A Journey Through Life

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Recommended: Problems with racism in literature

Alice Walker's portrayal of a black family facing controversy is exceptionally well done. The behind-the-line inferences that one must obtain clearly exhibit Walker's intelligence. Her style is exquisitely felt throughout the short story. Rosa's mentality about her family and the mental conflicts that plague her give great importance to the story. The story vividly brings the reader back to the early twentieth century and shows the effect of racism on society and the family. "Kindred Spirits" is a short story that possesses many attributes that a short story must contain to be great. Alice Walker is an author that is complex and has many thoughts that she wants to express, but she leaves them up to the reader to find. She does not come out and say that Rosa's aunt does not like her mother, but it can be inferred from the dialog between Rosa and Aunt Lilly. Walker is an author that expresses the emotional roller coaster that black women go through. The reader can infer that Alice Walker is black and has been exposed to many injustices. When Rosa exits the plane, she sees a poster that depicts these injustices. "And there it was now; on a poster across from them a blond white woman and her dark-haired male partner danced under the stars while a black band played and a black waiter and a black chef beamed from the kitchen" (265). One can also infer from the way in which the story is written that she is an older lady that is looking back on her childhood and trying to sort out confusing issues. She does not hastily portray anyone in the story. Alice Walker's work, "Kindred Spirits," shows her expertise and culture to their full extent. Style plays a vital role in the development of a short story. Walker's style is the very essence of the relationship between Rosa, Aunt Lilly, and Barbara. Her style has characterized each and has shown the impact that men had on all of them. Rosa thinks about how she likes the canals and to look at water, but then she states that the water is all polluted like many of the relationships in the story. "Her sister's spirit seemed polluted to her, so much so that the sister she had known as a child seemed gone altogether" (270). Walker also used several word choices that indicated abruptness and the hurt that one feels when being hit, left, or humiliated.

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