Questions: Alice Walker

Alice Walker: Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self


Question 1

1 Trace Walker’s image of herself from childhood onward as it is related to the disfiguring of her eye. Note particularly that paragraphs 34–40 take place prior to the following paragraphs that end the essay. The final image of the two dancers resolves the essay, but does it seem to you a true resolution for Walker? Why or why not?


2 Walker’s picture of herself here is of someone who is highly self-absorbed, in some cases, perhaps, even vain. Do you find her generally sympathetic or not? Point to specific passages in the text that contribute to your response.


3 Like Walker as a child, people can be highly self-conscious about some aspect of their appearance. In your experience—both in terms of your thoughts about your own appearance and thoughts about their appearance friends may have shared with you—is such self-consciousness generally justified or not?