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Alice Walker's Beauty: When The Other Dancer Is The Self

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There is not one definition that encompasses the concept of beauty. However beauty has a lot to do with perception and how we view ourselves. Throughout the essay “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self” author, Alice Walker learns a lot about this concept. Her journey from a conceited, young child to, ultimately, a woman who is able to come to terms with who she is, demonstrates this idea that beauty is truly about perception and how we view ourselves.
This essay starts with Walker describing an event of her childhood. She discusses how her father was choosing which children, out of Alice and her siblings, he would bring to the fair with him. Right off the bat, it is clear that Walker was a conceited child. "Take me, Daddy," I say with …show more content…

Additionally, after being chosen by her father to go to the fair Walker mentions that she knew all along that she would be chosen to go. Just reiterating the fact that she is confident to the point where it could be seen as cocky. “Later, it does not surprise me to find myself in Miss Mey's shiny black car, sharing the back seat with the other lucky ones.” (Walker). Here, it is clear that young Walker puts herself above her other siblings. At the age of 2, she already sees herself as beautiful. However, as the essay continues, it becomes evident that this will change. At the age of 8, Walker suffers an injury to her eye. After being shot with a BB gun, her eye becomes deformed and clouded. With a now “different” eye, Walker not only suffers complete loss of vision in that eye, but also the reality that she no longer feels beautiful. She is 8 years old and children can be cruel to those who do not appear to be like the others. “That night, as I do almost every night, I abuse my eye...I do not pray for sight. I pray for beauty.” (Walker). This quote was extremely moving, as it shows how difficult it was for this child to live with a deformity. Finally, at the age of 14, Walker has the opportunity to have the “glob” removed from her eye. “Almost immediately I become a different person from the

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