Alice Walker Response

I was both impressed and surprised at how Alice Walker set up Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self. While much of the emphasis was put on the eye, it was clear that she did not spend the entire short story simply talking about her eye. She used other past life experiences to set the tone of the story before really going into detail about the impact her eye has had on her life. I was surprised at how one accident could change how a person acted. While the consequence of the accident could have been worse, the main point to realize is that it was not. She could have lost sight in both eyes but only lost sight in one. Sight was not the main focus of her anguish. She was more upset with the fact that her one eye made her look different from everyone else. "I do not pray for sight. I pray for beauty" (Walker 306). It takes her years to realize that there is something more important than beauty. After the accident, she rarely lifts her head. After having the "glob" removed, she finally lifts her head and becomes the girl she once was. I do not think that the removal of the glob really made a difference. Had she lifted her head before, she still would have been smart and popular. It was her actions and attitude while she had the glob on her eye that prevented her from being seen as a normal person. Everyone is different and can say that they have a part of their physical appearance that they would change. Inner beauty rarely is something that rarely changes with that of physical beauty/