Alice Walker Influences

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Alice Walker is an American author who wrote a controversial novel during the civil rights movement. This novel, ‘The Color Purple’, is based on the ideas of racism, sexism, and freedom. As an author, Alice Walker was very active in the civil rights movement and her childhood greatly influenced her writing. In her novel, Walker uses diary entries to create a musical sense which makes her novel connected and rhythmic. Also, Walker’s work embraces black culture and how people had to live during times of racial segregation. Alice Walker bases her characters on her own life struggles to convey a message to the readers of staying strong and having perseverance through challenges in life.
Author’s Background
Alice Walker was born into a poor family …show more content…

“In Walker's writing, redemption will take one away and bring one back, in a perhaps humbling but empowering way, to something close to home.” (Whitsitt 15) Her writing has a inspirational meaning which impacted readers everyday life. Also, many of Walker’s writing is based on music or has some sort of musical reference. “The fiction of "Everyday Use," in which Mama comes to have a voice, is an art which would on the one hand deny the role of the artist, but only insofar as the one who comes to have a voice becomes an artist” (Whitsitt 24). Walker’s writing is sometimes based on specific real-life people like the story ‘Nineteen Fifty-five’, which is based on Elvis Presley. “Walker both encapsulates the essence of the theme which unites the stories in the volume and alludes to the signifying relationship of her work, particularly the story ‘Nineteen Fifty-five,’ to the lives and work of several others from the past” (Johnson 8). By using real-life artists, Walker creates a real and relatable character who can be connected to Elvis. Accordingly, most of Walker’s novels have a musical theme and specifically ‘Nineteen Fifty-five’ describes a young black women’s journey to exploring the art of music (Johnson

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