The Role Of Conformity And Expectations In Alice Walker's Poems

The ability to completely trust in one’s own personhood is difficult in a world of conformity and expectation. Alice Walker, renown poet and author, writes to express her pride in identity and the need to embrace this component of a person’s life. Once in an interview, Walker expressed “I'm entirely interested in people. I have a special interest in what they're thinking and who they are and who's hiding behind those eyes and how did he get there, and what's the story” (Smiley). She wants others to show to the world their true self and she expresses this by highlighting the need to be a genuine individual in a world trying to make everyone alike. Alice Walker’s poems focus on her advice to depend on one’s own principles, to address the underlying

Alice Walker focuses on giving advice in what not to do throughout her poem Don’t be like those who ask for Everything. In the first line of the piece, she restates the title, “[d]on’t be like those who ask for [e]verything”, this conveys the idea that there are people who ask for things, yet do not attempt to work for them. These people can make no permanent impact as they are just like the crowd. The poem suggests that many people feel that it is easier to be like the majority rather than rely on their own abilities. In lines 3 and 4, it says “[t]hey ask for everything but never offer anything in return”, the group of people she refers to are all the same, only asking of things from the world. The people do not have anything to offer because they are so fixated on being just like everyone else. She advises the reader to be different than the majority and be able to offer something unique to the world which nowadays is rare. A person can do this when he/she has confidence in their own ability. Further along in the poem, Walker says, “Be like those who can see my feet ache from across a crowded room” (5,6). People who help others are examples for society. She makes the point that when a person chooses to be who he/she truly is, he/she is just as those who help people, an example for others (Noffsinger). Alice Walker’s advice to the world is

Originally published in the book Anything We Love Can be Saved in 1997, Walker’s poem Expect Nothing conveys the message of self reliance by expecting nothing from the world. The piece focuses on the “ideas of independence, happiness with one’s self, and the gap between expectation and reality”("Analysis of Expect Nothing by Alice Walker.”). In the first stanza of the poem, it says “[e]xpect nothing. [l]ive frugally….become a stranger” (1,3). The main message of the poem is made by telling the reader to “expect nothing” from the world but become a stranger to sameness by expressing oneself. A person can be content when he/she does not anticipate that the world owes him/her anything. The second stanza starts off by saying, “[w]ish for nothing larger [t]han your own small heart” (10,11). A person must not be something that he/she truly is not. In order to achieve one’s calling, a person must look to what he/she has been given and use it, therefore being an individual calls for a person to connect to his/her own heart. Along the journey of self-actualization, an individual will “[d]iscover the reason why [s]o tiny human midget [e]xists at all” (17,18,19). These lines tell the reader that in being and living apart from societal norms, an individual can discover their true purpose in life. This inspires individuality because of the opportunity to