English 101 13 June 2012 “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self” - Alice Walker Essay How does a person learn to accept herself after her image is altered? It took Alice Walker half of her life to learn to accept her altered appearance after an accident at the age of eight. Alice Walker’s journey from confidence as a beautiful little girl, through insecurity as a scarred young woman, and eventually to acceptance of her altered appearance is a journey that readers travel on with her. As a little girl Walker had an abundance of confidence. She writes, “Whirling happily in my starchy frock, showing off my biscuit-polished patent-leather shoes and lavender socks, tossing my head in a way that makes my ribbons bounce, I stand, hands on hips, before my father.
I believe the author’s point of this story was to make the readers value their culture and traditions of their family and to understand how meaningful it is. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to the older sister, Dee. "Dress down to the ground, in the hot weather. A dress so loud it hurts my eyes… Earrings gold, two, and hanging down to her shoulders. Bracelets dangling and making noises when she moves her arm… The dress is loose and flows, and as she walks closure, I like it.
In Kate Chopin’s short story, “A Pair of Silk Stockings” the protagonist, a caring mother, is the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars. She planned on spending it on her children, but temptation causes her to give into her desires. The story shows that, sometimes people give into temptation to fulfill desires and forget about their responsibilities. The story begins with Mrs. Sommers becoming the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars and deciding what to do with the money. “The question of investment was one that occupied her greatly,” because “she did not wish to act hastily to do anything she might afterward regret.” Mrs. Sommers finally decides to, “buy so and so many yards of percale for new shirt waists for the boys and Janie and Mag…Mag should have another gown…she would get caps for the boys and sailor-hats for the girls.” But Mrs. Sommers is impulsive.
This shows how naive she is about men, and when she gets married she is treated in the same way as the men she treated. Her husband ‘clicked his fingers, called [my] her bluff’. This is similar to the way in ‘Horse Whisperer’ that the whisperer’s life is turned around so quickly, because the woman in ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’ becomes ‘(yes, overnight) a plaything’ showing how fast this transformation happened. The differences between the two plays are quite subtle, with only a few differences. Whereas ‘Horse Whisperer’ is thirty-four lines long, ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’ is only fifteen long, prompting the thought that maybe the writer of ‘Les Grands Seigneurs’, Dorothy Molloy, was writing a short poem to show how the life of a woman who thinks big of herself has changed greatly over such a short space of time.
Flaubert’s Madame Bovary describes the tragic life of Emma Bovary, an ordinary country girl who grew up to be a woman with false and idealistic visions of romance, love and wealth. In the first part of the novel, readers are introduced to Emma and gains an understanding of her childhood, her naive character and how her unrealistic ideals takes a toll on her physical, emotional and mental states. Flaubert reveals little of Emma’s character until after the wedding where she becomes Madame Bovary, and the reader starts to realize that unlike Charles, Emma already regrets the marriage. “And Emma sought to find out exactly what was meant in real life by the words felicity, passion and rapture, which had seemed so fine on the pages of the books.” (Flaubert 27) This is the first instance in the book where it is suggested that Emma is disillusioned about romance and discontent with her life. She often compares her own life with that she reads in books, without realizing how unreasonable her dreams and desires seem.
“Working-class women, as much as their more wealthy counterparts, wound these commodities into their own culture based in display, self-statement, and glamour.” (Enstad, 18) Working women purchased cheap fiction known as dime novels. Women would often save up for weeks just to be able to purchase one book. Another common purchase of the working class woman was clothing. Similar to the novels, women would save up by skimping on their lunches to buy a dress from what the middle class called “slop” dress makers. These dresses were cheaper imitations of middle class fashion and would often fall apart, but the women bought them regardless.
In the stories “A Pair of Silk Stockings” by Kate Chopin and “A Wagner Matinee” by Willa Cather, the main characters go through life experiences that completely change the way they perceive themselves and the world around them. The main character in “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is a lady named Mrs. Sommers who became the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars. Originally she had no intention of spending the money on herself until she was lured into buying the luxurious silk stockings. Mrs. Sommers indulged herself the rest of the day which really boosted her self confidence. The main character in “A Wagner Matinee” is a lady called Aunt Georgiana who used to be a young, music teacher.
Although Schechter and Orenstein seem to share these similar feministic views on princess culture, it may seem to be that Schechter carries a more liberal, open minded view on princess culture and Orenstein has a more radical closed minded view on princess culture. Schechter begins by talking about her trip to Disney World with her three daughters, who are seven, four and four, and her husband. The trip was planned especially for her three daughters which meant as much princess exposure as possible and as Schechter states, it consisted of “The girls packed their favorite princess costumes, and agonized every morning regarding which costume they would wear to the parks. We stood in lengthy lines to meet princesses, we watched princess shows, we ate at a special princess character dinner, and I even saved up all of my Disney credit card points for the princess make-overs at the “Bibbiddi Bobbidi Boutique” in Cinderella’s castle” (Schechter 1) Schechter talks about how all her friends are feminist who despise the princess culture and do not want their daughters to even come in
My Analysis “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker An accomplished author, Alice Walker is well known for her literary works concerning race and gender in American culture. She is most renowned for her 1983 novel, The Color Purple for which she won the coveted Pulitzer Prize. Walker published Everyday Use in 1973, with the story first appearing in the well-known Harpers magazine. Everyday Use is about a long awaited visit from “Dee” to her Mother and Sister who live far from the city in the rural countryside of south. Dee is attractive, stylish, & well educated – with some apparently portrayed traits of selfishness, brashness and excessive confidence.
In Alter’s article, the girls all state where they buy clothes, what they wear and all have personal shoppers to help them find new trends. Michelle Serros talks in great detail about her rigid nose that ancestors passed on to her that she finds very unattractive. She pinches her nose everyday to hopefully make it look smaller or like her best friend Terri’s perfect nose. Living in California puts more tension on her to fit in and look like everyone else, the true Californian girl. “Today, when I take my graduation pictures, my nose will look just like Terri’s and then I’ll have the best picture in the year-book (Serros 33).” She sees that Terri is popular and has the perfect face and she wants that also to hopefully be popular like she is.