Alice Walker's In Search Of Our Mothers Garden

The author shows the reader what she wants them to think, feel, and do with the information through the structure. In the story there is a shift of setting and time. The Flowers begins in a bright morning adventure, but as Myop continues with her adventure, she ends up in a dank part of the woods. This structure is parallel to the story of Eve in the Garden of Eden. Myop is a pure girl who wanders among the vibrant foliage, “...bouncing this way and that way, vaguely keeping an eye out for snakes” (Walker para. 4). Eve is also tempted by a strange plant, an apple, as is Myop. In The Flowers, Walker wrote that Myop was drawn by blue flowers. Such parallels to the snake and apple symbols of the Genesis story will lead the reader to sense that

Has there ever been a place where you just felt like you belonged? For Mary, the secret garden was that place. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett has the theme of belonging. This essay will be covering how Mary, Colin, Mrs. Medlock, and Lord Craven all applied to the theme in their own way whether it be for better or for worse. Also, what scenes and symbols were useful and played an important role to the theme of belonging.

In “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”, Alice Walker looks to educate us on the hardships that almost all black women face when trying to express themselves through things such as art. She delves into many sociological and psychological concepts that have affected black women throughout human history. These concepts and ideologies created a realm for mass exclusion, discrimination, and oppression of many African American women, including Alice Walker’s Mother, who Alice utilizes as one of her particular examples. The writing thematically aims to show how these concepts of sexism, racism, and even classism have contributed to black women’s lack of individuality, optimism, and fulfillment for generations. The author does a tremendous job of defending and expanding upon her arguments. She has a credible background, being a black woman that produces the art of literature herself. As well as being raised by one, Walker’s first-hand experience warrants high regard. Therefore, her use of abstract and introspective language is presented clearly and convincingly. Also, her use of evidence and support from sources like Jean Toomer, Virginia Woolf, and Phillis Wheatley, all produce more validity for her stance through poems, quotes, and even experiences. All these individuals have their own accounts pertaining to the oppression of black women and their individuality. Successfully arguing that the artistry plights of black women described in “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” are

“The Flowers” by Alice Walker was a very descriptive short story that used words powerfully and constructed a sinister yet elegant scene in the reader’s mind. The emotional meaning behind it’s excellent description only enhanced the details and thoughts the reader had while reading the story, which displayed Walker’s talent in describing a story . In this story, a young girl named Myop is playing near her home on a sharecropper property. She begins picking flowers around her sharecropper property, which eventually leads her to exploring the forest behind the property. As Myop is exploring the forest, she encounters a dead body that had been there for a while. Myop is briefly fazed, then continues looking for more plant life. Eventually, she spots a singular pink rose, and notices that at the base of the rose, there is a mound. She digs up the mound, only to discover a noose that was used to hang the

These authors and artists all do an outstanding job at framing the topic to give insight of what racism is all about and hope to spark something in people to cause a revolution of how race defines a human. Racism is prominent all over the world, and is used by people in both major and minor scales. It is something that can not be shut down no matter how hard people try. Discrimination is always present and roaring throughout the globe. Governments have even stepped in to gain justice for colored people and the world still have trouble accepting their differences. It is astonishing to think that the inequality has been around since slaves were first used in America. Small steps by activists against racism slowly begin to tie the knot between races, however, if people do not start to understand the fact that a human is a human, then our chances to equality are slim to

     Alice Walker is an African American essayist, novelist and poet. She is described as a “black feminist.”(Ten on Ten) Alice Walker tries to incorporate the concepts of her heritage that are absent into her essays; such things as how women should be independent and find their special talent or art to make their life better. Throughout Walker’s essay entitled “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” I determined there were three factors that aided Walker gain the concepts of her heritage which are through artistic ability, her foremothers and artistic models.

From day one I knew I would face some challenges with this class just bases off of past experiences with English classes overall. Not being a native speaker and having dyslexia have been two big hurdles but I can say this class has made me over all a more knowledgeable writer. Each assignment given was something different and something interesting. The one that left the biggest impact on me was the Sister Flowers story by Maya Angelou. I’ve always been a fan of her work and the fact that I got to read something by her in my English class was amazing. Most of the classes I’ve attended have been very euro centric barely deviating from that path but here there was plenty of variety from the racial backgrounds of the authors to the topics themselves. My strengths as a writer have always been in the passion I can channel into my writing. That skill really came to birth as a way to balance out my lack of proper grammar with sheer emotional impact. An example of this I believe was in my essay entitled Glossy “I felt the rage tinged with fear claw at my stomach and wrap around my neck constricting my breathing.” Although my English may not be the best I’ve found ways to convey certain emotions. Although I have some strengths naturally I have weaknesses as well.

I have not myself been through situations of racism to that extreme but I have witnessed discrimination and stereotyping. When we first moved to Strasburg it was difficult for my father to get a good job. I have seen my dad get declined a job because of his neck tattoo and appearance and not by his knowledge of the job. My father overcame the obstacles of stereotyping and now has a well-paying job up in Stonewall Jackson, VA. Both authors overcome feeling uncomfortable to the public and altering public spaces, and they rise and move along with life, as I did myself, trying to understand rather than judge, trying to build tolerance and acceptance rather than disharmony and anger.

Maggie has not lived the good life like her sister Dee but she has grown up with the knowledge of her ancestors through her actual family and Dee has learned it by obtaining a college degree. Mama's yard is another form of symbolism in Walker's short story Everyday Use. Maggie and her mother thoroughly prepared the yard for Dee's arrival, and the details are highly descriptive because Mama believes her yard is a continuance of her living room but \he still feels that her freedom comes from being outside where even the wind blows freely. Dee escaped the hardships of her family home by attending college but all Mama needs is to take a step out. Both Maggie and her mother see the yard as a form of comfort and safety.

One of the most inspiring authors in American history is Alice Walker. Walker is the youngest child in a sharecropper family that found her overly ambitious and highly competitive (Walker 609). This gave her a strong fighting attitude, which allowed her to make positive changes in an extremely racist society. Unfortunately, when she was young, Walker was accidentally shot in her right eye with a BB gun while playing “Cowboys and Indians.” This accident caused Walker to lose her self-esteem and her captivating personality. As a result, she secluded herself from the outside world and began to write. During this time-the 1950’s and 1960’s- Alice Walker’s works channeled the hardship and inferiority that she realized as a black person (Whitted).

Alice Walker usually puts herself into characters that she writes about in her stories. However, you don’t understand this unless you know about her. Staring with this let us find out about who she is and where she came from. When recounting the life of Alice Walker, you find out that she was born to sharecroppers in Eatonton, Georgia in 1944 and was the baby of eight children. She lost one of her eyes when her brother shot her with a BB gun by accident. She was valedictorian of her class in high school and with that and receiving a scholarship; she went to Spelman, a college for black women, in Atlanta. She then transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and during her time there went Africa as an exchange

Also, what is interesting is the similarities of their grammatical writing styles. As Walker describes the women of the post-Reconstruction South, she uses many literary devices. One abnormally short paragraph, "Our mothers and grandmothers, some of them moving to music not yet written. And they waited" (Walker 695), which seems very incorrect as far as grammar is concerned, leaves me as a reader puzzled at why she writes this paragraph so isolated. It has some meaning to it without a doubt. "Moving to music not yet written" is a powerful way to stress how ahead of their time some of these women

“In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” Alice Walker talks about the hardships that black women had to face. She uses different ways to describe how black creativity has survived throughout the harsh times. She explains through the stories of women to tell the readers that African American women did not have the luxury to use their gifts, talents, and their abilities. She incorporates stories from her own family history and some from other people’s family history.They were not allowed to express who they were as individuals and instead were forced in to hard labor. Nonetheless, the women still managed to pass down their gifts to their children. If these are her theoretical statements about the vision of art “Everyday Use” is a story that fits

As many radical feminists blamed motherhood for the waste in women's lives and saw it as a dead end for a woman, Walker insisted on a deeper analysis: She did not present motherhood itself as restrictive. It is so because of the little value society places on children, especially black children, on mothers, especially black mothers, on life itself. In the novel, Walker acknowledged that a mother in this society is often "buried

This essay stirred up many emotions in me by showing how racism can be hidden. If you were just going about everyday life you wouldn’t notice that the name “George” as being a word which diminishes a person 's value and self worth. Then if an innocent person didn 't know better they wouldn 't understand they said anything offensive. Which makes me think of a scarier question in which people can not see racism going around them, or they also choose to do nothing about it when it 's out there as light as day. It 's important when we see racist acts and are willing to make a difference to resolve those issues. When show those integral qualities we see value of others with loving eyes. While race has always been an issue is our country, it 's what we do to make it better within ourselves to help prevent it from being