Classwork: Reading from, "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self"

Ann Hoang
English 1301
Dr. Murray
October 19, 2010
Question #2 from Norton Anthology PG.74-75

#2 Walker writes her essay by selecting particular moments in her life. What does each moment show? How do these moments relate to Walker’s theme?

Moment #1: Alice walker presents in the introduction that when she was younger, she knew that she was the prettiest and her parents would always spoil her. She mentions that only three children would be taken to the fair where her father was the designated driver for an old rich lady and assures us that she was sure that she would be taken. Also Alice Walker talks about how her mother prepares her by braiding her hair and dressing her up. Later in the reading, Alice Walker flaunts a moment when she wore a dress that one of her sister made and how stunning it was. (Walker 69)
-This moment shows when everything was still good for Alice Walker. For example, she was satisfied with her looks.
-This moment relates to Alice Walker’s theme, beauty, because she shows us the outer beauty of herself and how proud she was with her beauty.

Moment #2: Alice Walker stated boldly, “It was great fun being cute. But then, one day, it ended” (Walker 70). From there, Alice narrates and tours us through here problems. She talks about how her two brothers were her playmates until one day when they were older, and their parents bought them BB guns, Alice Walker then was left out of the group.  One day when Alice Walker was playing by herself, she tells us that she gets shot in the eye by one of her brothers. (Walker 70)
-This moment shows that things are slowly changing for her. Her life is not the same as it was before.
-This moment relates to Alice Walker’s theme beauty because from this incident, Alice Walker shows how she was not the same little girl as before; She was now changing.

Moment #3: Alice Walker expresses that she is not the cute little girl that she was before anymore. She now does not even raise up her head nor is her self-esteem and her self-confidence the same as before. She even emphasizes that she for the first time is doing poorly in school. (Walker 71)
-This moment show that because of the incident things are very different now and are also going downhill for her.
- This moment relates to Walker’s theme beauty because she shows that with out the confidence in her beauty, it affects the way that she sees and does things. What is clearly shown is that she no longer has confidence in herself or the things that she does.

Moment #4: Alice Walker mentioned about a teacher who loved her. (Walker 71).
-When Alice Walker mentioned about this moment, what was showed was that she slowly showed a bit of support and change in the story.
-This moment relates to the theme beauty of Alice Walker because she stresses that the teacher already knew her before she was born, and so there maybe a bit of inner beauty and light shining on Alice Walker’s way.

Moment #5: Alice Walker’s brother, Bill, knew that she did not like the way that she looked, and so he and his wife took her to a doctor to help her. From there, she was able to look better that she was before, regardless of the little blue scar that was left in her eyes. Alice Walker soon gained more confidence in her self and started to have more friends as well as strive for academic success. (Walker 72)
-This moment shows that Alice Walker was able to gain more confidence in herself, which changed her down-hilled life into a more positive life.
-This moment relates to Walker’s theme because now with her outer beauty confidence, her inner beauty is starting to show once again.

Moment #6: Alice Walker also talks about her baby girl, and how her words changed her prospective on the incident and her views completely. She says that one day when she was putting her baby to sleep, her baby looked into her eyes. At first she was afraid that her child would be ashamed of her mother’s looks, but in shock, her baby told her that she had a world in her eye, and also asked her where she got it from. Alice Walker’s baby was comparing her mother’s eye to a television program, the “Big Blue Marble” where it “Begins with a picture of the earth as it appears from the moon”(Walker 74). It resembled Alice Walker’s eyes.
-This moment shows that her looks really mad no difference to who she was. It also shows that even her baby appreciates her mother for who she is that Alice Walker finally realizes that there maybe be a good in a bad.
-  This moment relates to Walker’s theme beauty because she can finally see beauty in her self after the incident that occurred when she was with her baby girl.

Moment #7: “And I saw that it was possible to love it: that in fact, for all it had taught me of shame and anger and inner vision, I did love it”(Walker 74).
-This moment shows that she realizes to adapt to what life had planned for her. For example accepting the way that she looked.
-This moment relates to Walker’s theme beauty because she shows that her ways in seeing beauty is dynamic. It is obviously different from before. For example, at first she was ashamed of the way that she looked, but now she was able to accept it and make it into something good and positive.

Moment #8 Alice Walker has a dream that she was dancing and beautiful. (Walker 74).
-This moment shows that she sees goodness in her new self now. She is no longer the girl ashamed of her self, but the girl why is proud and confident about herself.
-This moment relates to Walker’s theme, beauty, because now that she finds both inner and outer beauty, she is able to have more optimistic dreams and ambitions. She definitely shows that beauty plays a main role in her life, which she can control. She can either make that beauty into something beneficial or even something destructive. Essentially, this moment of Alice Walker shows that beauty is the way that you interpret things. Something you are ashamed of for having maybe be beauty in someone else's eyes.