Women of Creativity in Virginia Woolf´s Shakespeare´s Sister and Alice Walker´s In Search of Our Mother´s Garden

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

Using the example of Judith, Shakespeare’s imaginary sister, Woolf depicts this character as how society discriminated against women. Judith, a woman, was just as talented as her brother, William Shakespeare, though had to write in secret. A man’s talent was highly recognized in

The essay “What if Shakespeare Had Had a Sister? “by Virginia Woolf, an excerpt in 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology Fourth Edition by Samuel Cohen, was originally a component of her book, A Room of One’s Own which was published in 1929. Virginia Woolf, who was born in London in 1882, is one of the most prominent writers in history. As a modernist and feminist, she is known for several of her masterpieces. Her book, A Room of One’s Own, was written based off two lectures she gave dealing with women and the role they played in writing and literature. She believed it was impossible, completely and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of Shakespeare in the age of Shakespeare.

Events in history have influenced writers’ style, and the importance in their stories. Alice Walker wrote a novel which was very much subjective by the time period of the 1940’s. There was a great deal of bigotry and tyranny during that time, particularly for Women of color. Women were mentally and physically abused and belittled by man purely because of their race and femininity. Women were considered as ignorant individuals that simply knew how to handle housework and care for the children.

    I chose to compare and contrast two women authors from different literary time periods.  Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) as a representative of the Victorian age (1832-1901) and Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) as the spokeswoman for the Modernist (1914-1939) mindset.  Being women in historical time periods that did not embrace the talents and gifts of women; they share many of the same issues and themes throughout their works - however, it is the age in which they wrote that shaped their expressions of these themes.  Although they lived only decades apart their worlds were remarkably different - their voices were muted or amplified according to the beat of society's drum.

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.

In the twenty first century there are a few men in this world that admits when you think of artist, you don’t typically think of women. Women rights and racism play a strong role when it comes to African American female artist. For decades’ African American woman have always had a permanent double bull’s eye on their back. Their skin and gender was their worst enemy. In the 1700 century women rights movements started to rise. But if you look up women right movements starting in the 1700 century, the face of women rights is predominantly white women. Between books and the internet, they show that it was mostly white women who helped woman rights. If we still struggle to shine light on African American Women now in the 21st century, you cannot

     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.

In Virginia Woolf’s short essay, Shakespeare’s Sister (1928), she explores the misogynistic world’s effect on women artists from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Depicted through an imaginary sister of Shakespeare, and her own experiences, Woolf explains how “in the nineteenth century a woman was not encouraged to be an artist.” Instead, women were deemed of no value beyond the home or child bearing (Jacobus 702). Such gender issues have emerged in every facet of our society, primarily concentrating on gender equality in areas like education, status, awareness, and availing of socio-economic opportunities. In today’s context, with an overall look at history, in comparison to men, women remain relatively more constrained by

Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens and Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own

The Contrast of Virginia Woolf and Alice Walker After reading the four essays assigned to this sequence, it becomes interesting to contrast two author's points of view on the same subject. Reading one professional writer's rewriting of a portion of another professional writer's essay brings out many of each of their characteristics and views. Also, the difference in writing styles could be drastic, or slight. Nevertheless, the writers display how versatile the English language can be.

It may seem clear to most people that authors and artists are completely different in more than few ways. For one, their job descriptions have nothing in common. Authors write, and artists draw, sketch, and paint. Authors need to be grammatically correct, while an artist’s mistake can make their work unique, and abstract. With the endless list of differences, comes the one thing that people fail to realize. Authors and artists do one thing, they create from their minds, and they birth their imaginations into reality. It seems amazing how one idea on a piece of paper can create a broad conversation, free for the world’s discussion and criticism. For instance, the idea of Feminism, and its entire concept can be analyzed in both writing, and artwork. As women of the early 1900’s, Margaret Atwood, an author, and Alice Neel, an artist, have both captured the idea of feminism in their life’s work.

Woolf’s essay portrays the poor treatment of women through the conjured up existence of Shakespeare’s imaginary sister, Judith, living during the Renaissance for the sake of her metaphor. Judith is described to be just as genius as her renowned playwright brother. Being a woman during that time, however, meant society found you dull and worth nothing more than a man’s housewife. Even having a room of her own in her dwelling was unheard of. For women of that time, like Judith, Woolf describes how: “to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room, was out of the question, unless her parents

Judith, on the other hand, lead a completely different life than Shakespeare. If William Shakespeare had a sister, she would be declined many opportunities. Judith would not be allowed to attend school like her brother did. She would not be allowed to read, write, act, or even learn. She would be expected to do housework, act like a “proper lady” and conform to rules set by her

    When one considers Shakespeare’s female characters, one has to remember that the plays were written in a time when women were considered weak-minded creatures who were apt to make bad choices if given the freedom.  Shakespeare, for the most