Alice Walker: In the Pages of History - Research Paper Example

Dr. Kay. English 102 Alice Walker: In the Pages of History Introduction The artists are believed to be workingin order to illustrate their unexpressed emotions and feelings. The artists without an emotional quotient are no artists at all. Alice Walker is an African American novelist, poet, short story writer and political activist. She calls herself as “daughter of the rural peasantry”. Her novel “The Color Purple” has awards like Pulitzer Prize and National book award. Walker’s creative vision exits in the roots of culture; African American people have at that time. Another sharp turn takes place in her life as she is awarded scholarship for having higher education at Sarah Lawrence College. There, she meets a great revolutionary black leader known as Dr. Luther King. The year 1964 is the most remembered time in the life of Walker. She gets pregnant against her will tries to commit suicide for three continuous days. Her writings are also a natural outlet of her distress. She continues to write except the times when she eats or sleeps during that nerve breaking time. With the help of one of her friends she is able to get a safe abortion. This is the time when she writes a story entitled as “To Hell with Dying”. A memorable quote from the story is as follows: “These children want Mr. Sweet. And they did want him for at a signal from Father they would come crowding around the bed and throw themselves on the covers, and whoever was the smallest at the time would kiss him all over his wrinkled brown face” (To Hell with Dying, 2). The message of the partially quoted story is to motivate abused and bruised Africans towards fighting for their rights. The symbolic use of children is an attempt to tell people that those around them need them. The works of Alice Walker represent the toughest times that have been faced by African American community during the decade of 1960s. The political leaders along with intellects of that time are attempting to make the government realize that social inequality is wrong, illegal and unethical. The philosophers are at that time writing about fiscal policies that can be implemented to eradicate communal differences of that time. The philosophical basis of three fundamental approaches towards ethics is known to be established in the abovementioned timeframe. Alice however, takes a dissimilar route in the direction of highlighting sufferings of her people (Christian pp. 60). Her personal claim that she is a daughter of peasantry supported the presence of her profound love, affection and emotional attachment to her social and racial routes. The philosophers have been working in order to eliminate racial and social maltreatment of the Africans in America but the concerned governmental offices are silent. The silence of the governmental offices is justified on the basis of absent documented proof of racial discrimination in the society. The written proof of inhumane behavior towards African Americans is then reported by Alice. The absence of emotions in her writings induces the governmental offices to take action. The philosophers take the writer’s works into account and consider racial discrimination is something that stands against everything for that American nation stand for (Walker pp. 561). The nation of immigrants develops in order to provide safety, shelter and food for all of the citizens regardless of their nationality, ethnicity and race. The works of Alice won awards because she effectively reported the painful events without emotions. The writings of Alice informed the public about atrocities that are being committed by the rulers of that era. As she comes from a rural background and therefore, her observations are considered and treated as representation of facts (Grewal and Kaplan pp.28). The government has to take concrete actions in order to pass antidiscrimination laws. The works of sober and educated writers ignited compassion in the public and because of this reason; they start to demonstrate love and affection to each other. The government of John F. Kennedy sniffs the wind effectively and passes the first ever law supporting civil rights of all races. The role of writers like Alice is identified as notable in causing the later success of the moment. The change that occurs in the social system of America is recognized as having roots in the work of historical philosophers and writers. The writings of Alice bear special importance and values because they provided a factual base to the scholarly and baseless assumptions of philosophers and warrant immediate governmental interventions (Sadoff pp. 23). The need for social equality is there buried deep inside the human psyche. But, its presence dulls over the passage of time. The contribution of Alice’s work is valuable because it manages to ignite the basic and fundamental human need and want of social equality. The novel with the title of “Color Purple” is a writing that’s core message and the basic argument argues that the society that is basing the quality of life on one’s skin color is making a big mistake. The author guides the national management to consider everyone as equals and let the quotients of hard-work and professional dedication to decide social and professional setup in the society. The featured work is selected for the award of National book because it provides historically needed support for the elementary philosophy of American nationality. The direct quote from the story is as follows “He act like he can’t stand me no more. Say I’m evil an always up to no good. He took my other little baby, a boy this time. But I don’t think he kilt it. I think he sold it to a man and his wife over Monticello. I got breasts full of milk running down myself. He say Why don’t you look decent? Put on something. But what I’m sposed to put on? I don’t have nothing. I keep hoping he fine somebody to marry” (The Color Purple, 3). The partially quoted story highlights misery of an African girl that is living with a cruel man. The writer subliminally establishes that the difference in the skin’s color is proved to be a bad standard of setting living standards in the society Thusly, it only fits to select the novel that contextualized the application of sole purpose of America when the condition looks grim and hopeless. Additionally, Alice loses her eye during early childhood, making her susceptible to emotional and physical pain of others. The nature gifts her with the ability to write about social cruelties without getting emotionally compromised. The intellectual institutions of America are teaching Alice’s works as models for those students that are planning to become historians. The historian’s primary job is to report the happenings with keeping their originality intact as far as possible. The featured legendry writer keeps the originality of the happenings intact and participates in the revitalization of Africans as a subculture in America. The African Americans manage to keep their cultural identity solid as a rock in the current times, when Americanization is eating away other national cultures. The writers like Alice planted a positive self-image in African youngsters and they felt pride in being African (Corse and Griffin pp. 180). The youngsters of 1960s are grandparents and therefore, they are transmitting the positive belief in the next generation. The next generation is also exhibiting the same level of pride in being African as their ancestors once did in the past. The writers are believed to be the soul of the community. They engage in identifying the problems of the society and articulate them in their own unique way. Alice Walker takes the route of reporting social issues by writing novels and short stories (Higginbotham, 255). Other writers analyze the same issues with a philosophical perspective; others evaluate ethical quality of historical national policies of America. The artists always work in order to promote equality and peace in the societies. The figures like Alice Walker should be treated as a role model for the present students of art and literature. Conclusion This paper reviews and analyzes the role of Alice Walker in raising voice about social inequality that is prevalent in the American society in her time. The contribution of Alice is treated as a golden memory of intellectual effort that results in granting of equality rights to the African citizens of America. The government of Kennedy decides to institutionalize and legalize the rights of African citizens. The success of civil rights moment is attributed to the scholarly efforts of Alice Walker and others like her. References Christian, Barbara. "The Race for Theory." The Nature and Context of Minority Discourse 1,6 (1987): 51-63 Online. Corse, Sarah and Monica Griffin. "Cultural Valorization and African American Literary History: Reconstructing the Canon." Sociological Forum 12, 2 (1997): 173-203 Online. Grewal, Inderpl and Caren Kaplan. "Warrior Marks: Global Womanism's Neo-Colonial Discourse in a Multicultural Context." Camera Obscura 13, 3 (1998): 4-33 Online. Higginbotham, Evelyn. "African-American Women's History and the Metalanguage of Race." Signs 17,2 (1992) Online. Sadoff, Dianne. "Black Matrilineage: The Case of Alice Walker and Zora Neale Hurston." Signs 11,1 (1985): 4-26 Online. Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. The Color Purple. New York, 1982 Online. Walker, Alice. To Hell with Dying. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. To Hell with Dying. New York, 1988 Online. Walker, Charyl. "Feminist Literary Criticism and the Author." Critical Inquiry 16,3 (1990): 551-571 Online. Read More