of Myop. The title of the story is “The Flowers.” When you think about flowers, you instantly compare them to being beautiful, pure, and innocent. The title of the “The Flowers” is a symbolism that correlates to Myop who is the protagonist of the story. Myop is just like a flower in the beginning of the story. She’s a pure and innocent child but that pure innocence changes when she discovers something that’ll change her life forever.

When The Color Purple is viewed through the gender/feminist lens, the traditional ways society understands men and women is dramatically altered. Alice Walker defies gender norms with her emphasis on the fact that gender and sexuality are not always as simple as society typically thought. By creating characters that challenge gender stereotypes and break out of the norms of society, she creates a book that dissolves gender barriers. With her use of strong, unique characters, Alice is able to change the way people viewed women and men. Characters like Shug Avery and Harpo defy the gender roles expected of them, and influence those around them to change their roles in society as well. While there are characters that reflect gender norms,

The award-winning novel, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, is a story about a woman going through cruel things such as: incest, rape, and physical abuse. This greatly written novel comes from a very active feminist author who used many of her own experiences, as well as things that were happening during that era, in her writing. “The Color Purple” takes place in the early 1900's, and symbolizes the economic, emotional, and social deprivation that African American women faced in Southern states of America. The main character of the story is Celie, a fourteen-year old that starts writing letters to God for thirty years, and then to her sister, Nette, who ran away to Africa to save herself from the troubles Celie went through. Celie starts off as a pushover and very dependent girl that would eventually grow and develop into an independent flourishing woman that opens a business making pants for all genders. This novel shows the hardship of a girl becoming a woman over the course of her life and eventually standing up for herself and being confident. Many of the experiences and characters of “The Color Purple” are based on history of that time and a bit of the author’s personal experiences. Her use of epistolary allows the reader to learn everything in the point of view of Celie. Alice Walker's influences for writing this novel range from her childhood experiences to the white society in her hometown of Eatonville, Georgia. Even during these times, it still shows that women

In the early 1900’s society 's attitude toward women wasn 't always a positive one. Women often faced sexism, discrimination, racism, and abuse which is demonstrated throughout the book the The Color Purple by Alice Walker. When these prevailing attitudes came face to face with the diverse personalities of the women in this book they not only affected each other but their society as a whole. These attitudes included but were not limited to disrespect, jealousy, selfishness,infidelity, and abuse. These women were forced to survive their own struggles in their own way and whether they chose to do it alone or together they did survive. Although it may have been weakened at times these women had unbreakable spirits that by the end were

Alice Walker is a very well-known and well respected author, she worked as a teacher, social worker, and lecturer, and took part in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. Alice Walker’s life greatly impacted her monumental writing style, many of her stories have a young female character who is learning and maturing through different experiences such as the concept of death. Taking part in the Civil Rights Movement shows her bravery and that she will fight for what is right under all costs. This shows in her writing because her protagonists and usually very brave and strong through difficult times. Two famous short stories of Alice Walker are “The Flowers” and “To Hell with Dying”, although these stories have developed different

Alice Walker was the youngest of eight of a sharecropper. Not only did she grow up poor but she ended up being shy and timid, due to an incident that took place. She accidently got shot with a BB gun in her eye by her brother. Around that time she found solace in reading and writing poetry. Due to the unfortunate event she faced as a child, Walker was awarded a scholarship for college. She first began at Spelman College in Atlanta after graduating from her high school as the Valedictorian or her class. Walker the transferred to Sarah Lawrence in New York. The year that she graduated her first short story was published. From there, her success only flourished.

A common theme among the black female characters of each novel and their need for freedom is their desire for emotional, spiritual, and mental freedom. It is significant because it shows that there is a specific experience that only those who are black and female can truly and sincerely understand. The authentic experience of the black female is expressed by Alice Walker as being the “mule of the world,” in her work, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens.” She discusses the obstacles that girls faced when trying to earn success, in her work she states, “Hindered by contrary instincts..that she must have lost her health and sanity to a certainty”(235). These contrary instincts are the societal obstacles placed in the system to prevent women from

In the short story “Flowers” by Alice Walker, she uses the motif of blindness and disease to dramatize Myop’s loss of innocence. Myop is given the name for a major symbolic reason. Her name is short for “Myopia,” which is a given to short sightedness. This metaphor is brought into play to show Myop’s naivety in the beginning of the story. Also in the beginning, the author mentions her name a numerous amount of times. The repetition of her name implies that she is blind to the realities of the world happening around her. As the story progresses, the author reduces the use of Myop’s name. This suggests that Myop begins to open her eyes and finally see the world as it is with all of its harsh realities. The name “Myop” could also be short for

Alice Walker attempts to depict the different ways of viewing heritage and identity of an African American family. During the first read, the audience sides with the narrator and Maggie against Dee/Wangero. The reader can see Dee/Wangero antagonist of the story. However, this is not the only way to interpret “Everyday Use”. Walker has created a more complex story than just right and wrong. After further analysis, the reader comes to understand that Wangero view of her cultural heritage and identity as a black woman in America is different than the view that Maggie and the narrator have. Wangero values the quilts differently than her family, however that does not mean she is the enemy in the story.

When reading Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and “Everyday Use,” it is evident that she writes about her life through her use of allegory. Alice Walker uses the events of her childhood, her observation of the patriarchy in African American culture, and her rebellion against the society she lived in to recount her life through her stories. Alice Walker grew up in a loving household in the years towards the end of the Great Depression. Although her family was poor, they were rich in kindness and perspective and taught Walker a lot about her heritage and life.