Alice Walker: The Cost of Her Fame

Professor

Writers often have a way of awakening people’s inner thoughts; Alice Walker is one of those writers. Many people have been touched by her work, feelings rekindled and relationships restored. Walker’s dreams lead her to many new beginnings and sorrows. Walker’s greatest lost would be her most cherished bond – family. Alice Walker was born in Georgia, on February 9, 1944. Her father was a sharecropper and her mother was a maid. When Walker was eight, her brother accidently shot her in the eye with a BB gun. Unable to get medical treatment, she became blind in one eye and developed a scar. This accident left her feeling unattractive. She became withdrawn and turned to writing. The scar was removed when she was 14, which opened up her world from isolation. She became voted Most Popular, Queen of her Senior Class, and Valedictorian. She attended Spellman College, where Professor Howard Zin, a civil rights activist, influenced her. She transferred to Sarah Lawrence College, where she met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After graduating college, she married Melvyn Roseman Leventhal, a Jewish Civil Right activist. They had a daughter named Rebecca. Walker said her daughter was a “living, breathing, and mixed-race embodiment of the new America that they were trying to forge” (Driscoll, 2008). Walker is an advocate for the unheard and overlooked. She is an activist, often involved with organizations, Code Pink and Women for Peace. Walker is involved with the movement called Womanism. She believes the word Womanist focuses primarily on “perspectives and experiences of women of color” (Womanism). She believes in the African and Native American traditional beliefs that worship and honor Earth Mother. Her first published work was titled Once. Meridian, The Temple of My Familiar, and Warriors Marks, are a few of her other well-known pieces. Walker gained global fame from her book, The Color Purple. It was turned into an Academy Award nominated film and a Broadway play. Walker won the Pulitzers Prize Award and National Book Award for Fiction in 1983 for The Color Purple.
Walker’s book Once is about the many obstacles and journeys that Walker faced during her college years. The Civil Rights Movement was a movement that sparked the fire that would lead her to become an activist. Her passion to learn about African culture was awakened when she traveled to Africa while she was an exchange student in Uganda. Around this time she became pregnant, battled with depression and had thoughts of suicide. Walker believed that she could not focus on school, be actively involved with the movement, and have a baby at the same time. She knew something had to change – she decided to have an abortion. She thought this would give her a better chance of creating the woman she wanted to be. She knew that raising a child without an education would be difficult and she did not desire to go through that hardship.
Set in Georgia during the early 1900’s, The Color Purple is about the trials and tribulations of a black woman name Celie. The actual color, purple, also plays a strong part in the book. She relates purple to violence and love, which are the ongoing themes in the book. There is also a strong sibling devotion that is felt throughout book; a bond between siblings that is unbreakable. Walker strongly believes in family bonds and often speaks about family relationships in her books. Ironically, while Walker speaks and writes about strong family bonds, she has no relationship with her daughter Rebecca. The relationship between Walker and Rebecca began to go sour when Rebecca became pregnant at the age of 14. This was also the same time Walker’s bestseller, The Color Purple, became published. Rebecca did not have the child and continued with her education. Rebecca often recalls being left at neighbor’s houses or home alone to take care for herself, while her mother toured for her book. Walker’s path to success leaves Rebecca to feel forgotten and alone. However, Rebecca is a feminist, writer, naturalist and mother. She seems to be her mother’s exact copy. This seems to be the biggest heartbreak; that the cost of fame is the rocky relationship between mother and daughter. This is the tragedy she didn’t write about – the tragedy of the breakable bond.
Despite the relationship with her daughter, Walker’s success overshadows many of her flaws. Coincidentally, her license plate reads “Irregardless,” which is not a proper word but was often spoken by her grandfather, which means, “In Spite of Everything.” Alice Walker is an example of a self-made master piece that is ever changing. The documentary film of Walker’s life titled “Beauty in Truth,” began filming earlier this year. Many people are anticipating the release of this film. One can only imagine what truths may unfold.

References
Driscoll, M. (2008, May 4). The day feminist icon Alice Walker resigned as my mother. The Sunday Times.
Virella, K. (n.d.). Hip to be Nappy. Retrieved March 24, 20012, from Ace Weekly: http://www.aceweekly.com/Backissues_ACEWeekly/010201/cover_story010201.html
White, E. (2004). Alice Walker A Life. New York: W.W. Norton &Company, Inc.
Womanism. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2012, from Reference.com: http://www.reference.com/browse/womanism