Am I Blue Alice Walker Analysis

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,

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the story of a poor black woman living in the south between World War 1 and World War 2. This was at a time when, although slavery had ended,many women were still virtually in bondage, and had to put up with many conditions that was reminiscent of the days of slavery. The problem was that they had to endure being treated like an inferior being by their own families sometimes, as well as from the white people that lived there. It was a life that was filled with misery for many black women, and they felt helpless to do anything about their situations.

In the essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”, author Zora Neale Hurston writes to an American audience about having maturity and self-conscious identity while being an African American during the early 1900’s through the 1920’s Harlem Renaissance. Hurston expresses and informs her audience about how she does not see herself as a color, and instead sees herself as all she is made up of on the inside. Her primary claim is that she is not “tragically colored” and she should not have a single care about how the world reminds her of how she should act about her race. Her essay chronicles her personal experiences in being an unapologetically colored woman and creates the argument that she should not ever feel self-pity for being black. She utilizes her personal anecdotes and weaves them with metaphors, analogies, and rhetorical questions in order to create an immersive experience for the reader. Furthermore, Hurston engages the reader with her slightly sarcastic, strong, and blissfully positive tone effectively creates a way with words that communicate her claims in an entertaining way.

There are numerous works of literature that recount a story- a story from which inspiration flourishes, providing a source of liberating motivation to its audience, or a story that simply aspires to touch the hearts and souls of all of those who read it. One of the most prevalent themes in historical types of these kinds of literature is racism. In America specifically, African Americans endured racism heavily, especially in the South, and did not gain equal rights until the 1960s. In her renowned book The Color Purple, Alice Walker narrates the journey of an African American woman, Celie Johnson (Harris), who experiences racism, sexism, and enduring hardships throughout the course of her life; nonetheless, through the help of friends and

In her short story “Everyday Use,” Alice Walker focuses on a rural family and their different interpretations of the African- American heritage. The story begins when Dee, the educated older daughter, comes to visit her Mama and younger sister, Maggie. The two sisters are completely different physically, mentally, and emotionally. Dee lives an educated and financially stable life with her boyfriend in the city, away from her family; while, Maggie lives an uneducated and poor life at home with her mother. Some may argue that there is no difference between Dee and Maggie’s Interpretations; however, Alice Walker uses characterization and different types of symbolism in her short story to show the difference between Dee and Maggie’s interpretations

Alice Walker wrote ‘The Color Purple’ in order to capture and highlight the hardship and bitterness African-American women experienced in the early 1900s. She demonstrates the emotional, physical and spiritual revolution of an abused black girl into an independent, strong woman. The novel largely focuses on the role of male domination and its resulting frustrations and black women’s struggle for independence. The protagonist, Celie’s, gain of an independent identity, away from her family, friends, work, and love life, forms the plot of the novel.

Walker not only stands as a light in the lives of women, but in the black community. She saw a life for African Americans that evolved from the struggle they endured. According to Walker there are five main causes of struggle: equal opportunity, class placement, standard of living, spiritual belief, and racism and suffrage. During the 1950s, when Walker was growing up, many African Americans had doors shut in there face because of their race, whether they were qualified or not. They were considered lower class, usually living in rundown parts of town. Blacks were given the left overs of whites and were excepted to be grateful for what they were given. Many whites saw themselves as superior to blacks so much so that they believed that it was Gods will for races to be segregated. For black women, struggle came twice as hard being judged by both race and sex. While society tried to create struggle to bring blacks down that same struggle caused a heavy reliance on spiritual faith as an uplifting motivation. Furthermore, Walker analyzes her personal experiences with struggle in her poem “While Love is Unfashionable.” In the poem, Walker describes her marriage with her white husband. Many did not believe in her marriage. It was often seen as incorrect to marry outside of your race. However, Walker’s opinion was different as she stood by her decision, willing to pay the consequences she had to endure for doing so. Her ability to

Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, focuses on the struggles of a poor and uneducated African American girl, who is verbally, physically and sexually abused by several men in her life. She feels worthless and becomes completely submissive. Her only way to express her feelings is through private letters to God. An emphasized theme in this work is that expressing one’s thoughts and emotions is essential in order to develop an inner sense of self.

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

The desire to feel beautiful has never been more in demand, yet so impossible to achieve. In the book “The Bluest Eye”, the author, Toni Morrison, tells the story of two black families that live during the mid-1900’s. Even though slavery is a thing of the past, discrimination and racism are still a big issue at this time. Through the whole book, characters struggle to feel beautiful and battle the curse of being ugly because of their skin color. Throughout the book Pecola feels ugly and does not like who she is because of her back skin. She believes the only thing that can ever make her beautiful is if she got blue eyes. Frieda, Pecola, Claudia, and other black characters have been taught that the key to being beautiful is by having white skin. So by being black, this makes them automatically ugly. In the final chapter of the book, the need to feel beautiful drives Pecola so crazy that she imagines that she has blue eyes. She thinks that people don’t want to look at her because they are jealous of her beauty, but the truth is they don’t look at her because she is pregnant. From the time these black girls are little, the belief that beauty comes from the color of their skin has been hammered into their mind. Mrs. Breedlove and Geraldine are also affected by the standards of beauty and the impossible goal to look and be accepted by white people. Throughout “The Bluest Eye” Toni Morrison uses the motif of beauty to portray its negative effect on characters.

If any woman had to answer if she ever had trouble accepting herself, the response would be yes. According to Susan David, “All healthy human beings have an inner stream of thoughts and feelings that include criticism, doubt, and fear” (125-128). Depending on the person Alice Walker has as the recipients of Celie’s and Nettie’s letters, the text alters. The Color Purple is about a girl named Celie, who grows up in the south during the early 1920’s, surrounded by racism, sexism, and abuse from her father and husband. Alice Walker wrote The Color Purple in epistolary style and it traces Celie’s journey of finding her identity and path of finally accepting herself. On her journey she encounters a couple of women including one named Shug

Alice Walker has been an activist for most of her life. Walker travels the world to help fight for the poor and the oppressed. She also stands for the revolutionaries who want to transform the world for the better. She is a defender of not only human rights but the rights of animals as well. In her essay “Am I Blue” she discovers the feelings of a horse named Blue. The essay is meant to show a different side of animals and show the audience the human-like traits that horses have. She compares the oppression of the African Americans and American Indians to the way we now treat animals.

“The Color Purple” written by Alice Walker is a story highlighting the values and ideals of the culture and society in the beginning of the 20th century. During this time period certain women were alienated from society due to their clothes, beliefs, and their actions. Although every woman in this book was alienated from society the extent of alienation differed depending on how their words and actions were perceived by society.

In her essay, “Am I Blue,” Alice Walker argues how humans disregard the emotional similarities they share with animals. Walker incorporates in her argument the similarities between her emotions as a human, and the emotions of animals. Additionally, she presents her argument through the structure of the essay, and through her use of language. Furthermore, the overall argument of this essay is not only eye-opening, but also persuasive considering that it leaves the reader with a life question; what standards am I living by?

In Alice Walker's The Color Purple, she explores the thin grey line that stands between survival and living. Through her protagonist, Celie, she examines the dramatic shifts of empowerment; focusing on the young black girl in the 1850’s.