Beauty: When the Other Dancer is The Self

Beauty
“Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self” by Alice Walker is an essay describing her personal experience with what beauty truly is. Alice Walker is an African American writer who has won many awards for her writing. A few of these awards include a Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award. In her autobiographical story “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self,” she tells us the story of how she tragically lost and then finally regained her self-esteem after much agony. She tells a personal story of how she never had to work much for attention and for people to tell her that she was beautiful. After getting shot in the eye by her brothers, she struggled to have the same attention. Throughout the essay she explains how she overcame her hurt eye, which lead her to be stronger and accept herself. She strives to prove anyone can learn to accept themselves with time and patience. When Alice was eight years old one of her brothers shot her in the eye with a BB gun while they are playing a game of Cowboys and Indians. This event causes this once pretty, happy, outgoing girl to lose faith in her beauty. She walks us through the experiences she has before and after the accident, and shows us how her life changed because of her abnormality.
The title at first glance might be confusing to the reader. First of all there is the word beauty. This word is simple at first, but the underlying meanings are endless. In Alice’s essay, she refers to beauty in reference to the way she looks in the beginning. By the end of the essay, Alice thinks of beauty in a different light. One might wonder what the significance of “When the Other Dancer Is the Self” actually means. The meaning of this portion of the title is hard to interpret until reading the essay. At the very end, Alice dreamed of the dance with herself. Before she realizes who the other dancer is, she first notices her beauty and her success of overcoming something. Once she notices the other dancer is in fact herself, she is confirmed that she has overcame her problem as well. This is truly beauty, when the other dancer actually is the self.
As I read this essay, I personally get the feeling of pity for her. The detailed stories that are included add so much to the feeling one receives. This is the use of pathos. Walker jumps from beyond happy with her appearance to not wanting anyone to look at her when she walks around. Her tragic story of being rejected at school could really reach out to someone who was bullied in school, not only for looks, but for other possible defects as well. Alice’s essay is inspiring for me, and I have not been in a situation like hers before. If the essay had an effect like this on me, the effect on others who have been in her position could be even greater.
A possible meaning of this essay could be that Alice Walker wanted to recognize her success in accepting herself and acknowledging what beauty truly is. With this in mind, Walker’s audience would be women with imperfections, which most would agree this is all women. There is always one aspect of the body that a woman is not confident with. Upon reading this essay, there is a sense of a confidence booster. Even though there is a physical and mental scar, the author proves that there is a way to overcome these thought to be problems and accept them as part of who one is. The process of accepting oneself is sometimes long and hard, but in the end there is no greater reward.
The thesis of this essay is not clearly stated. There are many implications throughout that hint towards the point of accepting oneself for all imperfections, but Alice Walker never actually states this. By using this technique, the reader has to dig for the meaning. Sometimes one might find this uninteresting, but she keeps the reader’s attention with her detailed stories and dragging one’s emotions along as she tells her story.
The essay brings to the reader’s attention how much emphasis is put on beauty. Before Alice Walker got shot in the eye, beauty was clearly a very important part of her life. She begins the story where she makes apparent that she knows she’s beautiful. In the very beginning of the essay, Alice says to her father, “I’m the prettiest!” She immediately is using her beauty to gain her father’s approval. Alice is clear with the audience that she is confident with herself and her outer beauty. She shows early on in the essay how important this beauty is. Not only by what she thinks, but by what others think about her as well. When the people in her society acknowledge her beauty so often, this only adds to the importance. Alice makes sure to get this point across early on so the reader understands how much of a change she experienced after the “accident.”
“It was great fun being cute. But then, one day, it ended.” This statement completely changes the reader’s feelings. After building up an image in their head of this precious little girl, there is obviously a tragic event about to occur and the audience may have some sympathy for Alice at this point. As she goes on to tell the detailed story about how she was shot by her brothers, the reader can almost feel exactly what Alice Walker felt. She tells the story of her accident and immediately after, Walker says how she would now be unable to walk around with her head up.
Walker uses the accident that happens during her childhood to prove that one’s mindset can be altered because of an experience such as hers. Her attitude completely changes from a snobbish and overconfident child into a woman who sees a different kind of beauty than she had before. Throughout the essay, Alice Walker tells short stories of her life to let the reader feel as if they know more of what she has been through. The more the reader knows, the easier time they have connecting with her story.
Alice uses repetition throughout the essay to emphasize what she desires to draw attention to. She makes a point to let her audience know that others continuously told her, “You did not change.” In this short, simple sentence, she says a thousand statements. Although Alice does not realize when she is told she did not change that the others were not talking about her appearance. They were telling her that no matter what her eye looked like, who she was did not change, and she was still beautiful. Alice did not know this, though. She made an impact on others, not only because she was easy on the eyes, but because she brought a smile to their face.
Walker shows her hatred for her former self by showing that happiness can sometimes just be temporary. Because of this early depiction, Walker can then use the drastic change which occurs later to express her extreme attitude change with greater influence on the reader. Alice did not know how to accept herself after getting shot. Most readers can relate to this somehow. When her daughter tells her that she has a world in her eye, Alice is stopped in her tracks. The effect of this line on the reader ultimately stops them in their tracks, as well. This is a whole new light of looking at the situation by using this metaphor. The emotion brought up in both the reader and Alice is extreme.
The very end of the essay introduces and explains the phrase, “When the other dancer is the self.” Although Alice had a hard road of recovering from her accident, she eventually realizes she is just as beautiful as before. Her successful ending of this essay leaves the reader with satisfaction. With an audience who has more than likely experienced some of the same situations, or thinking they are not enough because of their own accident, a success story like Alice’s inspires others to overcome their situation, too.
Overall, Alice Walker proves that flaws in our appearance can influence our view of ourselves. Our perceptions of beauty can change and the way we see ourselves can sometimes be altered by events that happen in life. Alice Walker’s use of pathos throughout her essay is extraordinary. The way she uses all of her personal experiences to influence the readers feelings is phenomenal. Her use of logos and ethos, on the other hand, are not near as strong, if they are present at all. The intent of her essay was to inspire, which she accomplished very well with the devices she chose.