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In the essay, “Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self,” Alice Walker writes about how she lost her eyesight in one eye due to a childhood accident. Alice communicates to the reader how, when losing an eye, she cared much less about the loss of her eyesight and more about how she appeared to others. In the story, Alice recalls different points where the accident affected her life. To her, the loss of her eye was not just a physical impediment, but a mental one as well. Once she had a surgery to remove the “glob of whitish scar tissue,” she felt like a new person, even though she still could not see. Alice says, “Now that I’ve raised my head,” and can stop holding herself back from being the greatest she can be. Just as Alice is affected by …show more content…
She uses this to add to the opinion of how we view our self is the most important. Alice felt the perception of herself by others had changed when the whole time it was her judgment of herself that truly mattered in the end. In “Beauty: When the other Dancer is the Self” thoughts come to mind with the saying “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder”. Even with never considering myself as ugly this saying could still apply after thinking through it slightly more. The way to interpret it, is everything, not only beauty, depends on point of view or perspective which changes with time as it did for Alice and her opinions of her eye. In actuality people care much less about every move you make because they themselves are too worried about what others think of them. Humans are very self-conscious creators. Even with being the reason for many peoples self-consciousness actors and models are no exception to the effects of …show more content…
On television, people always see beautiful actors and now with Youtube and Instagram, these effects are even more exaggerated. While watching these people our view of how we and others should act, dress and look is changed. Models not only wear the most expensive clothes and extreme amounts of makeup, but some companies go as far as to photoshop to the point where the models can not recognize themselves. This goes to show even though we push ourselves to look like these famous people they have the same struggles they may just arise in other places.
We live our entire lives caring about other people 's opinions of ourselves where they seem to become our own but they don’t have to. While most of us as we grow up will realize how foolish this was and be themselves anyway; It takes too long, as children we are not shown to be ourselves but shown to follow the crowd, the safe route. The younger generations need to see that risks can change your life for the better and let each of us live a happier more fulfilled
Perfect, as they see her, only describes the traits belonging to her surface. Her half-nakedness is a reference only to her clothing, but not so presumptuous as to insinuate it is that of her soul. Simile implies the angelic beauty of her voice, and notes that it is only accentuated by elation, and memories of good times. A shift in perspective begins a much more profound journey. Mckay employs the narrator’s viewpoint for a twist, allowing us to see more of her. No longer through the distorted view of youth, we see the dancer revealed differently, deeper. As a silent observer standing in the back of a dark, smoky club, the mysterious narrator sees her light amongst the darkness. Her scars of lost love and shattered dreams create an image of fierce grace that only ripens with the maturity of womanhood, and accentuates the true beauty within her soul, of overcoming, of standing proud, of facing the storm, no matter what. Life itself is inevitably vulnerable yet somehow, strength, even when silent, prevails. With her trunk strong and head held high, he speaks of the storms she has weathered, which is her tale of hardship, adversity, and inevitable oppression. He sees her hurt, and recognizes, even if only for a moment. Time stands still. As if jolted back to reality by the clanking of coins being tossed about the stage, the young riled audience, like a pack of wild beasts, devour
Everybody has something about them that makes them unique, but sometimes they tend to not realize how special they are because of it. In the play, The Glass Menagerie, Laura possesses a collection of glass figurines that symbolize how others see her despite her limp. She has allowed her limp to define who she is, as well as play a major part in the way that she acts around other people. Laura’s limp has restricted her life in certain ways and because of it, she has become a delicate, radiant, and unique individual.
Firstly, the two protagonists both experience unexpected changes in their lives at the beginning of their stories, but both are inclined to stick to their past beliefs and refuse to recognize the need to adjust to the changes. In the story “Mirror Image”, a devastating car crash leads Alice to a brain transplant that brings a series of unwanted changes to Alice’s life. Her family, who was once close to her, begins to see her as an outsider, as she no longer shows any form of resemblance to her former self. Alice herself also believes that she is a different person: “Alice took to wearing sunglasses all the time, to remind herself, to keep something constantly ...
The media and how it affects our society has changed tremendously over the past few decades. Our population of children who spend a lot of time in front of the television or on social media continues to increase, creating a superficial view of themselves and who they should be. This superficial outlook has been created by the media because it preaches to our society that looks matter. Not only are there millions of advertisements saying to lose weight and buy certain products to be beautiful, but there has been a specific standard of beauty set for models and actresses to obtain. These standards include big eyes, volumino...
Media holds a horrible outlook for society wanting people to have “The Perfect Image.” Models are photoshopped and edited in magazines to look flawless (Jean Kilbourne). Media uses a “digital diet;” where editors shave the sides of models, making their shape right (Jean Kilbourne). Once the magazine is published, it will not be the same person that took the photo, it will be someone flawless. The look that’s designed as “the Barbie image”. Not only does media pick apart models, but also actors. Actors are made to “fit the role or part” (Jean Kilbourne). Whether one is blonde, brunette, tall, short, thin, or big; it depends on the role they play. Sometimes directors focus on only the image of a person and not the acting, but there are times a director looks at acting instead of image. When a director looks at acting, Hollywood picks apart the person to fit the role of the character. This can make ...
Walker did not always have anti feelings about herself, and it took an accident to shift her self-esteem. Growing up, Walker had a lot of confidence in herself, and her appearance. This is illustrated when her father had to pick what kids would get to attend the fair. Walker told her dad, “Take me, Daddy, I’m the prettiest (Walker, 70)!” She was confident, and wasn’t afraid to show it. She once again reiterates this by later saying on her way to the fair, “It does not surprise me to find myself in Miss May’s shiny black car, sharing the back seat with the other lucky ones (Walker, 70).” However, around the age of eight, she found herself going through some changes. Walker went from being the cute girl to a tomboy. This is around the time she was shot in the eye with a BB gun, by her brother. Her eye was left with a white scar tissue, a cataract. She no longer was bubbly, and confident about herself. Her self-esteem took a toll, and it is shown by how poorly she starts to perform in school, something she had excelled at before. It’s not until her daughter notices her eye that Walker finds self-realization. When her daughter asks her, “Mommy, where did you get that world in your eye (Walker, 75)?” She instantly realizes that the eye had taught her so much about shame and anger, so it served as a learning tool. For many years she was embarrassed to look at other people, and was
Society is always giving new standards for beauty. New trends to follow, new hair and clothing, but what is each person’s own definition of beauty? “Beauty When the Other Dance is Self” was written by Alice Walker to express her personal definition of what beauty is. Throughout the story, however, her definition changes and refines until she realizes that it is all in her eyes. Alice Walker’s perspective of beauty changes from being the best and cutest, to prettiest and most popular, and finally to simply loving herself.
In the poem “Mirrors”, by Sylvia Plath the speaker accentuates the importance of looks as an aging woman brawls with her inner and outward appearance. Employing an instance of self refection, the speaker shifts to a lake and describes the discrepancies between inevitable old age and zealous youth. By means of sight and personification, shifts and metaphors, the orator initiates the change in appearance which relies on an individual’s decision to embrace and reject it.
her personal appearance hinder the life she wanted. She embraced her own beauty by allowing a flaw to
Alice Walker “Beauty: When the other Dancer is the self”. Is about Walker’s childhood accident that left her disfigured and blind in one eye. Beauty meant everything for walker when she was younger. Walker loved wearing dresses and looking her best she felt beautiful. It was mostly based on physical appearance and how she had a spirit that light up the room.
Our world is changing more and more everyday and one thing that is changing is the way social media and the internet affects one´s life. The media has either caused positive and negative affects on the beauty standards such as how people especially females should view themselves and how they should view others. This issue is commonly seen amongst women and not a lot of men because the media always seems to talk about the beauty standards of a female and seeing these type of standards and rarely seen about a male. By the media doing this it is teaching kids, especially younger girls something that hurt them in the long run and change the person that they really are.
First, one must ponder a couple of questions: who defines beauty in today’s culture and society? Does the mass media industry define beauty? Everywhere one turns in advertisements, commercials, TV shows, movies, magazines, etc. someone is telling us what “beauty” is. The allure of celebrities and the beauty they exude, definitely influences the beauty those in the Western culture strive to be and are attracted too. Television, movies, magazines, advertisements that come from the Western culture have influenced cultures around the world. Due to the high i...
In the reading by Alice Walker’s “Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self” she speaks of her days in the past when she was the most popular to a girl with one eye. Her identity was in her beauty and when the unfortunate accident happened she lost who she was. The research for how to figure out how she was feeling and becoming could be used with many methods of social science. We want to look at the human side of things to understand where Alice was coming from. To fall so far from the top would be devastating but to have to compete with 8 other siblings after always being in front definitely effected how she saw things. She lost her way and continued searching to find herself with the blind eye. She had to get rid of what was bring her down
When people think of entertainment, media influence often comes to mind. Reality TV stars and celebrities alike have been placed in limelight acting as role models to not only the youth, but society as a whole. This is an example of the negative influences that entertainment can have as it leads people to hold unrealistic standards and expectations for themselves and others. Some may feel that the entertainment industry makes glamourizes immoral behaviors, making them look fun and harmless. The focus on fitting in and on appearance in the entertainment business have heavily impacted the way our society is today, by promoting the need to be a certain way, both in physical physique and behavior. In fact, people who are considered more attractive, or that fit the molds commonly shown to us, have an easier time obtaining jobs and have access to a broader s...
"Be your own kind of Beautiful: My pursuit for True Beauty." Most everyone has seen the Oscars, and heard that famous phrase "And the Oscar goes to....". I've waited with baited breath to see who would be chosen for the honor of best actress, best actor, or best film etc. Over the years I've noticed an increase in these types of award shows. I've also noticed a influx of Actors, Actresses, musicians, models donning the front covers of Magazines. All of them seem to look perfect. Perfect Body, face, and smiles to match the clothing line or movie they are endorsing. Beauty and Perfection seem to be ubiquitous. And I've asked myself, what makes them the most beautiful