1. ALICE WALKER:
HOW HER LIFE EXPERIENCE INFLUENCED HER WORK
Esther.Simpsonthompson
5/13/2012
2. Esther Simpson
ENG 1102
Elizabeth Owens
9 May 2012
Alice Walker’s astounding literature works were influenced significantly by
her childhood and life experience of poverty and racism. Born and raised in the
South, her heritage and culture played a major role and can be seen throughout her
work. The core of most of her works of art brings to light the life of African
American culture and their struggles with racism and sexism, especially with black
women. Her novels, poems, essays and short stories also speak on black woman
empowering themselves and rising above the struggle. She considered herself a
“womanist” and her concern for women are articulated strongly in her work. Her
work also shows the struggles that many women of color encounter. Thadious M.
Davis stated in his Dictionary of Literary Biography essay that, “Walker writes
best of the social and personal drama in the lives of familiar people who struggle
for survival of self in hostile environments” (Poetry Foundation). He also stated
that Walker, “expressed a special concern with exploring the oppression, the
insanities, the loyalties and the triumph of black women” (Poetry (Foundation).
One of Walker’s most renowned books, The Color Purple, which won the
Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award, told the story of a fourteen year old
black girl named Celie who was raped and mistreated by her father. Walker
eloquently gave us an insight to Celie’s life through the “dairies, letter and
3. prayers” (Floyd-Thomas and Gilman) that Celie wrote to God describing her
struggles and her oppression while growing up. Walker received criticism because
her novel portrayed black men as abusive and domineering men that had no respect
and who belittled their women and daughters because of their gender. Her artistic
approach brought to the forefront the problem of sexism and oppression that many
black women faced by the hands of black men. The tone in The Color Purple is
“about utter hardship, sadness and tragedy” (Shmoop). Her writings affirm that
women can overcome and be liberated from the emotional, physical and sexual
abuse brought on by men through helping and bonding with each other. Fox
Alston noted in the Chicago’s Tribune Books that “Celie, the main character in
Walker’s third novel The Color Purple is an amalgam of all those women. She
embodies both their desperation and later their faith”(Poetry Foundation). The Color
Purple, is an amalgam of all those women [characters in Walker's previous books]; she
embodies both their desperation and, later, their faith The Color Purple, is an amalgam of all
those women [characters in Walker's previous books]; she embodies both their desperation
and, later, their faith. Her critics inspired her to transform her experiences during the filming
of The Color Purple into art and she later published The Same River Twice. The novel
focused on her life during the recording of The Color Purple and addressed the criticism that
ensued.
Walker played a prolific role in the Civil Rights Movements during her
college years. She was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. to fight against the
struggles of black people. Walker volunteered and registered black voters in
Liberty County, Georgia and participated in numerous nonviolent marches and
demonstrations to attain the rights that African Americans deserved. Her
contribution to the movement resulted in the publication of her second novel
Meridien, mirroring her experience during the Movement. Walker’s drive for
4. writing Meridien was to highlight the ugliness of a racially divided America,
and the rejection of the African American heritage that took the lives of many
black people during and after the Movement. Although the Movement was over,
Walker was dedicated to challenging the failed attempt in the nonviolent fight for
freedom and equality. In Meridien she portrayed a young girl like herself fighting
for the cause, but not willing to kill for it. In the novel, Walker introduced Lynne,
who was a white woman and also Meridian’s friend. They were brought together
in her book as a symbol of her expectation of equality between two different races.
Like Meridien, Walker experienced similar suffering while living in Mississippi.
She felt as if she was responsible for the underprivileged conditions that black
people lived in. Meridien is a reflection of Walker’s actions during the
Movement. The novel emphasizes the education of future black generation of their
legacy, and urges them to continue to fight for equality in an unjust society.
The remarkable novel The Third Life of Grange Copeland, depicts Walker’s
vivid perspective and criticism of Southern life as she remembered it. Her work
echoes her mental picture of the South through her “development of the novel’s
three main characters” (African American Review). She distinguishes between
Brownfield who was “victimized by the extreme racism and poverty of Georgia
backwoods” (African American Review), which ultimately obliterated him and
Ruth “rejecting the racist world” (African American Review), who was able to
empower and emancipate herself from the enslavement of the terrifying Southern
life. Walker again, through her art, provided a painful look at the reality of blacks
in the South and the exacerbated wounds that, racism left on African Americans.
5. Nevertheless, her work strives to promote awareness, unity and the will to triumph
over our oppressors throughout black communities.
The setting of Walker’s works, are located throughout the poor rural areas of
the South. Her literature delivers the uncompromised truth of Southerners’
history. Her fictional work connects people with oppression stories that are similar
to those they faced or may be facing and offers optimism for endurance and
survival. Although Walker’s writings fight against oppression and injustice within
our society, she believed in world peace. Walker dedicated herself to writing Why
War is Never A Good Idea, a children’s book, in order to share her love and
concern of “the Earth, its plants and animals its people and its future”(“Expect The
Unexpected”). Walker, an activist and a member of Code Pink protestes against
war, also used this story to educate not just African American but anyone her book
can reach. Why War is Never A Good Idea alarming imagery sends an imperative
message of the devastating effects of war around the world and the innocent lives it
devours. The objective of Why War is Never A Good Idea is to protect and teach
“our young children the sanity of nonviolence much earlier”. Walker skillful
approach and “conscious consideration” in Why War is Never A Good Idea made
her book acceptable for children. Her art allows young readers to visualize the
destruction that occurs and the ruins that follows on our animals, plants and
surroundings.
Walker’s life experience can be observed throughout her books, poems and
short stories. Most of her concerns for equality, gender discrimination and
destructiveness resulting from war connects with many families across America
6. and around the world. She strives to use her work to bright light these issues and
many more. Walker’s work has impacted many lives and has had major liberating
results, both spiritually and politically. Walker’s sensitive and emotional themes
brings international appreciation.
7. Work Cited:
Subverting Forced Identities, Violent Acts, and the Narrativity of Race: A Diasporic
Analysis of Black Women's Radical Subjectivity in Three Novel Acts
Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas and Laura Gillman
Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 32, No. 5 (May, 2002), pp. 528-556 Published by: Sage
Publications, Inc.Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3180951
Alice walker’s vision of the south in the third life of gran. (1993). African American
Review, 27(2), 195-195.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/209791499?accountid=38769
"With Alice Walker, Expect The Unexpected." Reading Today 25.4 (2008): 24.
Professional Development Collection. Web. 13 May 2012.
http://www.shmoop.com/color-purple/literary-devices.html Web, 07 May 2012
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/alice-walker#poet Web 08 May 2012
