The Rise and Fall of A Celebrity in Alice Walker’s Nineteen Fifty-Five

In Alice Walker’s story Nineteen Fifty-Five there are numerous characters in which the reader encounters however the main two you will see is Gracie Mae Still and Traynor. This story is spoken by Gracie Mae but it depicts Traynor’s life in an indirect way. In looking at the story from a modern view this can be compared to the rise and fall of a celebrity as well as well-known celebrities today and their issues that can described using this story.

Whether Alice Walker portrayed Traynor as Elvis is unclear to most, there is a very strong connection. Elvis Presley’s music career started in 1955 and gained fast momentum in 1956 making him an international sensation. This would coincide with the “nasty little jerk” that Gracie was viewing on television because that was how Presley would dance unless told otherwise by the show that hired him to perform. One performance in particular was to the song “Hound Dog” done in late 1956 at “The Milton Berle Show,” which sent the crowd of teens into an uproar and disgusted not only the press but some adult viewers.

It is also shown that in the story Traynor attempts to be around Gracie Mae a lot suggesting that he may have abandonment issues due to the fact his family is never seen. The reader learns nothing of his mother or father and the deacon that is seen at the beginning of the story does not appear anymore after that encounter in Gracie Mae’s home. This could be compared to the modern day artist Marshall Matthers or better known by his stage name Eminem. Eminem’s life has not been a smooth one due to where he grew up and the constant struggles his mom and not having a father in his life. The movie “8 miles” is a reference in which fans got to see the struggles of living in Detroit that Em...

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...eness to Traynor’s death. In the years before his death Jackson’s life had gone downhill at an alarming speed and nothing seemed to stop it. However, upon news of his death people began listening to his music again praising him and watching movies in which he had been in. The term that can be used for this is “bandwagon” in which anyone joins in and doesn’t have to have extensive knowledge of the thing or person, they only need similar interests or reasons. Michael Jackson’s cds Thriller and Bad are the examples that can be used because people would take Thriller the cd’s title song and Smooth Criminal and replay them constantly claiming to be “True Fans”. The definition of a true fan is someone who not only knows the artist’s background but their music as well and enjoys listening to more than one song and doesn’t listen to them just because of physical appearance.