Alice Walker's

A detailed Summary of Alice Walker's


Children are the seeds of humankind and need to flourish through the direction of their parents. Therefore we often find that children view the world through inexperienced eyes, while adults view it through experienced eyes. The way beauty is perceived differs from person to person, and a person's perception of beauty can be changed through experience, and could end up being what shapes them. In Alice Walker's terse story "Beauty When The Other Dancer is The Self," we are introduced to a character who was brought up in a society that placed beauty higher than everything else. This character happens to be Alice Walker herself. While growing up, Alice Walker was taught that beautiful people received more attention in life because they were widely recognized and cherished. The truth of this was proven to her when she "lost her beauty." Walker's way of thinking took a drastic turn in another direction when she no longer saw herself as beautiful.

Being used to phrases such as "She's so cute," Alice Walker was shaped into a commodity. She remembered when she was younger, everyone called her beautiful and she totally loved the attention. She says, "It was great fun being cute. But then, one day, it ended." Ended indeed, but no


The moment that actually changed Walker's way of thinking and led her to find the real definition of beauty, not the one she was taught, but the one she learned, occurred when she matured and had a daughter. She learned to accept herself as "beautiful" when, one day, her daughter said to her, "mom you have a world in your eye." Her mother's eye reminded her of a show they (mother and daughter) watched on television called "The Big Blue Marble." That was a significant moment in the story because Walker's understanding of beauty changed from a physical point of view to inner beauty. At that moment she learned to accept her defect as part of her. She also learned of a new beauty, beauty that comes through experience and the pain that comes through loving. In this case, her eye brought her the experience.

Alice Walker went through a lot of pain because she was teased a lot. Her peers made fun of her, and her father no longer bragged to his friends about her. No one pointed and called out "she's so cute" anymore. This was a heavy burden for a child to carry, and a hard fact to consume. There was no way of understanding what was happening to her at such a young age as eight years old. It seemed to her that all she possessed was beauty, and when that was taken away, sh

Some common words found in the essay are:
Alice Walker, Blue Marble, , Dancer Self, alice walker, Alice Walker's, beauty changed, perception beauty, lost beauty, perception beauty changed, person's perception beauty, beauty changed experience, view world, person's perception, walker's thinking, changed experience, she's cute, learned accept,

Approximate Word count = 864
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

join now Save Paper



Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

  • "Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
    Jack M.
  • "With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
    Brian P.
  • "I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
    Sara J.
  • "I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
    Rachel W.
  • "I love this site!!!"
    Marie N.